Belgian Chocolates ― Overhyped & Overrated

The last few days before our vacay last month, my students kept telling me to go crazy trying all the Belgian chocolates I'd encounter. But I'd read in all the guidebooks that local Belgianites don't bother buying chocolates from expensive chocolate shops. Instead, they say the supermarket chocolates are just as good and of course cheaper. After having tried chocolate from the touristy shops as well as the lowly supermarkets, I'd say I agree.



Moeder Babelutte is a popular chocolate shop chain in Belgium. Most of their locations are along the coast, and the shop that we visited was in Oostende. They're known for a few signature items, one of them being their chocolate praline shells. Now anyone who really knows me knows how crazy I used to be (or still am?) over Guylian. So I was excited beyong words to try what I believed would be a higher-quality and even better-tasting version of the well-known brand.



Chyeah. If I were blindfolded and made to try a Babelutte shell as well as a Guylian shell, I wouldn't be able to say that one tasted distinctly different from the other. Disappointing. Overall, I had this same reaction to all the chocolates I tried from other chocolate shops. Nothing special! Though they offered some interesting flavours (e.g. Cannabis, Black Tea, Peanut), none of them blew me away. I think it's about time we start shining some light on the chocolate produced in countries that aren't internationally known for their chocolate... helllllloooooooooooo SOMA.

Sweets/Souvenirs from Germany

Can you believe that I've given away almost all of this sweet stuff?? I brought 'em all from Germany and I've been slowly giving them away to family and friends. I'll repeat myself here: the selection of chocolates in Germany is so much better than what you can find in Canada!! Among my faves are Eszet (thin slices of chocolate that you eat on top of bread), Spekulatius (a spread made of crushed cinnamon-y biscuits) and Duplo (my fave Ferrerro product by far - it's sort of a cross between Kit Kat and Ferrerro Rocher).

Chocolate Truffles

None of Saveur's recipes that I've tried have ever turned out that great. Maybe it's me? Maybe it's our crappy oven? Luckily, these truffles don't require the use of an oven and they turned out surprisingly YUMM-O! I followed the recipe to a T except for the fact that I used 2 cups of oats instead of 2 1/2. And who needs a food processor when a no-name version of the Magic Bullet pulses the oats down perfectly?! The end product was a rich-tasting, sweet but not sickly sweet coconut-y truffle that tasted best straight out of the fridge (i.e. hard rather than soft). Buy cute jars from a Euro/Dollar shop, fill 'em with these babies and gift 'em to all your friends for their birthdays! That's what I did, heehee.

Sab's Double Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

Much love to my girl Sab not only for sending me a beautiful, heartfelt letter recently in the mail, but also for including a few of her fave recipes in the envelope. This particular recipe surprised me in that it turned out much better than I expected! See, whenever I bake cookies in our mini oven, they tend to slightly disappoint... but Sab's recipe right here is foolproof and highly recommended. Thanks Sab!!! ♥



Ingredients

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

1) Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease cookie sheets. Combine flours, cocoa, salt and baking soda in a medium-sized bowl. 2) Place 1/2 cup choc chips in a small pot or microwave bowl and melt. 3) Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add egg, milk, vanilla and melted chocolate. Beat until well blended. Add flour mixture and stir until combined. Stir in remaining 1 cup choc chips. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto baking sheet. *Sab suggests rolling the dough into small balls first and then flattening slightly. 4) Bake 10-11 minutes.

Chocolate Squares with Whipped Cream & Almonds

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, June! We all celebrated June's birthday with a potluck last Saturday, and it was a smashing good time!!! Most of the guests brought savoury dishes, so it was a good thing I made somethin' sweet (wie immer). Here's a recipe I tried out for the first time. I was so impressed with how it turned out (moist/chocolatey/nutty @ the same time) that I'll def be baking it again. Thanks, Dr. Oetker!

26 Years Young

Just about one year ago today, my girl Anh baked me a lovely peanut butter chocolate birthday cake. This year, I was lucky enough to have Megan bake me a birthday cake, and I just feel blessed to have bakestress gfs everywhere in the world! Last night, we gobbled down nearly half of this mammoth-sized salted caramel chocolate bomb and boy did it make a girl feel like a queen! Much love to those who came out, and thank-you heaps for all the lovely gifts. Realtalk, it's all about celebrating life, ya'll!

Christmas Chocolates in Germany

Ach ja, I really wanted to do a post on the crazy assortment of chocolates that fill the shelves here during Xmastime. But as usual, I procrastinated and only had the chance to document this. In addition to Blätterkrokant, there's Dominosteine, Schokoladenkränze, Marzipan-Kartoffeln and a plethora of other "Christmas-flavoured" chocolates filled with such flavours as cinnamon, roasted apples and caramelized almonds. After living here, I've come to realize how much I missed out on as a kid!

We have Lindt products in Canada, but it ain't nothin' compared to the flavours that they offer in the shops here. Browse through the lindt.de site and see the variety for yourself! It's effing insane!!! It'll definitely be a while before I can say I've tried all their Xmas chocolates. But anyhoo, back to this lovely Blätterkrokant. Imagine caramel cracknel surrounded by nutty-tasting nougat and a coating of milk chocolate. When I first tried one exactly 1 year ago, I swear time stopped for a few seconds.

