Truffles

We have been working on truffles and truffles and truffles and truffles and... ,  ENJOY!

Amaretto in Milk Chocolate

Cappuccino Truffle in Dark Chocolate

Hazelnut Truffle in Milk Chocolate

Cappuccino Truffle in Milk Chocolate

Lavender Truffle in Dark Chocolate

Saigon Cinnamon Truffle in Dark Chocolate

Strawberry Champagne Truffle in Dark Chocolate

Earl Grey Truffle in Dark Chocolate

Valentine's Day Prep

We are getting ready for Valentine's and have set out most of our products!  We have a few old favorites, and a few new things!

1/2 lb Valentine's Day Box

Love Puzzle (yep, it comes apart and you can eat it!)

Glazed Cashews (if you haven't had these, oh my goodness they are addicting!)

Cute Gift Baskets filled with various yummy treats!

1 lb Valentine's Day Box

Chocolate Fudge!

Fudge base cooking (looks kind of like cream!)

Finished chocolate fudge ready for packaging (they are each 1/2 lb)

Final Friday Art Crawl

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View 3

Yay!  Viewers of Final Friday!

And another group of viewers!

Final Friday is an art crawl through different establishments throughout Wichita.  This month we hosted a college buddy of mine out of Kansas City.  Andrew Rosenbarger- Art and Chocolate exhibit.

Chocolate Covered Candied Bacon!

Bacon ready for the oven

Cooked bacon ready for chocolate

Ready to devour!

Crazy Scary Machine!

This is our ball mixer in action making cream centers.  This particular one is the lemon cream.  Note the sound, yes we need to "de-squeek" it, but it is so loud that next door knows when we are using it!  To clean the mixer takes longer than it takes to use it!

The mixer filled with HOT water.

The tiny little hole that all the water from the previous picture has to go down.

The Candy With Many Names

Honeycomb, sea foam, sponge, fool's gold what ever you want to call it, this is the amazing transformation from hot sugar to the light crunchy candy.  Enjoy!  

Note: I was too impatient to cut the video shorter (had to download too many things), so...

Sugar Magic!

Sugar, corn syrup and water starting to heat up

When heating sugar mixture up, it turns from opaque to clear.  Above is the video of the sugar as it heats up.  I accidentally got too close and fogged up the camera, but you can still see the transformation.  When bubbles clear, the temperature is about 210 degrees.

Vacation Day

Doing chocolate research and picking up artwork for Final Friday.  Will post pictures when I get back!

Turtle Carnage

Turtle Carnage

After layering toasted pecans on a sheet pan, we spread a layer of caramel.  Then, they are cut into perfect sized squares for dipping.  There are always edges left.  The picture above is 6 sheet pans worth of edges and pecans- Turtle carnage.

Cream day

Putting the decorative swirl on the top of maple creams

Another view of the swirl

The kettle of chocolate!

I had to have Mom take the photos for me, I tried, and well there were some bad results!  Sorry for the chocolate on your camera Mom!

Coconut Haystacks

Milk Chocolate Coconut Haystack

As Valentine's approaches, we are pumping candy out right and left.  Today was a coconut day!  Little blobs of coconut goodness!  We also worked on coconut joys (the toasted chewy coconut discs)!

New Marshmallow Flavor

Working on a new marshmallow flavor.  Mojito!  Lime, Rum, and Fresh Mint!  Oh Yeah!

Peanut Butter Fudge

Pre- Decoration and finishing touches!

Today was a peanut butter fudge dipped in chocolate day!  Yep, you heard me, peanut butter fudge dipped in chocolate!  They are awesome!

Jumping Tables

Getting ready for Valentine's Day!  It is always a crazy and hectic time.  Sometimes my hands move faster than I can react, and well, tables like to jump out and hit me!

Busy day

Today was a fun day.  We hosted a Girl Scout troop in getting a badge.  It was a concentration on the senses.  What a great way, right?  They got to dip handmade (in our shop) marshmallows, rice krispie treats and pretzels.  They were a great troop and very inquisitive.

Brownie Girl Scout Troop

Later in the day, we hosted a birthday party.  This was the quietest group yet.  They were sweet girls and had a blast decorating their treats.

Birthday Party

Yep, today was a fun day!

Caramel Day

Making Caramel!

15 lbs of caramel cut by hand with my trusty caramel cutting
knife.

We still stir the caramel by hand (it is a great arm workout!) and pour it out to cool.  Then, we cut each caramel to be dipped by hand.

Behind the scenes

Foil wrapping "Wichita" Bars

As being a new owner to a historic chocolate shop in my hometown, we learned a lot in the first year and wish we would have documented more.  In our second year, I will be bringing you behind the scene adventures throughout the year.