Chocolate Gingerbread Men

Trim your trees this holiday season with edible ornaments. These sweet little gingies make a charming tree decoration as well as a nice treat on Christmas day. Follow the tempering instruction below and wrap in a clear cello bag tied with ribbon. Attach to your tree with florist wire. Enjoy!

(Note: Do not place them on your tree touching your Christmas lights, they will melt!)
Tempering Chocolate

Tempering Chocolate
1. Melt out all existing fat crystals
2. While agitating it, cool the chocolate to a temperature at which both stable and unstable crystals form rapidly.
3. Rewarm the chocolate to melt out unstable forms, leaving only crystals to seed the chocolate.
4. Maintain the chocolate at the proper temperature during use.

Directions
Finely chop your chocolate and put 1/2 in the bowl of a double boiler, with water in the base of your double boiler, melt chocolate over low heat until it is around 122 degrees F (feels warm but not HOT). Remove from heat and slowly start to add small amounts of the remaining finely chopped chocolate. Stirring vigorously, keep seeding in small amounts of chocolate until it reaches about 89 degrees F (does not feel warm or cold to the touch). To test if the chocolate is in temperature swizzle a spoon with some chocolate and set a timer for 3 minutes. If the chocolate is set within three minutes it is ready to use. If it is not set, you may need to seed a bit more chocolate to bring the temperature down and/or continue stirring to agitate the chocolate further.

To Make Chocolate Gingerbread Men

Using tempered chocolate, fill a plastic pastry bag 1/2 full and cut tip. Fill mold with chocolate about 3/4 full and tap gently to remove any air bubbles from the chocolate. Chill in refrigerator until chocolate pulls away from mold. Invert gently onto table with a small tap. Using another plastic pastry bag (cut a fine tip) decorate with tempered white chocolate.

Missing Tuscany

It's been almost a month since I've returned from our 5th Anniversary trip to Italy. It was absolutely beautiful but Tuscany, by far, was my favourite place. Looking back, I wish we had concentrated our trip to just the Tuscan region but the first time you go someplace you feel as though you have to pack everything into one vacation. I remember reading once that you should travel as though you are coming back. Italy is a vacation not to rush, it is one that must be savoured. To experience Italy you need to understand what the Italians call dolce far niente..."the sweetness of doing nothing."

The Sunday Quote

Autumn Favours

A charming way to decorate favour boxes for the fall season. Two-piece favour boxes decorated with handmade paper, autumn leaves and organza ribbon. These ones were packed up ready to go. The customer was waiting so I could only snap a quick shot...but I think you get the idea.

Dining Room Makeover!

In my haste to start painting and decorating by spartan dining room, I forgot to take some before pictures. But, I can assure you that the dining room was in desperate need of a facelift. The wall colour was an icy green with a cold white ceiling and my lack of any furniture made the room echo (not exactly fine dining). To spruce it up and give it some warmth, my budget-conscious reno began with a coat of straw-coloured paint (if anyone wants the name of the colour, I can look it up). I then found an old round table at a garage sale ($20!), a side-board at the local thrift store that I painted and slightly distressed ($40). I recovered some chairs that I found in our basement that were left by the previous owner (solid oak...and free!). The little chair in the corner was found at another thrift store and I stripped, stained and made a new seat cushion ($10). I then gathered some accessories at various antique shops, gift shops and flea markets (totally about $200.) So my total cost was only $300! (I added a little extra for supplies etc.). Not bad I think, not bad.

Christmas....already?

In the retail world, you are always experiencing the upcoming holiday well before you've even landed on that month in the calendar. Which suits me down to the ground because I lack in the patience department and can't wait to decorate the store and showcase all our new creations for the holiday. Throughout the next few months, I will be posting some ideas to get you started on some decadent homemade gifts for Christmas. Today's feature is Chocolate Almond Bark!


There's only two things you need to know about making Chocolate Almond Bark:
1. Use the best quality chocolate.
2. Learn to temper chocolate

Tempering Chocolate

Tempering Chocolate
1. Melt out all existing fat crystals
2. While agitating it, cool the chocolate to a temperature at which both stable and unstable crystals form rapidly.
3. Rewarm the chocolate to melt out unstable forms, leaving only crystals to seed the chocolate.
4. Maintain the chocolate at the proper temperature during use.

Directions
Finely chop your chocolate and put 1/2 in the bowl of a double boiler, with water in the base of your double boiler, melt chocolate over low heat until it is around 122 degrees F (feels warm but not HOT). Remove from heat and slowly start to add small amounts of the remaining finely chopped chocolate. Stirring vigorously, keep seeding in small amounts of chocolate until it reaches about 89 degrees F (does not feel warm or cold to the touch). To test if the chocolate is in temperature swizzle a spoon with some chocolate and set a timer for 3 minutes. If the chocolate is set within three minutes it is ready to use. If it is not set, you may need to seed a bit more chocolate to bring the temperature down and/or continue stirring to agitate the chocolate further.


