I recently read about a featured dining experience at Boston’s Langham Hotel that had me pricing airline tickets online moments later. Why the rush to Boston? The hotel’s famed Chocolate Bar.
Each Sunday afternoon, the hotel displays 125 or so decadent chocolate treats for an all you care to eat extravaganza of goodness. At $38 the Chocolate Bar is a special occasion treat, but it’s hard to imagine a tastier way to pass a Sunday afternoon. Special offerings right now include banana chocolate chip cake, chocolate crepes, white chocolate risotto and rocky road fudge. The menu changes seasonally, too. You can see part of the current offerings on the hotel’s Web site.
For those chocolate lovers who have special dining needs, the hotel even has vegan offerings and gluten free treats.
If you live in Boston, or are planning a trip there soon, check out the Chocolate Bar – and be sure to let us know what you think.
People have all sorts of different recipes for caramel apples but this is my favorite because it is so easy. There are two ingredients – caramel and apples. If you really want to go nuts you can add, well, nuts, as well as shredded coconut or mini chocolate chips and other tiny candy bits. This is a Halloween classic passed down to me from my parents and probably from generations back to the time when caramel was invented. My guess is that the first thing they did was apply it to apples. It’s a natural marriage of sweet and sweeter.
Ingredients
6 small apples
1 package caramels (14 oz.)
1/2 cup chopped nuts, shredded coconut, mini chocolate chips or candy pieces (optional)
6 popsicle sticks
Directions
- Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper. Empty nuts, coconut and/or candy pieces and chocolates onto the paper and divide into six equal heaps. Leave as much space as possible between each heap.
- Wash and dry apples. Remove the stems and push popsicle sticks half way onto the apples through the top.
- Melt the caramels in a microwave or a saucepan over low heat.
- Dip apples in the melted caramel to coat. Use a knife to help cover the whole apple. Place each apple, stick side up, onto the toppings and roll to cover.
- Refrigerate until the caramel is firm, about 1/2 hour.
Caramel Apples by ktylerconk.
For those of you who don’t know me well, I should let you know that I am a photographer. One of the things I love to do is photograph food. I especially love candy. Its beautiful colors and interesting shapes make it a great subject and a lot of fun to work with. It has its challenges, to be sure, but is a very exciting thing to work with. The photo at right is an example of what I do. Sure, humans are hard to pose but at least they take direction. Candy doesn’t do anything you tell it to!
This is a bunch of candy I got together as a donation to the Shriners Hospital in Philadelphia. The Shriners spend more than $2 million per day providing free hospital care for children and specialize in treatment for burns, cleft lips and palates, spinal cord injuries and orthopedic issues.
When I contacted the Kena Shrine, they were more than happy to help me make this donation and even sent someone to my office who would deliver the candy to the hospital, three hours away. Knowing that the kids there, who have such suffering and pain, might find a moment of happiness as a result of NCA’s donation makes this probably the best candy photo I have ever taken.
I just got this in my email a few minutes ago. We have had a lot of people ask if chocolate and other confectionery products were safe. People are pretty darned scared about this melamine problem we have been hearing so much about in the news, and for good reason.
Here is NCA’s official statement on the issue:
Chocolate makers abide by strict government regulations in order to ensure the quality and safety of chocolate products sold in the US. Last week the Food and Drug Administration announced that the agency has expanded its testing of food products imported from China. NCA agrees with this action; all candy products sold in the US, regardless of country of origin, must meet the same stringent safety standards.
Chocolate products produced in North America do not source milk or milk products from China. Consumers can continue to enjoy their favorite chocolates knowing they are as wholesome and safe as ever.
However, there have been some candy recalls. QFCO, Inc. issued a recall for their White Rabbit candies on Friday due to possible melamine contamination. From their press release on the issue: “Consumers who have purchased White Rabbit Candy are urged to return it to the place of purchase for a full refund or discard it in their trash. Consumers with questions may contact the company at (650) 697-6633.”
Cadbury has had a similar recall of its Chinese-made products but not for any of their products distributed in North America. The problem products were reportedly only distributed in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia.
The bottom line is that if you live in North America and buy products made there, you are fine. If you are concerned, one way to be extra vigilant is to turn a package over to see where it was manufactured and whether it contains milk. Right now it is milk-based products from China that are highly suspect. Milk-based products from other countries can be assumed to be safe.
I decided to do a very scientific study to determine what people’s favorite candies were but had neither the time nor other resources to put all that together, so I turned to my favorite research tool: Twitter Search. After all, if people are talking about it on Twitter, it’s got to be thorough and accurate, right?
Honestly, it was more curiosity than anything. What do people like? I searched for “is my favorite candy” and got these results. What surprised me most was that candy corn was on the first two listings returned. I love candy corn too but I thought more people did not have the appreciation for it that I did. What disappointed me is that nobody indicated that circus peanuts (the king of squishy banana-flavored candy) were their favorite. I guess there’s no accounting for taste.
What’s your favorite candy? Here’s what others said:
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dorish:
@sdornhelm Candy corn is my favorite candy. I’d love to have some right now
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that1girl08:
3 musketeers is my favorite candy bar. You wanted to know. *giggle*
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TheBeerWench:
@JonathanNail Peanut M&Ms are my favorite candy. Well anything that combines nuts and chocolate is my favorite candy. Hehe. CREAM CHEESE?
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theang:
The bakery had one lonely coffee crisp bar so I bought it. This is my favorite candy bar and it’s nearly impossible to find.
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Yeah, we thought the chocolate eggplant might be a little challenging, so we are going back to sweet stuff for today. Don’t give up on the savory chocolate concoctions, though – they can be a delight when everything goes as planned.
Ingredients:
- 1 quart pumpkin meat cut into small pieces, maybe 1” to 1-1/2”
- 2-1/2 cups water
- 1 cup maple sugar (or brown sugar if you can’t find maple sugar)
- 1 cup granulated maple sugar (raw sugar is an okay substitute)
Directions:
Place the cubed pumpkin in a saucepan and cover it with about 2 to 2-1/2 cups of water. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, uncovered, until the pumpkin is just tender. Remove the pumpkin with a slotted spoon. Do not drain in a colander. There should be about 1-1/2 cups of liquid remaining.
Add the maple or brown sugar to the pumpkin water and dissolve over low heat. Place the pumpkin back in the pan and bring slowly back to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Let the pumpkin pieces stand in the syrup overnight.
The next day, bring the mixture back to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the pumpkin pieces from the syrup and spread them out on a wire rack so the pieces are not touching one another. Let them stand in a warm place or in a 140-degree oven for 3 to 4 hours to dry. Roll each piece in the maple or raw sugar, and store them in a dry, cool place. Do not stack or crowd the pieces together.
This can also be made with acorn squash or kabocha squash if you want to get a little fancy.
Pumpkin by Teo.
Susan just gave a view into the delicacies at Washington, DC’s Co Co Sala and now I stumble onto this savory chocolate recipe. From Sweets Candy Blog:
Your friends will be so curious to see what it tastes like it will go in seconds. The bitterness of the eggplant and the chocolate are so good together! You will love this as a snack or desert–it is lovely! Great for parties easy to make… unusual and yet so yummy!
Eggplant is one of my favorites, so I can’t wait to try this out at a dinner party. Do you have a favorite savory chocolate dish you want to share? Send us the recipe and we will post it.
Eggplant by Paul Goyette
I recently read about a featured dining experience at Boston’s Langham Hotel that had me pricing airline tickets online moments later. Why the rush to Boston? The hotel’s famed Chocolate Bar.