Schoko-Werkzeuge 2012 Weihnachtsmärkte

We spotted these rather realistic-looking chocolate tools Werkzeuge and such at a few of the Xmas Markets this year, and André says he only started seeing them at the markets within the past few years, so the concept's still new-ish. I was curious to know how good they tasted, but at the same time I was fine with simply admiring them as pieces of art. The scissors and the keys tickled my fancy the most. It cost a whopping 4,00€, however, for one of the smallest pieces they had (I think that was the price of the mini car), and I refused to pay more than that. Schmeh, there's always next year!

Our Advent Calendar

Mister Glücklich (Mr. Happy) and Miss Sonnenschein (Ms. Sunshine) are celebrating Xmas with all their crazy friends! Meet the entire crew! There's Mister Träumer (Mr. Dreamer), Miss Quasselstrippe (Ms. Chatterbox), Mister Vielfrass (Mr. Eats A lot), and Miss Ungezogen (Ms. Naughty). There's also Mister Aua (Mr. Ow), Miss Kicher (Ms. Pea/Bean) and Mister Muskel (Mr. Muscle)! Yipeeeeee!

Fuckes Bäckerei ― Schokoladen-Croissant

This croissant was by no means out-of-this-world. Plus, when I bought it I was told it was cappuccino-flavoured. That's the main reason why I bought it! But when we toasted it for brekky the next morning and cut it in two, I had a feeling it was just your regular chocolate croissant. Lo and behold, it was just your regular chocolate croissant. Flaky and much better than a mass-produced Penny Markt croissant, but mehh. I like you, Fuckes Bäckerei. Let's hope I'm not disappointed the next time I pay you a visit.

Champorado ― Breakfast of Champions

How could I have let 8 years fly by without having eaten Champorado all that time?! I swear, the last time I remember eating it was when I went camping with Erika America's familia back when we were 17! I must say, though, that I can't really remember Moms making it that often for us when we were kids. Anyhoo, I prepared my sugarless version for brekky just yesterday using this recipe as a guide. Unlike Jun, however, I added 1/8 cup cocoa, used less dark chocolate and refrained from adding sugar as I already mentioned. Just to my liking, oh jaaa! EZ to make and great with a dollop of soya yogurt!

Rausch SchokoMuseum / Chocolate Museum

A chocolate museum exists a mere 33km away from us, how kool is that?! It's located in a small town called Peine, and we missioned there by train not long ago just to check out what this SchokoMuseum was all about. Though I can't say it's a must-see, it's a rather informative museum and here's the best thing about it: they have a mini volcano that blurbbles and blubbles out melted chocolate! Look closely at the pic above. That's real chocolate stained on all the walls! Sadly, I never saw the volcano erupt ;(



A mock candy shop was another interesting sight at the museum, and what you see two pics up are typical marzipan candies from "back-in-the-day" Germany. Having said that, I have yet to see such intricately beautiful marzipan treats in any Konditoreien here these days. But the hunt continues...!

Attached to Rausch SchokoMuseum is a shop where people can buy everything the company offers. One can even buy chocolates in bulk here, and the concept of bulk anything is a rarity in Germany! 'Course I couldn't go home empty-handed, so I decided to try these four balls. Three of them were mediocre at best (i.e. Anh's truffles are far better in terms of taste and quality) but one of them was decent. Hint: My fave ice cream flave is Maple Walnut. Can you guess which one I actually liked?

Gelato Madness!!! #Rome #Italy

Straight up, the gelato is great is Italy and all, but Germany's got some wickeddd gelato going on to. And it's about 0,70-1,00 Euro per scoop here. The cones in Rome were priced at 1,50-2,00 Euros per scoop! Absolute lunacy! In any case, what you see here is a gelato flavour called "Variegated Nutella." The strangeass name is what lured me into trying it. Couldn't tell ya which gelato shop it's from... all I know is that it's somewhere amongst the narrow cobblestone streets in the Trastevere 'hood. (woo!)

"Madd chocolate-y" is the term I'd use to describe this flave. I would have enjoyed 60% vanilla gelato with 40% Nutella gelato. Instead, this thing was close to 80% Nutella flavour! Wayyyyy sweet. And though it tasted good, the Nutella gelato was closer in consistency to a spread, so it was runny and melted super fast. Enjoyable, but definitely not a flavour I could eat every day. Ah well. #YOLO



YIPEEEEEE! Well. These mini gelato cones have a special story indeed. Let's just say, I kept seeing them on my last trip to Italy back in 2009, and never ended up having the chance to try one! As such, I made it a priority to finally do so during our recent trip to Rome. Simply put, they're small scoops of gelato coated with chocolate, white chocolate, pink chocolate or green chocolate (LOL). But they're oh so cute, handy and fun to eat! I tried the chocolate-coated mini cone, which had hazelnut gelato inside.

