Let’s do desserts is a monthly blog featuring where and with what to silence your sweet tooth.
Chocolate lovers, this is your moment!
Save May 14, to get your taste buds rocked at the 4th Annual Seattle Luxury CHOCOLATE SALON at the Bell Harbor Conference Center!
It is said to be “the most prestigious artisan and premium chocolate and confection event in the Northwest. Chocolate aficionados, fanatics, lovers and addicts can taste & experience the finest in artisan, gourmet & premium chocolate in one of the world’s great culinary metropolitan areas”.
Get your tickets in advance, since they won’t sell any at the door, due to the popularity of the event!
Participants include Amano Artisan Chocolate, Intrigue Chocolates, Halletts Chocolates, Forte Chocolates, La Chatelaine Chocolat Co., Posh Chocolat, Seattle Chocolate Company, The French Quarter, CocoTutti, Taza Chocolate, Vibrant Chocolate, Blendissimo, the Tea Room chocolate company, Divine Chocolate, Goat Milk Candy Co., MDP Signature Chocolates…
General Ticket Information
Adults: 20.00 (Advance Purchase)
Adults: $25 (Door. Not Available)
Children under 6: Free*
Children, 6 to 12: $10
Picture credit: The International Chocolate Salon
Let’s do desserts is a monthly blog featuring where and with what to silence your sweet tooth.
Why bunnies, why eggs? The Easter Bunny was introduced to the United States by the German settlers who arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country during the 18th century. And eggs are widely used as a symbol of the start of new life, just as new life emerges from an egg when the chick hatches out, celebrating Spring.
Where to get your bunnies and eggs in Seattle?
Collection of Easter eggs, cute bunnies & hares. For example, their Easter egg with soft caramel+organic pecans+50% deep milk chocolate, inspired by Aesop’s tale of The Tortoise and the Hare, each egg is handcrafted with the finest butter, organic pecans and deep milk chocolate.
Go beyond chocolate with their Easter Bunny Biscuits. Rich, chocolate crème is layered between crisp, buttery biscuits dipped in milk chocolate, and then stamped with a bunny on top. Every Easter basket needs a box of these delicious Belgian Godiva treats. (Picture Godiva)
Let’s do desserts is a monthly blog featuring where and with what to silence your sweet tooth.
A few weeks ago, I had a wonderful Japanese dinner topped off by an amazing dessert, two actually! Besides the best black cod in town and the friendliest owner, Sushi Kappo Tamura on Eastlake also won my vote for the most original and exotic japanese desserts.
* Butter fried mochi with sweet Azuki beans: the combination of the warm crispy butter fried outside with the chewy inside, topped by sweet azuki beans…water comes back in my mouth when I think about it.
* Okinawan cane sugar crème brûlée: it has been reviewed as a favorite by many visitors and I must agree.
* Almond custard in palm sugar syrup with gojis and longans: Power Women, this tastes goood!
Next time, after sushi, save some space for dessert and allow your sweet taste buds a trip to Japan.
Go chiso sama deshita!
Suggest you make a reservation, as they get pretty busy.
Let’s do desserts is a monthly blog featuring where and with what to silence your sweet tooth.
Valentine Tip #437:
The way to a woman’s heart…
…is through her sweet tooth.
In South Korea, similar to Japan, women give chocolate to men on February 14, and men give non-chocolate candy to women on March 14 (White Day). On April 14 (Black Day), those who did not receive anything on the 14th of Feb or March go to a Chinese restaurant to eat black noodles and “mourn” their single life. The 14th of every month marks a love-related day in Korea, although most of them are obscure. From January to December: Candle Day, Valentine’s Day, White Day, Black Day, Rose Day, Kiss Day, Silver Day, Green Day, Music Day, Wine Day, Movie Day, and Hug Day.
Valentine’s Day in Seattle:
For a romantic dessert, head to Tango Restaurant and Lounge. With desserts named Cinnamon-Chocolate Tres Leches, Café con Leches Flan, Tartaleta de Frutas, El Diablo, Ginger Pineapple-Fruit Crisp, you will leave this place in love with the Dulces! El Diablo must be one of my favorite desserts in the entire world.
