Bean to bar craft chocolate and life altering decisions.

School begins in less than a month. I am excited about classes beginning. The only part of my new adventure that makes me nervous is the internship I'll have to do next fall. I've started thinking about what kind of an internship I'd like to do, and once I've decided that I will start thinking about where I'll do it. For me, I've narrowed it down to three choices. Restaurant Pastry Chef, Patisserie Pastry Chef, and Candymaker. I can make an excellent argument for each of these three options. A few options I know I am definitely not interested in are cake maker/decorator and bread baker. To strictly make bread, I believe I would feel very limited. I do not, personally speaking, think I would find bread baking as challenging as working as a pastry chef in a restaurant or bakery. As far as cake decorating goes, I don't feel it's about baking. It's about art and sculpture. If you watch Ace of Cakes and listen closely, most of the folks who worked there were trained as artists, not bakers. Look at the gallery on their website! They are amazingly beautiful creations.

Last week, I attended a lecture at the NC Museum of Science. The topic of the lecture of was Bean To Bar Craft Chocolate and it was given by Hal Parson, one of the co-founders of Escazu Artisan Chocolates here in Raleigh. He spoke at length about sourcing the chocolate, the equipment used, and the processes involved. We had samples to taste. It was fascinating and it got me thinking. My great-grandparents owned a candy store in Pittsburgh, PA. I've always had in the back of my mind that I might like to make candy one day. This lecture really got me thinking. Were you aware that there is a big craft chocolate movement in the US? Think microbreweries, but chocolate. There's a big farm to table movement going on the the food world. It only makes sense that chocolate should be a included.

Over the past week, I've been thinking hard about my choices. It is with careful consideration that I cross chocolatier off my list at least for now. I made a cherry pie the other day. It was damn good. (I promise to do a post on it soon. I can't find my cable for my camera. I put it away because Elvis was playing with it and now I forget where I stashed it.) After I made this pie, I shared it with some friends. Giving away my pie was just as enjoyable as making it. It made me remember why I am going to pastry school. I am not contented to make pies and cookies at home. I want to share these creations with friends, relatives and customers. Eating a piece of homemade cherry pie or brioche or cake can make someone really happy. If only for a few minutes, it can right all the wrongs in the world. I want be a part of that experience. I want to make pies and cakes and croissants. I want to feed people my creations and make them happy. Working with dough is a remarkable experience. I prefer to knead my dough by hand rather than with machinery. I always have. This isn't something I want to do so much as it is something that I need to do. I have to do this. I'm not sure I could be fulfilled with chocolate alone in the same way that I could not be fulfilled with bread alone.

Where I go from here is still up in the air. We have a number of James Beard Award nominees in the area and a few spectacular bakeries as well. I have a lot of options. I will continue to think and research but I think I'm a lot closer to a decision. I've included a list of Bean to Bar chocolate makers in the US. If you know of any others, please let me know and I'll be happy to add them here.

Bean to Bar Craft Chocolate in the US
Amano Artisan Chocolate in Orem, UT
Askinosie Chocolate in Springfield, MO
DeVries Chocolate Location Unknown
Escazu Artizan Chocolates in Raleigh, NC
Mast Brothers Chocolate in New York City
Patric Chocolate in Columbia, MO
Taza Chocolate in Somerville, MA

Chocolate Crackles

When I get sick, I crave two things. Kettle cooked potato chips and chocolate cookies. These are the cookies I crave. A little crunchy on the outside, a little soft on the inside. I think what I like most about this recipe is that you have everything you need to make these cookies in your kitchen right now.

Many years ago, when I was working in professional kitchens, my aunt and uncle gave me a cookbook called Light Cooking. It doesn't seem to be written by anyone in particular, and it uses ingredients by Dannon, Dole, Borden, and many other household brands. It includes some nutritional information at the end of each recipe. Since not everyone (read: my family) wants to try Olive Lemon Cookies, this is a nice option for healthier stuff that everyone will like. This might be my favorite cookie. Observe:


You can see where this is going, right? I only took 2 dozen of these to the swap. I got about 3 dozen out of this recipe, which claims to make 4 dozen. My first batch were definitely a bit too big.

Chocolate Crackles (yield 4 dozen), from Light Cooking
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1/3 cup Crisco vegetable oil
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
2 egg whites
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup powdered sugar

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees

2. Combine Crisco oil, granulated sugar and vanilla in large bowl. Beat a medium speed of electric mixer until blended. Add egg and egg whites. Beat until well blended. Stir in flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt with spoon.

3. Place powdered sugar in a shallow dish or plastic food storage bag.

4. Shape dough into 1" balls. Roll or shake in powdered sugar until coated. Place about 2" apart on an ungreased baking sheet.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 7 to 8 minutes or until almost no indention remains when touched lightly. (Do not overbake.) Cool on baking sheet 2 minutes before moving to cooling rack.

Nutrients per serving (1 cookies):
60 calories
2g fat
5mg cholesterol
35 mg sodium

Notes:

I always use parchment paper for baking. I hate silicon baking mats. They don't work as well as parchment, they are hard to clean and hard to store. Many people like them. More power to them, but I'm old school. That's how I roll.

Chacon Chip Cookies

1 recipe Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, prepared according to directions

1 pack, or 18 oz, Black Forest Dry Rubbed Salt Cured bacon (minus the three pieces that I ate before I made cookies)
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Cook bacon in oven on 425 degrees for about 15 minutes. It's important to cook the bacon pretty well done, but not burned. Cut off any burned bits or extra fatty pieces. Chop bacon into 1/4" dice.
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When you get to the point where you add the chocolate chips to the dough, add the bacon also. Mix just until combined.

Bake according to directions on the chocolate chip bag.


Notes:

First of all, if you're going to make a chocolate chip cookie, don't mess around. Just use the Toll House recipe. It's the perfect chocolate chip cookie. Don't be fooled by imitations. If you don't have the Toll House recipe, let me know and I'll add it here.

I didn't buy butter because I had a ton of shortening already. I used butter flavored Crisco in place of the butter.

I had a hard time finding a good bacon to use. Most of the bacon I found were too fatty. Don't get me wrong, bacon fat has it's place, but I wanted a meatier bacon for the cookies. (Move over bacon, now there's something meatier!) (Sizzlean, anyone?) (Sorry.)

I settled on this Black Forest bacon for a couple reasons. One, it was meatier than the others. Two, the girl in the Whole Foods meat department (who thinks I'm crazy) suggested this might work better. She said the rub on the bacon was sweeter than the others. I was actually leaning towards the applewood smoked bacon. I got this Black Forest kind instead, which I am assuming has a seasoning like a Black Forest ham, which is tasty.

I spoke to a friend who has a friend who makes chocolate covered bacon. I understand that through trial and error he has discovered that the smoked bacon doesn't work quite so well. In this case, I think I just got lucky and picked the right kind of bacon. While this bacon won't be my first choice for breakfast, I will definitely use it for these cookies again.

I think I'm Kristina's new BFF!!!!

Okay so the bacon chocolate chip cookies are, like, so freaking good, I'm beside myself! Seriously, I'll post details later. You have to try this. If you eat bacon, that is.