Sachertorte-samplin' in Salzburg

My longing and lust to try The Original Sachertorte began a few years ago, when my dear friend Anh gave me a slice to try from a Sachertorte-style cake that she'd baked. I was intrigued by the flavours, and at the time, I hadn't been able to find the cake (of superior taste and quality, anyway) anywhere in Toronto. So you could only imagine my excitement when I was standing right in front of the place in Austria where the Sachertorte was supposedly invented! The story goes as follows...



A fellow named Franz Sacher created the cake back in somethin' like 1832, and eventually his son carried on the recipe. The cake was first officially served at the Hotel Sacher in Vienna. As such, Hotel Sacher claims to have "The Original Sachertorte," and since they have a location in Salzburg, I was lucky enough to try it! But ya know what? It really wasn't all that and a bag of chips. Yeah yeah yeah, chocolate cake with a layer of apricot jam and coated with dark chocolate icing - so what?! I've eaten homemade cakes that've tasted better! Textures were aiight but that icing really didn't tickle my fancy.

Milka - Choco & Popcorn

Though Milka is the top-selling chocolate brand in Germany, no, I did not try it. The bar just seemed a tad too funky for my tastes. And since it was in the sale section, I'm guessing others thought the same. But it goes to show you the insane variety of chocolates here - it's effing off the wall!!! We've definitely got more variety of chocolates compared to North America, as well as better flavours! I can't believe I didn't think of it earlier: a post on my favourite German chocolates. Keep your eyes peeled!!!

Oatmeal Chocolate Peanut Butter Squares

Ingredients

1 cup butter, room temp
1 cup dark/milk chocolate
3 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup mixed nuts
1 egg, whisked
1 1/4 cup whole milk
1/3 cup peanut butter

Instructions

—Preheat the oven to 180°C. Butter a 20 cm x 30 cm baking tray and set aside.
—Chop the chocolate bar into small chunks. Mix the flour and baking soda in a large bowl.
—Cut the butter into cubes and incorporate into the flour mixture, creating a crumbly texture.
—Roughly chop the mixed nuts. Then add the nuts, oats and sugar to the butter/flour mixture.
—Take 1/4 of the dough and mix it in a separate bowl with the chopped chocolate. Set aside.
—Whisk the egg into the initial butter/flour mixture. This'll make the dough more moldable.
—Construct a ball-like form with the dough. Press the dough evenly into the buttered pan.
—This will be the bottom crust of your squares. Bake the crust for 15 minutes.
—In the meantime, whisk the whole milk and the peanut butter together. Whisk well.
—When the crust is done, take it out of the oven. Pour the whisked milk mixture on top.
—Then, distribute the dough with chocolate chunks in it evenly on top of everything.
—Bake the whole thing for about 20 minutes, or until it turns golden brown on top.
—Let the tray come to room temp after baking, then cut into 25 equal squares.

Freestyle Chocolate Tour Berlin

Before my recent 5-day jaunt in Berlin, I had researched and made note of chocolate shops I wanted to visit. Here are some of the things I tried: Dark Chocolate Ice Cream from Art en Chocolat, some kinda truffle with crispy gold-coloured flakes on top from Werkstatt der Süße, and a nougat-filled macaron-looking mini-sandwich goodie from Schokogalerie.



Hands down, the ice cream was my fave of the three. It was far from creamy and had more of an intensely bitter flavour. I can't even remember what the truffle tasted like so it couldn't have been all that (though I've heard that Werkstatt der Süße does have some amazing cakes). And the nougat-filled goodie was interesting because both the top and bottom pieces were similar in texture to meringue. The lady working at Schokogalerie told me that it was a Michel Cluizel product that had been sent in from France. Mm-hmm. Let me just end off by saying (in the words of Ates), "Chocolate is my life!!!!!!"

Rehrücken Kuchen

Don't ask.

Ritter Sport - Advertisement on Stairs

#COLOURHAPPY! Spotted this ad at Hannover Hauptbahnhof just today and couldn't help but love it. How could I not when André and I are such avid Ritter Shport fans? By golly, we've tried almost all the damn flavours on this staircase! How could we not when a Ritter Shport bar is only 70 Euro cents here? Meine Schwester in Van-City has to pay $3 CAD for a Ritter Shport bar!!! Sorry Bondz :( My favourite flavour to date? Nugat forever & evzzzzzzz, son! Haselnusse Krokant comes in 2nd place.

ANTI QUARTERLIFE CRISIS

Yes, I'm 25. How does it feel? %$#&in' awesome, hey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I've had it up to HERE with fellow 20-something-year-olds. Why is it that people in their 20s tend to groan whenever their birthdays come along? You are not old, get over it. %$#& the people who expect you to be married by now, or to have kids by now, or to have bought a house by now. %$#& the norm and what society tells you to do. It's your life and you can live it however way you want.

On that note, I am unperturbed by what other 25-year-olds are doing. I won't settle and work at a job that disgusts me. I'm (*gasp!) ditching the notion of stability at the moment. I'm living each day with no regrets. I'm taking advantage of my 20s to explore, to try new things and to take on new challenges. I'm taking risks while I have the freedom to do so... to put it simply, I'm celebrating life!!! Because there's no time like the present, folks!!! Quit thinking about it, make movements already, and eventually (without a doubt), you'll find yourself getting closer to your dreams.