You feel like doing your own thing? Valentine meringue cones with secret messages – who needs fortune cookies when you can make these! BHG shows you how to make your meringue secret message cones. Aren’t they just adorable! 
Want to give yourself or your sweetheart a little something? Check out some of the most beautiful chocolates at Godiva. They have a whole collection of great heart shaped goodies. Order online or go smell the chocolate at one of their shops.
Happy, sweet Valentine’s Day!
Pictures courtesy of Godiva.com
Let’s do desserts is a monthly blog featuring where and with what to silence your sweet tooth.
Happy New Year!
Should I feel bad for writing about desserts when I know many of you made a resolution banning the delights of life? My January calender says ‘Break a resolution’! (Don’t blame me, blame Kate Spade). If you are breaking your resolution you can maybe replace it by a new and better one? What about working out an hour for every dessert you indulge? Or just eating great desserts in moderation, with focus on fruits or fresh and organic ones? If you do break your resolution, make it worth it’s while and don’t settle for anything less than the best!
A few desserts that sound perfect for a cold January to me:
Bread pudding
This is a dessert popular in British cuisine, Puerto Rican cuisine, Mexican cuisine, Argentina, Louisiana Creole and that of the Southern United States, as well as Belgian and French cuisine. The French refer to it by the English name “pudding” without the word “bread” and the Belgians call it broodpudding, which literally translates as bread pudding. It is made using stale, yes usually left-over, bread.
Where to get your bread pudding in Seattle?
Boat Street Café serves one of Seattle favorites: Amaretto bread pudding with a rum butter cream
Grand Central Bakery has a variety of bread puddings, from savory to veggie and breakfast versions
Nettletown on Eastlake serves a beautiful huckleberry cardamom bread pudding
For the at home version, check out how Emeril Lagasse does it!
Fondue
Fondue is the national dish of Switzerland. The word fondue comes from the French word fondre, which means ‘to melt’. Fondue is traditionally with melted cheese, but sweet fondues are a more recent invention and offer a great dessert choice, especially for a dinner party or just a tête-à-tête! Chocolate is perhaps the most obvious and most-loved, but there are many options.
Where to get your fondue in Seattle?
I am not a big Melting Pot fan, but that’s about the one and only place I know of in Seattle that serves sweet fondues. So, I opt for an at home feast. Get your chocolate at Wholefoods, I suggest the Callebaut blocks of chocolate – dark, milk or white and consider getting David Morgan’s book, Fondue. Try something different like a Mocha Fondue with marshmallows and sugar-dipped cherries or a Spicy peach fondue with griddled panettone and mascarpone. If you don’t have a pot, I’d be happy to lend you mine!
Stay sweet, warm and happy!
Let’s do desserts is a monthly blog featuring where and with what to silence your sweet tooth.
Cheesecake: a topping made of soft, fresh cheese on a base made from biscuit, pastry or sponge.
Right, yes, but not so fast…
Cheesecake was a popular dish in ancient Greece. A Greek physician, Aegimus, wrote a book on the art of making cheesecakes, around the 5th century BC!
North America has quite a variety of cheesecake. From the New York to the Sour cream to the Pennsylvania Dutch, the Philadelphia, the Farmer’s cheese, Country-style cheesecake to the Lactose-free and the Gooey butter cake.
But North-America is not the only country who adopted the cheesecake into their grandmother’s dessert recipe book. So did the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, but also many other countries. There is the Bulgarian-style, Greek-style, Swedish Ostkaka, Käsekuchen – German-style cheesecake using quark cheese, the Dutch/Belgian-style cheesecakes which are typically flavored with melted bittersweet chocolate. They also include a speculaas crust (ho ho those chocolate covered Belgians! J), the Italian, the French, the Polish sernik, Brazilian and Argentinean-style. There is even an Asian-style cheesecake with flavors including matcha, lychee and mango. Asian-style cheesecakes are lighter in flavor, and are sometimes light and spongy in texture.
I don’t know of many other desserts that have as many local variants as the cheesecake.
When one looks up ‘the best cheesecake in Seattle’ there were 2 names that kept coming up: the Cheesecake Factory and the Confectional. Yes, these are probably the most obvious and well known in Seattle’s cheesecake land, but here are a couple worth exploring:
For American cheesecakes Simply desserts, for Asian-style cheesecake try Hiroki, try Serafina for a ‘Torta di Formaggio’: Mascarpone cheesecake with oatmeal crust and to get a taste of Neufchâtel cheese, try the French-style cheesecake at Le Fournil on Eastlake (photo).
