When I was trying to decide on a recipe for this week, I thought it was time for a classic chocolate cake. However, while scanning the pantry to see if I needed to stock up on any ingredients, my tin of Aztec Hot Chocolate stared back at me, as if to say “I Dare You”.  Never one to turn down a challenge, instead of reaching for the Unsweetened Cocoa, I pulled out the Spicy Aztec.  A little nervous about recipe improvisation when cayenne pepper was involved, I was pleasantly surprised when the cake turned out with a strong likeness to our famous hot chocolate.

I realized the chocolate cake would need the perfect frosting.  Since we’re making a cake from hot chocolate, I decided to go with the theme, and make a Cinnamon Marshmallow Frosting I came across in Vermont’s own Eating Well Magazine. And with a last-minute nod toward our Organic Spicy Aztec Bar, I pulled out my stash of pepitas – the Mexican pumpkin seeds that are sprinkled throughout our Aztec Bar – and scattered those on top.

Cake
2 c flour
1 ¼ c Lake Champlain Chocolates Aztec Hot Chocolate
1 c sugar
1 1/2 tbsp cayenne pepper (use less if you like less heat)
2 heaping tbsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2/3 c vegetable oil
2 tbsp white vinegar
4 tsp vanilla extract
2 c warm water

Preheat oven to 350º.  Grease two 9” cake pans and line the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, sugar, spices, baking powder and baking soda.  Make sure they are well-incorporated.  Separately, combine the vegetable oil, vinegar, vanilla and warm water.  Add the wet ingredients to dry, mixing until just combined.  Do not over mix.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.  Allow to cool completely in cake pan on cooling rack.

Frosting
1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup water
4 teaspoons dried egg whites (see Note), reconstituted according to package directions (equivalent to 2 egg whites)
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus more for garnish

Eating Well’s Ingredient Note: Dried egg whites are pasteurized so this product is a wise choice in dishes that call for an uncooked meringue.

Bring 2 inches of water to a simmer in the bottom of a double boiler.  Combine 1 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup water in the top of the double boiler. Heat over the simmering water, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved, 2 to 3 minutes. Add reconstituted egg whites, cream of tartar and pinch of salt. Beat with an electric mixer on high speed until the mixture is glossy and thick, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove the top pan from the heat and continue beating for 1 minute more to cool. Add vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and beat on low just to combine. Spread or pipe the frosting onto the cooled cake and sprinkle cinnamon on top, if desired.

Frosting recipe doubled for two-layer cake.  

Vermont sings in autumn with apple festivals, hayrides to pumpkin patches and porches adorned with colorful mums.  Lake Champlain Chocolates sings in the cooler temperatures by lowering our shipping rates.

With the cooler weather, it’s much easier to send our chocolate out into the world – the fears of our carefully handcrafted chocolates melting in big trucks or on front porches begin to fall away, just like orange leaves from maple trees.

What does this mean?  It means that we are happy to ship chocolate out the old-fashioned way – in big, brown UPS trucks.  We do, however, require orders to go at least two-day air to Florida, Hawaii and Alaska.  (A truck would have a hard time getting to Hawaii and it’s pretty much always hot in Florida, and do you know how big Alaska is?!)

Shipping rates now start at $7.50 as opposed to the summer’s $25.00 minimum.  Chocolate is a tricky thing to transport – since we use all natural ingredients, like pure cocoa butter which melts at about seventy degrees, its difficult to keep it safe once it leaves our climate-controlled chocolate safe-haven.

So go ahead and place that holiday order, or surprise someone with their favorite chocolate on their birthday.  Remember Halloween is coming up!  Why not give your favorite Trick-or-Treater a Pumpkin Face or White Chocolate Ghost this year?

And since it is getting a little colder, how about adding a can or two of our seven different types of Hot Chocolate to your order?  There’s nothing better than cozying up with a mug of hot chocolate in the fall temps - and a few marshmallows on top will bring out the little Trick-or-Treater in you.  Whether or not you go jump in a pile of leaves is entirely your decision.

This Saturday marks Burlington’s 14th Annual Mardi Gras Parade presented by Magic Hat.  It’s New England’s biggest Mardi Gras celebration, with over 30 floats tossing out beads, Louisiana Moon Pies, trinkets and of course Lake Champlain Chocolates.  This is the perfect event to knock that long winter cabin fever out of your system!

The festivities begin at 3pm but be sure to get there early so you can get a good spot (and remember to wear a warm jacket!). To help take the chill off, Lake Champlain Chocolates’ Church Street store will be serving up Hot Chocolates, as well as preparing Mardi Gras Fudge (from 1 - 4) and authentic Louisiana Pralines!

