Monday, December 28, 2015

Kindred Cooks Bacon Caramel; Cowboy Toffees - Dec. 28, 2015

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

Kindred Cooks
Bacon Caramel
Sea Salt with Chocolate, other
Good - Good+
Weight: .25 oz. (7 g.) (estimate) in 1 piece
Calories: 30 calories (estimate) in 1 piece
Cost: $N/A - sample
Purchased from: Kindred Cooks, Campbell, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate, Smoke and Fire Theme Week.

The first of two groups of chocolate sweets today included bacon and chocolate caramels from Kindred Cooks (Campbell, CA).

Kindred Cooks makes small, bite-sized, individually-wrapped pieces of flavored caramels, including today's Bacon Chocolate, Sea Salt with Chocolate, Vanilla Chai, and Marshmallow with Chocolate. (The last three flavors were part of a Caramel Sampler package.) The Vanilla Chai contained no chocolate, but the flavors were great.

These caramels were light and slightly chewy but (as promised) they didn't stick to my teeth.


Cowboy Toffee Co.
Chuckwagon Coffee Toffee - Good ++
Weight: .25 oz. (7 g.) (estimate) in 2 small pieces
Calories: 32 calories (estimate) in 2 small pieces
Cost: $N/A - sample pieces
Purchased from: N/A - Cowboy Toffee table at Fall Chocolate Salon 2015

Today I also sampled toffees from Cowboy Toffee Co. (Oakdale, CA).

The company's Chuckwagon Coffee Toffee was coated with milk chocolate and encrusted with bits of flavorful, alder wood roasted (ground) coffee, and hickory smoked sea salt.

In the 1800s, in the Western U.S., chuckwagons provided food for hired cattle hands. Cowboy Toffee's Coffee Toffee pays homage to that legacy with this quote:

"Chuckwagon food typically included easy-to-preserve items like beans and smoked meats, sugar, coffee, and sourdough biscuits. All of these items were cooked over a camp fire and smoke infused."

I also sampled Cowboy Toffee Co.'s Bushwacker* Toffee (the larger piece of the two pictured here), which I hope to feature in the future. The company's Bushwacker Toffee contained a blend of cowboy-inspired flavors. English toffee was combined with bits of sage, semi-sweet chocolate, roasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds), and pumpkin pie spice.

*Bushwacker was a champion bucking bull, from Oakdale, CA.

The content and images in this post belong to ChocolateBanquet.com.


Vosges - Alderwood Smoked Salt Caramel Marshmallows - Dec. 27, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Vosges
Alderwood Smoked Salt Caramel Marshmallows 45% cacao
Good ++
Weight: 2.5 oz. (70.9 g.) in 1 package of 5 pieces
Calories: 300 calories in 1 package
Cost: $4.29 for 1 package of 5 pieces
Purchased from: Lunardi's, Belmont, CA

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate, Smoke and Fire Theme Week.

Today's sweet 45 percent cacao chocolate-covered squares—filled with chocolate, caramel and marshmallow—were from Vosges (Chicago, IL).

Topped with a sprinkle of alderwood smoked salt, these chocolates contained a tasty balance between sweet and savory (umami/smoked) flavors.

The content and images in this post belong to ChocolateBanquet.com.



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