Besides home-made cheesecake (photo), my all time favorite is just a ferry-ride away. Bakery San Juan on Mullis Street in Friday Harbor is usually my first stop when we get to San Juan island. Besides delicious cakes, they have great breads and pizzas too.
Tell me, where do you get your cheesecake-fix?
Let’s do desserts is a monthly blog featuring where and with what to silence your sweet tooth.
Sinterklaas (also called Sint Nicolaas, de Goedheiligman or simply de Sint in Dutch and Saint Nicolas in French) is a traditional Winter holiday figure in the Netherlands, Belgium, Aruba, Suriname and Netherlands Antilles; he is celebrated annually on Saint Nicholas’ eve 5 December or, in Belgium, on the morning of 6 December. The feast celebrates the name day of Saint Nicholas, patron saint of Amsterdam, children and sailors. He is the basis of the mythical holiday figure of Santa Claus in the United States.
Saint Nicholas is famous for doing a lot of nice things, but one of his most famous acts of charity involves a poor man with three daughters. Without the money to provide a proper dowry, the women would most likely end up having to choose a less than honorable profession. Saint Nicholas learned of the plight and came to their aid by throwing three small sacks of money through their window while they slept. The story sometimes includes the detail that the sacks landed in the women’s’ shoes…
This generous act is still celebrated today on Saint Nicholas day. Children still place a shoe by the chimney in hopes that Sinterklaas will reward their good behavior. They sing at the chimney in the weeks before Sinterklaas, make drawings, and are on their best behavior.
Why am I giving you this piece of history? Well, first I thought it was good to know where Santa Claus comes from and second, Sinterklaas is one of the ‘sweetest’ days in the year for Belgians and I simply could not keep this sugar coated story from you!
Although some treats have become part of the American Christmas celebrations, typical Sinterklaas treats traditionally include: hot chocolate, mandarin oranges, pepernoten, letter-shaped pastry filled with almond paste or chocolate letter, speculaas, chocolate coins and marzipan figures. Newer treats include kruidnoten and a figurine of Sinterklaas made of chocolate and sometimes wrapped in colored aluminum foil.
Let’s start with hot chocolate. It has been a real challenge for me to find hot chocolate that tastes like the hot chocolate I know. I recently came across a hot chocolate that is worth its name at The chocolate box on Pine Street. They offer all kind of toppings and additions, but unless you are a very sweet European you might not need to add anything to the chocolate. It is just great plain and plain great!
Mandarin oranges: The lack of vitamins in sugar is compensated by mandarin oranges prior, during and after Sinterklaas.
Pepernoten (maybe more familiar to you as pepper nuts) and kruidnoten (spice nuts) are very typical. Here is a recipe for making them the Dutch way. The pepper nut cookies get thrown around in the room by Sinterklaas. It is an ancient symbol of fertility, reminding us of a farmer sowing seeds or rice thrown at a wedding. In Belgium pepper nuts get mostly replaced by Karolientjes (also called Nic Nac, Piknikken).
Letter shape pastry filled with almond paste, also known as Dutch Letters. It looks like Jaarsma Bakery, located in Iowa can get you a taste of Dutch letters to your door. Chocolate letters are usually big and thick and take you a while to get through, unlike the thin delicate Sinterklaas figurines.
Speculaas, which might be known to you as Dutch Windmill Cookies, in shapes of Sinterklaas and other related shapes are consumed in abundance during this holiday. The Belgian and Northern French variety is called speculoos. We either eat the speculoos as a cookies, put them on a piece of bread, or we dip them in coffee – letting them steep till they get soft enough to spread them on our bread. Try it, it is delicious! Because it requires a cup of coffee, and no one likes to drink their coffee with crumbs of speculaas smart people invented speculoos spread, something you might want to pick up on your next trip to Europe.
It came to my attention that while researching a bit for this post that all the ingredients for these sweets are pretty straightforward. Usually the typical treats are made fresh by bakeries and chocolatiers. No weird additives or unpronounceable names, and contain only the highest quality ingredients.
