Time for another chocolate roundup!  It’s been a few months since the last in the series, but by no means have those months been chocolate-free.  There were my chocolate finds in London, a true chocolate gem in Switzerland, a New York City inspired chocolate creation of my own and endless tastes along the way.  And now, time to share a few of the latter.

A previous theme (more than once) and still current favorite of mine is dark chocolate and salt.  It’s not a trend that will fade with time; it is simply a natural pairing and classic combination.  Bakers may add extra salt to their recipes to bring out the flavor of sweet ingredients, as in chocolate chip cookies or cakes – the overall effect being flavorful, not salty.  Whenever I see salt as a featured ingredient of a chocolate bar, my eyes open wide, and I usually end up grabbing it. Here are just a few of the many I have tasted lately.  Anyone else a big fan of chocolate with salt ?  Or have another fetish ingredient ?

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It has been two weeks since I was in London for Food Blogger Connect, and it’s been such fun reading the various posts by fellow speakers and participants… and tasting all the goodies I brought back with me, of course.  Off I went with my lists of addresses in the capital, categorized by chocolate, ice cream, cupcakes and artisanal British products. (Yes, literally.)  With only a couple of free days, friends to catch up with, fbc preparations, the Tube to master, and realizing London is, simply put, enormous, I didn’t quite get to check off as many spots as usual.  Nary a fairy cake tasted, nor spoonful of ice cream savored.  Not even a meringue from Ottolenghi. But worry not, there were plenty of chocolate stained fingers, and bars added to my chocolate drawer back home in Zürich.

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I don’t know what you were thinking from the title of this post, but I’m talking about caramel and salt.  Chocolate with caramel and salt, that is.  If ever there were a trend to take off unanimously, this would be on top of that list.  With macarons and designer cupcakes just below.

As you all know, I have my chocolate radar on 24/7, always on the lookout for new chocolate bars, whether in my local Coop or around the world.

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After sharing my love for dark chocolate and salt, a friend told me about her obsession with a certain bar of dark chocolate made with Hawaiian sea salt.  I was immediately intrigued.  When she said it was a Knipschildt bar, I knew I had to get my hands on it. Knipschildt?!  That would be Fritz Knipschildt, a young, charming Danish chocolatier, now living in Connecticut, making chocolates with original flavor combinations in beautiful packaging.   As is the case for many pastry chefs, Fritz’s background was in the savory side of the kitchen, working in restaurants in Denmark, France, Spain and the US.  The transition was quite natural, as he has stated before, “I loved to experiment with sweet and savory flavors and I continued to do so with chocolate.”

But more on his signature line of chocolates in a minute, each one with a different woman’s name by the way.  Back to the bar above (and below)!

Burnt Caramel and Hawaiian Sea Salt.  Difficult to go wrong there.  It’s a hefty bar with deliciously smooth dark chocolate – 71% Ecuadorian single bean.  When you break into it, your first reaction may be disappointment, that there’s very little caramel in relation to the chocolate (that was my first thought too).  But when you taste that thin layer, the amount of flavor that fills your mouth does not disappoint.  It’s a powerful hit of rich chocolate, caramel and strong salt.  Just look at the underside of the bar, and you’ll see why.  It’s a masterful combination of strong flavors.

If you want to taste the caramel in a more dominant – and runny – form, you should meet Hannah.  That’s one of Knipschildt’s chocolates, of course.  The same combination of flavors, burnt caramel and Hawaiian sea salt, in an individual praline.  My personal favorite of his chocolates in fact.  I used to buy his handmande paper boxes when I was living in the states at Dean & Deluca, Whole Foods and Food Emporium in NYC, and at Formaggio Kitchen in Boston.  Fortunately, they are easy to find, and come in seasonal colors.  Hannah went too fast; I didn’t have a chance to photograph her!  But below you’ll see Valentina, another irresistible caramel, this one made with lavender; and Cleopatra, made with raspberry liqueur.

With all of these chocolates and beautiful red boxes, this has me thinking one thing. Isn’t Valentine’s Day coming up real soon? Ah yes. Good thing Fritz thought about that too! 