Toasted Almond Bark

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F and toast almonds until aromatic and dark gold in colour. COOL COMPLETELY. Temper chocolate (see above directions). Pour out chocolate onto parchment paper filling only about 1/3 of paper (you may have to repeat on several pieces of parchment, depending on how much chocolate you have tempered). Spread out to 1/4 inch thickness and sprinkle with almonds. Using an offset spatula, press almonds into chocolate and spear chocolate over top to cover the almonds completely, allow to completely harden (about 1-2 hours) and break into pieces. Package in festive tins, boxes or bags!

All Hallows Eve

Our Halloween display at the shop is a real accomplishment. My sister and I are quite proud of it because it was put together with whatever we could find downstairs in the store. Usually we have to get new items to put together a fresh display but this year we surprised ourselves with found junk. We used some table legs, an old cupboard door, chairs and two lamps. It's amazing what ordinary things you can uncover to transform into something really special. It was kind of like opening your cupboards, throwing stuff into a pot and digging into a delicious hot pot recipe!

Maple Caramel Apples

This recipe comes from Gourmet Magazine. I used it instead of my usual Caramel Apple recipe and was happy with the result. The caramel is thin so it's not too sweet on the apple (which I like). If you want it thicker allow it to cool a little longer before dipping the apples. But, because of the maple syrup, you have to eat these right away. They crystalize really easily and can't be kept in the refrigerator. You can dip them in dark chocolate and nuts as I have but they are equally as good in the caramel alone. Enjoy!

Maple Caramel Apples

1 pound dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups maple syrup
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
10 Granny Smith or other tart apples

In a deep heavy saucepan combine the brown sugar, maple syrup, and cream and cook the mixture over moderate heat, stirring and washing down any sugar crystals clinging to the sides of the pan with a brush dipped in cold water, until the sugar is dissolved. Bring the mixture to a boil and boil it, undisturbed, until a candy thermometer registers 250 degrees F. Remove the pan from the heat, add the butter, and swirl the pan gently until the butter is melted. Let the maple caramel cool for 5 minutes.

Push a wooden skewer or chopstick through the length of each apple and holding the apples by the skewers dip the apples 1 at a time in the maple caramel, coating them well and letting the excess drip off. Put the apples on buttered baking sheets until the maple caramel is cool and firm. Serve the apples immediately.

The Perfect Pear!

New this fall, my sister and I have created these charming little pear crisps. A great favour for your autumn table!

Blackboard 101

After

Before

Blackboards aren't just for the classroom, they are a great addition to a kitchen, office or kids room....or in this case, a retail shop. If you own a retail boutique, it's a charming (and cheap!) way to advertise a feature item. Find a nice size picture frame (I personally like a frame that has a lot of ornate details), take out the picture if it's still there and paint it the colour you've chosen. I recommend that you use the Aura paint by Benjamin Moore, it can go over anything but washes up with soap and water. It also dries in 1 hour and is low VOC which is safer for your family and the environment. Once you've painted your frame you can get started on the blackboard. Blackboard paint can be bought at just about any hardware store, it is an oil-based product so prepare yourself with gloves and turpentine for cleaning up. Have the hardware store (or yourself, if you're handy) cut a piece of pressboard to fit the shape of your frame. I'm not handy with a saw so we brought the actual picture to the hardware store to give them as a guide for the size of board we needed. Slip the painted blackboard in place and attach it with finishing nails of the back. Voila! a beautiful piece to hang in your boutique or you home!

I'm Back!

Well, I was hoping to keep my posts updated during my travels through Italy...but no luck. I'm back now though with many things to share with you. I will post some new stuff tomorrow...today I'm opening up my huge pile of mail and shuffling through messages and tackling all the projects you leave on the back burner when you go away. See you soon!

My Newest Find...has found some style!

In an earlier post, I published a picture of a shabby-not-yet-chic sideboard that I had scooped at a garage sale. Well, it's been buffed and polished and dressed to impress (I have more in common with a sideboard than I thought!) and now it is making it's grand appearance in our September window display. It's amazing what a bottle of polish and a little attention can reveal. (Wow, I often feel the same way about myself!)

The Leaves are Changing Colour...String up the Garland!