I’m off hunting for Sinterklaas sweets…and am already excited to see my husbands’ face when he wakes up 6 December to a living room full of chocolate, marzipan, pepper nuts, nic nacs and speculoos. My best bet for international holiday sweets is World Market , Whole Foods Market or Uwajimaya.
Paris, September 2010
Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the home to a number of famous cafés, such as Les Deux Magots, Café de Flore, Brasserie Lipp; once frequented by many artists and intellectuals such as Picasso, Hemingway, Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir. This beautiful 6 ième quartier is also frequented by me and many others who know where sweets are at its sweetest! It is the home of the pâtisserie La Durée.
La Durée et ses macarons. La Durée although established in 1862, it was in 1930 that the grandson, Pierre Desfontaines had the idea to create the double-decker macarons. Originally they were composed of two almond meringue discs filled with a layer of butter cream, jam, or ganache, but today these exceptional quality macarons come both in traditional and fabulous creative flavors. Coffee, chocolate, vanilla, pistachio, lemon, raspberry, violet-blackcurrant, liquorice, dark chocolate, caramel with superfine salt, orange blossom, red fruits, lemon-citronella, mint, rose petal, coconut, and some seasonal specials such as almond, spice and soft fruits, chestnuts, praliné, fig & date,…
A sunny Parisian day asks for colorful delights. A beautiful window display lures you in, inside the colorful macarons displayed sell themselves. 15,000 every day, I was told!
These small, round cakes, crisp on the outside, smooth and soft in the middle, are made every morning in Ladurée’s “laboratory”. The pastry chefs measure out very precisely the required amounts of almonds, eggs and sugar, before adding one final ingredient, a pinch of unique “know-how”, essential to the making of such a delicacy. Once cooked and filled, the macarons are put to one side for 2 days before going on sale, the time it takes to achieve a perfect balance between texture and flavor. They are so delicate that when you hold them they almost break, and once they touch your tong they melt away, spreading the flavor to perfection. These macarons are the perfect company for a gallery and boutique walk.
If you’re not headed to Paris any time soon, here are some of the places in Seattle that will color your day with macaron-bliss:
Honore Artisan Bakery in Ballard
Bakery Nouveau in West-Seattle
Le Panier at Pike Place Market
Sweet tip: skip the cup cakes, build a tower of macarons instead for your next party or as wedding cake!
Let’s do desserts is a monthly blog featuring where and with what to silence your sweet tooth.
Almost every other breakfast or brunch menu in Seattle has Belgian waffles listed. Quite interesting, if you know that Belgians eat waffles as dessert or in the afternoon as a snack. Menu’s in restaurants that serve waffles will list the hours between which waffles are available (usually between 2pm and 6pm). Same goes for crêpes. But hey, who would pass on an opportunity to savor these tasty battered delights first thing in the morning!? As the quote goes “Life is short, eat dessert first”!
Let’s dig into the different kinds of crêpes and waffles, so next time you savor one you can consider yourself a specialist.
The waffles that are most commonly known to you are probably the Belgian, German and syrup waffles, but there are more.
There is the American waffle, which you know better than I do.
There are the Belgian Waffles with two distinctive kinds, both referring to cities in Belgium; the Brussels Waffle, which Belgians just call ‘waffle’ and the Liège Waffle, which we will refer to as ‘sugar waffle’.
Brussels Waffles are light and eaten on a plate, while drinking coffee or hot chocolate on an afternoon as a break from shopping or when meeting with friends or family. The waffles come with white powdered sugar, with fresh fruit, with ice cream and hot chocolate sauce, … just to name a few. For Brussels waffles in Seattle, check out brunch at Monsoon. Not exactly the most obvious place, but according to Seattle Magazine definitely the best!
Liège Waffles are mainly sold by street vendors, they are more chewy and smaller than the Brussels Waffles and have often melted sugar crystal in them that make their edges caramelized when they come out of the hot waffle maker. They are made on the spot, while you wait outside the booth; a small white paper is put around it to hold and eat the sugary delight as you walk the street. Most of them are plain, but there are chocolate and other dipped versions. For Liège waffles in Seattle, check out Sweet Iron.