With the combination of music, floats, and revelers, this is truly one of Burlington’s greatest winter events. For the past several years, I’ve stood on Church St to witness the smiling faces and beautiful floats created by many of our local businesses. Even though Magic Hat (a local brewery) organizes the event, it is unquestionably a family affair and Magic Hat uses the event to raise funds and awareness for the Rape Crisis Center of Chittenden County.

So if you don’t have any plans this weekend, get out there!  Grab some beads!  Have some fun while you support a great cause!

Warning, this video and blog entry may induce severe hot chocolate craving. Watch at your own risk!

The weather keeps calling for snow here in VT and the sky is so dark at 10am that it makes you almost shiver. I guess that’s why the folks working at our factory store café are making tons of hot chocolate for people. And lucky for me, my desk is literally just yards from there so I can easily slip out for a nice little warmer and pick me up anytime. And that’s exactly what I did yesterday. A cup of hot chocolate just sounded yummy.

As I stood there waiting my turn, I watched as they made cup after cup for customers. Now, usually I order the Traditional or the Aztec but when a few people in a row ordered the New World Hot Chocolate, I took notice. I never realized how much chocolate goes into it or just how rich and thick it is. See, the New World Hot Chocolate is our darkest at 70% cocoa content. And what’s more is it’s actually pure ground chocolate as opposed to cocoa so it’s incredibly chocolatey.

So, while I watched them make up these cups of steaming hot chocolates, I realized they only offer them in a smaller size. When I asked why, they explained that it’s so rich, a small is really the perfect amount. After a few cups being made, I thought this might be something you’d like to watch. Seeing them steam the milk and chocolate, pour it out and add the homemade whipped cream just looked so good. With that, I pulled out my handy little video camera and taped it just for you. And if you aren’t craving a cup of hot chocolate after watching, you are superhuman.

By the way, for those of you on a diet or just simply watching your caloric intake, you can make any of our hot chocolate with skim milk and reduce the calories a little. Enjoy!

I’ve been quietly complaining about the cold for, what, three weeks now? That sounds about right. Well, I don’t know if it was infectious or just inevitable but now I hear my friends complaining about it, too. Here in Vermont, it’s going to hit the low 30’s tonight. And it’s only September! I don’t mind being slightly miserable and depressed about the end of summer but I don’t like when my friends are. So, of course, I want to fix it. I’m a fixer. It’s what I do. It’s who I am. Yes, I’m a fixer.

Now, you’re asking - how do I fix their displeasure with the weather? Sure, I can’t make it be warmer and I certainly can’t take them all to the beach, though I’d certainly love to. But I can buy them a treat. Rule number one – it must be chocolate. Rule number two – it can’t destroy their daily calorie count in one fell swoop. With that being said, I’ve got it.

I’m going to give them each one of our new winter tins of Hot Chocolate. It’s our traditional hot chocolate and it’s in this adorable little tin with snowy winter scenes on it. There’s even an adorable little snowman on it. And since it’s only $8, they won’t get mad at me for spending money on them. I figure, you can never go wrong with hot chocolate. One serving has approximately 70 calories and less than a gram of fat so if you make it with skim or low fat milk, you’re pretty safe. I think even if you splurge and use whole milk, how bad can it be? It’s calories and fat from milk. You can also make it with soy or rice milk. (I’m not going to but you can.)

So, that’s my plan. A pre-winter treat to warm my friends – a gift tin of hot chocolate. And when the hot chocolate is gone, they can use the tin for something else.

So, coincidentally, just after I wrote yesterday about finding cool mentions of our products here and there, I get a Google alert about our Aztec Hot Chocolate. Well, I click on the link to TeamSugar and there’s not only what looks like a yummy recipe for these awesome sounding waffles but a very cool bit about our hot chocolate.

Considering it’s the weekend and we all love making breakfast on Sunday morning not to mention I said I was going to include cool blog mentions, I am encouraging, nee urging, you to go check out this recipe.

The recipe is called Mayan Waffles and it contains not only a little spice -hence the Mayan part - but chocolate too, which I believe makes it doubley Mayan, no? There are some other interesting ingredients in there to pique your curiosity and on top of it all, they’re vegan and can be made as pancakes in case you’ve misplaced your waffle iron.

In the recipe, they mention substituting our spicy Aztec Hot Chocolate for the regular hot chocolate. But there’s also vegan shaved chocolate listed so if I were making this, I’d use our Aztec Dark Chocolate bars  as they have cayenne, cinnamon and pumpkins seeds which would play very nicely with the other ingredients.

Check it out. It’s TeamSugar.com. There are some fun links to other lifestyle pages there too that might be a fun thing to do while you wait for the caffeine to kick in.

Enjoy the waffles!

The last week or so has seen temps here in the northeast in the 80’s and 90’s. Some might think that’s too warm but I remember the sub-zero days of January and February only too well. And while I won’t say it’s too warm, I will admit it is, in fact, warm. Warm enough, actually, for a nice frozen drink. But what to make.