If you’ve spent some time on this site, you already know that I am quite a fan of chocolate. Dark chocolate especially, and I have at least one or two squares every day. (Ok, dark chocolate with the exception of my long time favorite Toblerone.)  I’ve shared with you where to find chocolate in New York City and where to find it in Paris; you’ve read about chocolate served in a cheese box, chocolate that’s blue, and even chocolate made with pop rocks.  And you’re sure to see a whole lot more in the future. I am always on the lookout for a bar to discover.  And it’s rare that I will come back from a trip without a few new wrappers in my bag.

So I was very excited to find this relatively new bar (introduced in 2008) in a local Coop supermarket here in Zürich.  It’s not a shocking flavor or something that’s never been done before.  It’s actually a rather common culinary trend right now.  It just hadn’t been done by Lindt: chocolate… and??  Salt. In fact, I often add the latter when I taste my few squares each day.  I take a piece of dark chocolate, whether it’s a pure origin bar or flavored with espresso, and I sprinkle it with a few grains of high quality Fleur de Sel (hand harvested from the salt marshes of Brittany, France) or Maldon salt (from England), depending on my mood.  Now Lindt has added 3% sea salt to its classic dark chocolate blend, giving us: Lindt Excellence, A la Pointe de Fleur de Sel (A Touch of Sea Salt).

That said, don’t expect to look at the chocolate and see large, noticeable crystals.  But take one bite, and you will taste them right away.  If you let the chocolate melt on your tongue, you can feel the tiny crystals as the chocolate melts away.  Or you’ll feel a few morsels afterwards in your teeth.  Lindt’s deliciously smooth 47% dark blend has a pleasant mouth feel, and the salt creates a very nice balance.  And you really do get a taste of salt in each and every bite.  In order to share accurate information, I ate the whole bar.  I even did this test with a second bar.  Again, solely for research purposes

While Lindt’s Summer Edition chocolates weren’t imported to the US when I reported on them in August 2008, this Fleur de Sel bar most certainly is.  I double checked with consumer relations in New Hampshire, and they let me know that it is available in Lindt retail stores as well as online.

If you like the taste of chocolate and salt, below are a few more bars to look out for: Vosges Haut Chocolat’s line, which always has a strong component of salt, my favorite of which is the Barcelona Bar (hickory smoked almonds, grey sea salt and 40% deep milk chocolate); Sal de Ibiza‘s 70% bar made with Flor de Sal; Paul de Bondt’s Fior di Sale bar; Theo’s 3400 Phinney Bread and Chocolate bar; and last but not least, my newest discovery and current favorite from Basel, Switzerland - Beschle’s Grand Cru Triniatrio au Fleur de Sel et Pistaches (65%).

Seeing that today is Halloween, it seems rather timely that I’d want to write about candy.  I don’t mean that sweet sugary candy corn that I happen to adore, nor those mini individually wrapped chocolate bars that children will watch drop into their big trick or treat bags or plastic pumpkins.  I’m not thinking of American candy at all, even if we Americans like to think of Swedish fish as our own.  You know those classic, red, chewy candies shaped like fish, with the word “Swedish” embossed on them, that stick to your teeth no matter what you do?  Well, I’m actually thinking of the Swedish fish that the Swedes proudly call their own.  Along with a diverse range of candy, one that won’t remain unknown for long, thanks to Swede, Lena Rosen.

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“Avec du lait, rien que du lait, on obtient de la crème… Et par barrattage, lavage et mélange, du beurre.”

From milk, nothing but milk, we get cream.  And then by churning, washing and kneading, we get butter.  These words are written large and clear on the back wall of Jean-Yves Bordier’s Maison du Beurre, a bright, impeccably organized, intimate cheese and butter shop cum museum in Saint-Malo, France.  Passionate foodies are known to bring back suitcases filled with local products from their travels, even making pilgrimages to certain areas of the world to do so.  I made mine to France’s Brittany region for that simple byproduct of milk: butter.  All good things in Brittany are made with butter.  The very best are made with Beurre Bordier. Read the rest of this story >>

Sweet or savory?  For me, it’s no question.  I am a sweets person, with an incredible capacity for sugar, rarely reaching my max and hardly ever stopping before there is nothing but a sugar granule left on my plate.  My dentist can’t believe that I still have all of my teeth left.