The Bergischer Waffles are a German specialty. They come in heart shape and are served with cherries and cream; also the Scandinavian Waffles are primarily heart shaped, and every individual country has its own traditions in terms of toppings, that go from savory to sweet.
The Hong Kong Waffles are similar to the Belgian Liège waffle; and then there are the syrup waffles or in Dutch ‘Stroopwafels, these are thin waffles with syrup fillings. They are usually sold prepackaged in supermarkets. You can find them at Wholefoods under the original Dutch name ‘Stroopwafels’, also World Market carries some.
Crêpes are a bit simpler, but not less delicious! Crêpes are the French version of pancakes. Crêpes originated from Brittany and are widely consumed all over the world, but primarily in Belgium and France. They can be either savory or sweet.
Europeans usually don’t eat them for breakfast; the savory kind is mainly eaten for dinner or lunch instead of bread, the sweet kind is for dessert and birthdays.
Crêpe Café and Mobatta (crêpes to go), might have what it takes to silence my sweet tooth.
Have you ever had Crêpe Suzette
or crêpe with caramelized apples
Enjoy!!!!
Let’s do desserts is a monthly blog featuring how and where to silence your sweet tooth.
Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America, with its earliest documented use around 1100 BC. The majority of the Mesoamerican peoples made chocolate beverages, including the Aztecs, who made it into a beverage known as xocolātl, meaning “bitter water”.
Until the 16th century, no European had ever heard of the popular drink from the Central and South American people. It was not until the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs that chocolate could be imported to Europe. In Spain it quickly became a court favorite. In a century it had spread and become popular throughout the European continent. To keep up with the high demand for this new drink, Spanish armies began enslaving Mesoamericans to produce cacao. Chocolate in its solid form was invented in 1847.
Several types of chocolate can be distinguished:
Unsweetened chocolate is pure chocolate liquor, also known as bitter or baking chocolate. It is unadulterated chocolate: the pure, ground, roasted chocolate beans that impart a strong, deep chocolate flavor.
Dark chocolate is produced by adding fat and sugar to the cacao mixture. The U.S. Government calls this “sweet chocolate”, and requires a 15% concentration of chocolate liquor. European rules specify a minimum of 35% cocoa solids.
Milk chocolate is sweet chocolate that additionally contains milk powder or condensed milk. European rules specify a minimum of 25% total dry cocoa solids for Milk Chocolate.
White chocolate contains cocoa butter, sugar, and milk but no cocoa solids.
What’s that whitish discoloration on my chocolate? Various types of “blooming” effects can occur if chocolate is stored or served improperly. If refrigerated or frozen without containment, chocolate can absorb enough moisture to cause a whitish discoloration, the result of fat or sugar crystals rising to the surface. Moving chocolate from one temperature extreme to another, such as from a refrigerator on a hot day, can result in an oily texture. Although visually unappealing, chocolate suffering from bloom is perfectly safe for consumption. Chocolate is very sensitive to temperature and humidity. Ideal storage temperatures are between 15 and 17 °C (59 and 63 °F), with a relative humidity of less than 50%.
Some of my personal favorite chocolate bars in Seattle:
KALLARI: take in the story on the beautiful packaging, break of a piece and let it melt in your mouth. You will taste the Amazon. You’ll find it at Whole Foods Market.
THEO: from the organic, fair trade, bean to bar chocolate factory. A Seattle local, you can find it at most stores around town.
VALRHONA: big pieces of bliss. Also often used for baking. Whole Foods Market, Trader Joes, Sur la Table to name a few.
CLAUDIO CORALLO: a cute little store with a soul and great chocolate from the source. Together with Mistral Kitchen and others, they create delicious desserts. Check out the store on Westlake Avenue and taste their cacoa beans and nibs.
Whole Foods Market on Westlake Avenue (near the soup and bulk olives aisle) has pieces of the giant CALLEBAUT chocolate blocks that their baking department uses (I am assuming). Get a chunk of chocolate and break it into little pieces, or use it for chocolate sauce or baking. That’s what most Belgians do. An easier way for getting some Callebaut chocolate would be the 3 pack bars (they come in 82%, 75% and milk chocolate) at Trader Joes.
Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands – and then eat just one of the pieces. Judith Viorst
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate
