Trader Joe's - Amaretti & Sweet Almond 'Sky - Dec. 26, 2016

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

Rinomata e Premiata
Amaretti Virginia
Good
Weight: 2.11 oz. (60 g.) / 10.58 oz. (300 g.) in total container
Calories: 330 calories in 4 cookies
Cost: $9.99 for 1 container
Purchased from: Trader Joe's, Alameda, CA

Trader Joe's
Tartufi Dolci All' Amaretto
Good +
Weight: 1.38 oz. (39 g.) / 6 oz. (170 g.) in total canister/tin of 13 pieces
Calories: 240 calories in 3 pieces
Cost: $5.99 for 1 container
Purchased from: Trader Joe's, Alameda, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of Italian Holiday Theme Week and Day #3 of Spirited Chocolates Theme Week.

Amaretti cookies
This beautiful, rectangular tin was filled with 15 soft amaretti cookies. Festively wrapped in paper twist wrappers and sealed with clear inner-wrappers, were 4 different flavors: Chocolate, Coffee, Raspberry and Chocolate Rum.

Tartufi Dolci All' Amaretto Truffles
The second chocolate(s) of the day were Tartufi Dolci (sweet truffles) All' Amaretto—also individually wrapped pieces - in vanilla colored papers. These rectangular chocolate pieces contained pieces of amaretti cookie and almond bits, and were almond flavored.

Sweet Almond 'Sky
And the Italian-American spirit of the day was a tiny shotglass* drink mixed with 1 Tablespoon DiSaronno (Amaretto) and 2 Tablespoons Woodstock After Dark Bourbon + Chocolate. Drink neat. Guaranteed to warm you on a cold evening.

*Almost all of my cocktails and desserts are shot-glass sized. It's a fun challenge to try to pack the most perfectly compatible flavors into one small glass.

Valenza Chocolatier - Clove and Cucidati Chocolates - Dec. 25, 2016

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

Valenza Chocolatier
1.) Clove - Good +++
2.) Cucidati - Very Good
(from a 6-piece Italian Holiday Cioccolato assortment box)
Weight: .8 oz. (22.6 g.) (estimate) in 2 pieces
Calories: 120 calories (estimate) in 2 pieces
Cost: $15.00 - part of a 6-piece holiday assortment box
Purchased from: Valenza Chocolatier, Costa Mesa, CA

Buon Natale and Merry Christmas to all from Chocolate Banquet!
I hope today you enjoyed some of the true sweetness of this holiday.

I felt grateful to spend today with family and friends, and to unwrap and savor these two wonderful holiday chocolates from Valenza Chocolatier (Costa Mesa, CA). Both were inspired by Italian cookies.

Clove
The first piece, a Clove chocolate, was based on a Sicilian clove chocolate cookie and contained "clove, cinnamon and allspice, 41% milk chocolate and 61% dark chocolate." It was a warm spicy chocolate, with well-balanced (subtle, baked cookie) flavor. The clove was present without being too strong and there was almost a hint of something with alcohol.

The domed dark chocolate bonbon shell was topped with holiday sparkles—perfect for Christmas.

Cucidati
Cucidati (little bracelets*) are Italian fig cookies. Today's Cucidati chocolate channeled the best of the flavors found in these flavorful cookies. It looked a bit like a humble truffle, but it was anything but. At the heart of this chocolate was a center packed with Italian holiday flavors: chocolate, figs, allspice, cinnamon, candied orange peel, honey and raisins.

This confection was hand-rolled in 61% dark chocolate and finished with cocoa powder. It was a grown-up and sophisticated chocolate with a hint of fig paste filled cookie and tasted like holiday spices and childhood memories.

We drove to neighboring towns to see Christmas lights. I enjoyed a small cup of hot chocolate with Amaretto to help brace against the cold. If the weather were warmer, I would have been tempted to have a small glass of Aperol (Italian orange-flavored liqueur/apertif) over ice with these chocolates.

*Some Cucidati fig cookies are sliced in such a way that they could look like a series of small, joined bracelets. (The fig paste filling for these cookies may show in between the "bracelets"; and the fig filling may occasionally also contain ground dates.)

Valenza Chocolatier - Christmas Eve chocolates - Dec. 24, 2016

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 


Valenza Chocolatier

Barolo bonbon
(part of 6-piece Holiday Italian Cioccolato Sleeve assortment box)
Good+++-Very Good
Weight: .4 oz. (11.32 g.) (estimate) in 1 piece
Calories: 60 calories (estimate) in 1 piece
Cost: $15.00 - This piece was part of a 6-piece assortment box
Purchased from: Valenza Chocolatier, Costa Mesa, CA

Nocciole bar
(part of a 3-bar holiday bar set)
Good +++-Very Good
Weight: .775 oz. (22.5 g.) / 3.1 oz. (90 g.) in total bar
Calories: 116 calories (estimate) in 1/4 bar
Cost: $N/A - sample
Purchased from:

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Italian Holiday Theme Week, where we're celebrating the holidays with a holiday red wine-infused confection and a milk chocolate Nocciole (hazelnut) chocolate bar—from Valenza Chocolatier (Costa Mesa, CA).

Valenza Barolo Bonbon
Today's Barolo chocolate was from Valenza's Holiday Italian Cioccolato* Sleeve 6-piece assortment box. This Italian inspired collection was filled with rich holiday flavors.

Barolo is an Italian red wine made from the Nebbiolo grape in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy (not far from where excellent Piedmont hazelnuts are grown I must add).

Today's Valenza Chocolatier's Barolo holiday chocolate was constructed of a pate de fruit layer atop a 61% dark chocolate ganache, and covered with dark chocolate. The concentrated, layered flavors and textures were well-executed and delicious. This Barolo bonbon was a 2017 Good Food Awards finalist.

Valenza Holiday Bars - Nocciole
Today I also sampled one of a trio of Valenza chocolate bars (hazelnut, nibs and sesame) that were packaged together for the holidays.

The bar I tried was a 41% milk chocolate Nocciole (hazelnut) Bar loaded with roasted hazelnuts from the Piedmont region of Northern Italy and seasoned with a light sprinkle of Sicilian sea salt. These Piedmont PGI or IGP** hazelnuts are known for their fine quality.

Red Wine and Hot Chocolate
Today's Barolo chocolate reminded me of a hot item featured on numerous food blogs and in the New York Times. Mixing a good red wine (like a Barolo) with hot (drinking) chocolate (dark chocolate, milk, nutmeg, allspice, clove, mandarin peel and other spices. I had my doubts, but it was better than expected. And I drank the whole cup.

*Cioccolato is the Italian word for chocolate; and unfortunately this holiday assortment is already sold out for this year's holiday season.

**Piemonte IGP is a protected geographic designation and the term refers only to hazelnuts grown in a specific region of Piedmont Italy. 

Valenza Chocolatier - Fennel holiday cioccolato - Dec. 23, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

Valenza Chocolatier
Fennel - Dark Chocolate
(part of 6-piece Holiday Italian Cioccolato Sleeve assortment box)
Good +++
Weight: .4 oz. (11.32 g.) (estimate) in 1 piece
Calories: 60 calories (estimate) in 1 piece
Cost: $15.00 for a 6-piece assortment box
Purchased from: Valenza Chocolatier, Costa Mesa, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Italian Holiday Theme Week.

This week I'm making my way through a Holiday Italian Cioccolato* Sleeve assortment box from Valenza Chocolatier (Costa Mesa, CA). Created by Amy Jo Pedone, this Italian inspired collection was filled with rich holiday flavors that were cross-culturally delicious.

Today's chocolate was Valenza Chocolatier's Fennel holiday chocolate. This attractive, glossy dark dome with green was filled with a dark chocolate ganache and infused with roasted fennel seeds.

The flavors unfolded nicely so I could taste the chocolate, a very light herbal infusion note, and then a nice seed and fennel finish.

*Cioccolato is the Italian word for chocolate.

Valenza Chocolatier - dark chocolate Tartaruga - Dec. 22, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

Valenza Chocolatier
Tartaruga
Good +++
Weight: 2 oz. (56.6 g.) (estimate) in 1 piece
Calories: 298 calories (estimate) in 1 piece
Cost: N/A - sample from Valenza Chocolatier
Purchased from: N/A - sample from Valenza Chocolatier

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Italian Holiday Theme Week.