When I first discovered the Kouign Amann, the strange looking word that simply means “butter cake” in Breton, I knew that I had met my match.  It was at Pierre Hermé’s boutique in Paris’ Saint Germain des Prés years back, when this small round pastry called out at me, distracting me from the rows of colorful macarons at which I was gazing.  Sitting besides pains au chocolat and brioches, it resembled a typical French pastry, but one that had fallen into a deep vat of sugar and butter, and resurfaced as a perfect specimen of caramelization.  On a bench just a few steps away at Place Saint-Sulpice, I carefully pulled away the crisp, buttery layers, my eyes growing larger and larger with every bite.  The firm caramelized outer layers, the softer sweet pastry dough inside, nary an unsweetened spot to be found.  The wonders of just butter, sugar, flour and salt!  I knew that one day I would have to go to the source.   Read the rest of this story >>

In an attempt to prepare for my upcoming weekend in Brittany, France, I decided to abstain from butter.  The thought was, in anticipation of such a marvelously gourmand adventure savoring the joys of butter in every form, I should probably cut back now.  This seemed like an awfully responsible, and quite healthy, idea at the time.  However, my rationalization was cut short by a phone call from a friend.  I was immediately distracted when I accepted her invitation to go out for ice cream.

Back home, I was rather content after my two scoops of Mövenpick’s Espresso Croquant and Cappuccino ice cream, my regular order from which I rarely stray, and to which I do think the lady behind the counter is catching on.  The day will come when I step up and need only say grüezi, Swiss German for hello and my highly caffeinated ice cream order all in one.

My thoughts inevitably returned to my utmost respectable, yet completely unrealistic goal from earlier that day.  Looking back, it did have its merits, but was obviously – and rapidly – dismissed.  And so, with a newfound determination to not avoid butter, the only solution was… to bake.

What better to showcase butter than a most simple shortbread cookie, as the French call it, a sablé pur beurre.  Pure butter, that’s what I was going for.  You need less than a half of a dozen ingredients (recipe below), 10 minutes preparation time, and within 5 minutes into baking time, the buttery smells start wafting through your kitchen.  This was the very best solution to not avoiding butter after all!

Shortbread is really a simple equation: sugar + butter + flour.  Throw in a spatula, a pan, a fork and an oven, and you’re set.  When I make shortbread, I like to play with the recipe, adding different salts or spices, espresso powder, shaved chocolate or lemon zest.  A little powdered sugar on top or a few extra flakes of salt… the possibilities are endless.  No matter what, it is imperative to use top quality butter, one with at least 80% butterfat.  Otherwise, what’s the point really?  I decided against extra flavorings this time, yet wanted to use cornmeal for a play on texture.  The shortbread gets an added crunch and a different mouthfeel than your regular silkiness.  I liked the color too – for such a light and airy dough, bright yellow seemed like a nice match.  Also, because the dough is so weightless, no need for the mixer.  Just grab a spatula or wooden spoon and mix the ingredients together, minimum elbow grease required.

Cornmeal Shortbread

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit (150 degrees Celsius).  With a spatula, cream the butter and sugar together until light and airy.  Add the salt and cornmeal, and blend together.  Add the flour and mix until homogenous.  Put the batter into a 24 cm (9 inch) nonstick pan.  Choose the shape of your pan (round or square) according to how you plan on cutting the shortbread – in triangles or bars.  Using your hands, press down softly and push the batter to the edges, making it smooth.  Prick with a fork all over the entire surface, in any shape or form you choose.  Bake for 40 minutes, when it should have a golden tint.

Cut while still warm in pan, but leave in place.  If you wait for the shortbread to cool to do so, it will be difficult to slice and you will end up with lots of broken pieces and crumbs.  Just as tasty, but you’ll get less points for presentation.  After cutting, let cool completely.

Sprinkle fleur de sel on top.