The long haze of summer is finally coming to an end and the short spectacular burst of autumn is nearly here. Most attribute autumn to golden leaves, jackets and scarves, turkeys, dark skies and dewey mornings. Me, I think Christmas! Oh yes, the dirty word...Christmas. I just installed the countdown calendar on my computer and it is now officially 112 days until the day. In my "pre-eve" years, I didn't think of Christmas until about December 15th. Plenty of time to decorate, plenty of time for gifts, plenty of time to pretend to have plenty of time to get everything done. Well, I've learned my lesson. This will be the third consecutive Christmas that my holiday cards have been bought, written, stamped and then stored for a possible resurrection in the ritual routine of "This year, I'm going to (now fill in litany of Marthaesque traditions that only seem to happen in the glossy, well-lit lives of the magazine racks). I love what I do, I love my shop, I love my customers and I absolutely love the holidays...at 14 King Street West. The holidays around my house are quite a different thing. The shop is so busy, I mean "three hours of sleep" busy that it gets hard to get in the spirit of Christmas at home when you have been listening to 18 hours of non-stop Bing Crosby. Well, as the leaves turn outside, I'm turning over a new leaf in my life. The Christmas cheer is going to cascade down from all the holiday happenings at the shop to my life at home....but don't call me on this around December 15th.

Bon Voyage Christy!

Christy, one of Eve Chocolatier's first employees is off to university this year and has said farewell to all of us here. She started at the shop when she was just 15 years old and four years later is off to start on her own in a new city. We are all proud of her and will miss her cheery voice and funny questions ("Can I hear the ringing in your ear?"....ha ha). Bon Voyage Christy!

Autumnal Bliss

“But I remember more dearly autumn afternoons in bottoms that lay intensely silent under old great trees”
 C.S. Lewis quotes

Back to School

Sharpen the pencils, dust of the brushes and polish the lunch boxes...it's back to school! Now we know you're excited (even if they're not)...so, why not send them off with a special care package. At the shop, we've designed a cute little "back-to-school" treat bag but you could also pick out their favourite treats and create your own. For the little tykes...they can even colour their own lunch bags for their special first day treat! Have fun these last few weeks of summer...soon we'll be putting on our scarves and mitts.

The Desert Daisy - an astonishing gift from my sister!

I just received an absolutely astonishing gift from my sister. The Desert Daisy, the only novel remaining from H.G. Wells written when he was a boy around the age of twelve. It is amazing that a boy of twelve wrote such a book, complete with an Editor's Preface and Notices of the Press (too cute!). Here is the Preface to the First Edition:

Dear Reader
You have in your hand "The Desert Daisy" a romance of the olden time. I am not at all vain but still I think that if this book is not read when Shakespeare is forgotten it will have been grievously ill treated. I, assisted by H.G. Wells of Bromley have illustrated this work as well as written it and although the contrast between my pictures and his is likely to throw his in the shade, still I hope that on the whole the reader will be pleased with them.

Newest Find!

Actually, it's not that new. I bought it at a garage sale about 3 weeks ago and am now just getting around to do something with it. It is an older buffet with drawers (I took them out to clean...so they're not in the picture) but the piece is missing the cupboard doors on the side. I thought filling the space with a nice rustic basket on either side would be quite charming and add a little informality to an otherwise formal piece. Now, the big question...where to put it? This is the dilemma of every hoarder, looter and collector of all useless things.... Where do you put it? More specifically, where do you put it so your mate won't stumble upon it and go. "Ah, not another find". I'm thinking the front hallway will be the perfect place....he hardly walks through there...ah, perfecto!

Engagement Picnic Basket

This weekend I was invited to dinner for my birthday (happy birthday me!) and to celebrate the engagement of our friends Matt and Meg. In a pinch I decided I would put together a little basket to bring as an engagement gift. Simply, I had a basket in my kitchen and I lined it with a vintage apron I had found at a flea market the weekend before. I wrapped up some different chutneys and jams that I had...I usually pick up these up at different specialty shops when I travel and keep them on hand for such occasions. I also added some baked goods and some fresh veggies in my garden...Oh, and two bottles of old-fashioned lemonade and a bag of kettle-cooked chips... (got those down the road at the general store). I attached a cute tag that said "Married life isn't always a picnic...but worth a few bees in your basket!) Voila! A lovely gift with found objects, garden veggies and general store goodies....not too bad I think, not too bad!

Eve Chocolatier - A Family Business!

Well, Eve Chocolatier has become a family business. On August 11, the business welcomed Anita Griffith and Amanda Griffith to the staff. Both my mom and sister have always been a part of Eve Chocolatier but they are now officially here full-time. My mother retired from hospital finance after 24 years and my sister is back in the kitchen after her maternity leave with little Miss Mouse. Oh, it's a great party here. A mix between work and maybe Thanksgiving dinner....should be interesting! Anyway, next time you're in please say hi and welcome Anita and Amanda! Oh, and just 'cause they are family, I made sure to post the goofy pictures.