Thank you to Amy Jo Pedone at Valenza Chocolatier (Costa Mesa, CA) for sending along three extra chocolate items—after I ordered her Valenza chocolate holiday sleeve (6-piece holiday assortment) for this week's theme week.


Among these three additional chocolates was today's Tartaruga (Italian for turtle). A turtle in confection parlance refers to a chocolate-covered caramel patty with nuts. Usually there are four nuts that protrude from the patty making the piece resemble a turtle. (Pecan halves make the most convincing turtle feet.)

The Valenza Tartaruga with pecans was a high-end version of a traditional caramel turtle, made with smooth 61% cacao Venezuelan single origin, Fair Trade dark chocolate.* (The prize-winning turtle was awarded a Fair Culinary Arts Blue Ribbon in 2013.)

The interior golden caramel (sugar, organic butter, organic cream, corn syrup and vanilla) tasted authentic and richly substantial.

*Valenza Chocolatier specializes in Italian inspired single bean origin and fair trade chocolates and confections, with no preservatives. Chocolate creation magic is conducted at the Hood Kitchen Space in Costa Mesa, CA.

Valenza Chocolatier - Holiday Hazelnut chocolates - Dec. 21, 2016

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Valenza Chocolatier
(Holiday Italian Cioccolato Sleeve)

1.) Gianduiotti Classico
2.) Gianduiotti Maximo

Weight: .8 oz. (22.64 g.) estimate in 2 pieces
Calories: 120 calories (estimate) in 2 pieces
Cost: $15.00 for 1 sleeve (6 pieces)
Purchased from: Valenza Chocolatier (online order)

Buone Feste e benvenuto a Day #2 of Italian Holiday Chocolate Week. Happy Holidays and Welcome to a much anticipated chocolate combination week, largely focused on Italian-inspired holiday chocolates from Valenza Chocolatier (Costa Mesa, CA).


Today's two Gianduiotti Classico and Gianduiotti Maximo hazelnut chocolates were part of a six-piece Holiday Italian Cioccolato Sleeve* created by Valenza Chocolatier owner and master chocolatier, Amy Jo Pedone.

Amy Jo (who is half Sicilian) was inspired by Italian holiday sweets and chocolates. Like many chocolate makers and chocolatiers I've met, Amy Jo left the corporate world, received professional training and applied her considerable skills and talents to making chocolates.

Her Gianduiotti Classico was a buttery rich creamy hazelnut chocolate, and slightly sweeter than the Gianduiotti Maximo. The latter epitomized creamy goodness as well, and it captured more intense chocolate and hazelnut flavor. Both would be sure fire winners at any holiday table.

*Unfortunately, this seasonal Italian holiday chocolate assortment was already sold out a few weeks ago. Put a note in your calendar for next year...

Perugina - Milk Chocolate with Hazelnuts bar - Dec. 20, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

Perugina
Milk Chocolate with Hazelnuts bar
Good - Good +
Weight: .7 oz. (20 g.) / 3.5 oz. (99.2 g.) in total bar
Calories: 115 calories in 2 squares/ 1/3 bar
Cost: $1.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: IKEA, East Palo Alto, CA

Benvenuto a (Welcome to) Day #1 of Italian Holiday Chocolate Series; and happy holidays to all.

When I think of Italian chocolates, I think about creamy milk chocolates with hazelnuts.

Today's Milk Chocolate with Hazelnuts from Perugina* (Italy) honors that tradition. The bar's packaging displayed a gold (Perugina Product of Italy) seal over a green, white and red ribbon—colors from the Italian flag that also seem holiday appropriate.

The relatively thin, smooth milk chocolate bar (no cacao percent listed) contained a tiny sea of roasted and sugared hazelnut bits. While the chocolate was fairly sweet, a faint taste of hazelnut came through.

This gluten free bar was also made without artificial flavors, colors or preservatives.

*Perugina, established in 1907, is now part of Nestle (Switzerland). Perugina bars are made in Italy by Nestle Italiana S.P.A.