If it had been a work day, I would have popped into the café in our factory store and had a vanilla malt which the girls make perfectly for me, extra extra malt if you please! But it wasn’t. I was home with limited supplies in my freezer and even more limited energy for going out. And then I remembered the cold drink recipe one of our Chocolatiers had told me about. So simple and easily made with what I had in house. I had milk, ice and a variety of flavors of our Hot Chocolate Mix. Here it is:

Frozen Hot Chocolate
1 Cup Milk (don’t heat)
2 heaping Tablespoons Hot Chocolate Mix (or double the recommended amount)
1 Cup Ice

Add all to blender and mix until smooth. And voila!

So, first I started out using our Aztec Hot Chocolate. It’s great hot. I could only imagine it cold. I mixed it up and it was delicious. And being the weekend and my being just a few years above the legal drinking age (no comments please!) I opted for a little adult garnish in the form of Kahlua. It was the perfect accessory to my day. The warm spiciness of the Aztec Hot Chocolate mixed with the ice had a great cooling effect.

No matter how you make it – Aztec, Mocha, Traditional or one of our Dark Chocolate Hot Chocolates – they all make an awesome Frozen Hot Chocolate, with or without the spike. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Cheers!

I recently brought home a container of Old World Drinking Chocolate which is actually 54% dark chocolate shavings that you use to make hot chocolate. I have a roommate who loves hot chocolate and so far has enjoyed each of our flavors. But I noticed this container going untouched. Then he asked if I could bring him home some more hot chocolate. Confused by this, I asked what the problem was, why wasn’t he drinking it. He replied that he didn’t really understand how he was supposed to use it, even though the directions are on the back. It just looked a little different and he wanted what he was used to. No problem. I get it.

So, there I was with a container of lovely chocolate shavings and not sure what to do with them so this weekend, they became chocolate chip cookies. I was out of chocolate chips so I used them in their place and I have to be honest – I liked them better. They were more evenly distributed throughout the cookies and you didn’t end up with areas of tons of chips and then no chips. And the chocolate is really good, which never hurts. Now I’m thinking they can go in my pancakes, my tea breads, scones, even waffles. E-mail me if you want the recipe. And if you have an idea for using Old World Drinking Chocolate Shavings in your recipes, we’d love to hear about. Or maybe even send a picture!

Have you gotten your February issue of Good Housekeeping yet? Well, when you do, turn to page 155 and read about the Hot Chocolate Taste Test they conducted. Very exciting! They hosted two categories – milk chocolate and dark chocolate. You were only allowed to participate in one category so we entered our Old World Drinking Chocolate in the dark chocolate category and we won! How cool is that?

They tested 19 brands overall with a panel of 18 tasters and in the dark chocolate category, they said our Old World Drinking Chocolate was “the category’s clear winner”. Sure, we were pretty certain we’d fair well but it sure feels good to see it in print and by such a reputable source.

If you haven’t tried it yet, there’s still time. Not only does winter still have a long way to go but honestly, you don’t need the cold weather to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate. It’s great after dinner with dessert (or perhaps as dessert), mid-afternoon when you need a little boost, even on those rainy days when you’re feeling a little blue. It’s just plain goodness. And it can be made with a variety of milks including soy milk for those who are vegan or can’t have lactose. We’ve got you covered. Give it a shot and let us know what you think!

On a cold, 20-degree day here in Vermont there is nothing better than hot chocolate. And, although it was my day off from work (Sat), I came to LCC to take advantage of a free hot chocolate tasting and to hear a great group of local amateur musicians,The Hinesburg Brass Ensemble, perform holiday carols. Being a clarinet player, many of my colleagues asked why I wasn't playing; they didn't seem to understand that the clarinet is a wood-wind and doesn't qualify as a brass instrument. Worried at first that the acoustics of our factory store might not be ideal for seven brass players, I was pleasantly surprised - the sound was spectacular. The low notes of the tuba, french horn & trombone perfectly balanced out the trumpets. For nearly an hour and a half, the store was filled with festive holiday carols and shoppers sipping hot chocolate while they were tempted by dozens of gift options.

For me, it wasn't tough to pick a favorite Traditional, Aztec, and Old World Hot Chocolate. The traditional is your classic hot chocolate; just what you remember Grammie making for you after an afternoon of sledding. The spicy Aztec with its cinnamon & cayenne warmed my soul; reminding me of Christmas spice cookies.  But being the dark chocolate lover that I am, the Old World Hot Chocolate, made with 54% dark chocolate and milk, was hands-down my top choice.  Rich, chocolatey, and oh-so-satisfying on a cold (yup, still only Fall!!) day.