colm and i had a day in amsterdam on wednesday: it was a business meeting away from it all; a research trip (oh the joy of cinnamon fresh truffles); a time to gather ideas about plans for the new factory and a mystery trip which you may or may not hear more about in the near future! this was the gorgeous view from the office where we had our meeting.
it was a very festive evening on tuesday and a little bit emotional. i was offering tasting samples from our beautiful christmas range of christmas star anise, christmas tree and winter spice in the stylish little boxes you can see in the picture. i have been working on the flavours and designs since last winter and most of them went up in flames. however, a few shops and hamper companies had already had their first christmas delivery before the fire and these lucky boxes are looking lovely in christmas displays. i love winter spice which is a triumph since i really don't like white chocolate!
i might have to do a whole series of blog posts saying thank you to the different groups of well wishers! i will start with our colleagues and friends in the irish chocolate industry.
we will be back! thanks to everyone for all their good wishes. friends, neighbours, customers, suppliers, journalists, chocoholics and strangers have sent us inspiring messages of encouragement. in the meantime, if you see our christmas stock on shop shelves, grab them quickly! they have unwittingly become extremely limited editions...
the main course was curry so i chose to go for one of our spicy flavours with the heat of ginger to warm everyone after braving the newly frosty air to leap about with sparklers. . .
harvey nichols is celebrating chocolate week with colm and me! i will be at knightsbridge, london on friday from about 6pm-8pm with samples and tasters of our new winter and christmas chocolates. colm will be at dundrum on saturday. hope to see some of you....
while the little girls slept every afternoon and esme was off playing wild games with her older cousins, aidan packed me off to sample the delights of killaloe cafes and bars. i spent a couple of hours writing and reading in this great little delicatessen. the shelves of italian delicacies and big blocks of parmesan jostle cosily for space with the chairs and tables tucked into alcoves and corners. it had a secret, indulgent feel and was perfect for an afternoon of escapism. in fact two ... pictured is the freshly made lemon and poppy cake with hot chocolate. the next day, i returned for olives, beer and cheese. great stuff!
we have had a great summer! i have been busy with christmas products for cocoa bean, going out with the girls, the garden and a fabulous week in killaloe visiing aidan's family and old friends and colleagues. i have loads to write about and this is the first chance so i'll do it bit by bit. the first treat was the new shop run by mark anderson who was head chef of the cherry tree when i lived in limerick. he has now opened this great shop in killaloe where you can buy local meat, fish and organic vegetables. he is also starting to serve food that can be eaten at a stylish counter in the shop. over the week we bought swordfish, monkfish, scallops and organic corn fed chicken. they were fabulous and i was sorry to leave. mark has always been passionate about food whether it was making a special menu for aidan in his vegan days or demonstrating cookery at limerick midsummer market. this shop is no exception and i hope he is thriving when we go back to killaloe for christmas.
if you get a chance to wander down shop street on friday afternoon in galway, make sure you sample the delights of mccambridges and look out for helen handing out samples of cocoa bean and skelligs chocolates. we have been supplying mccambridges since the very early days, more than eight years ago. look out for all the other artisan delights on offer while you are there and let me know if you have a swim in salthill - some of my greatest swimming memories are of galway!
my friend made this cordail from hedgerow elderflowers in her garden. it is delicious with soda water, ice and fresh mint. she promised me the recipe and i hope to have a go at my own in the next few days. emily had a great find of wild garlic and used the leaves and flowers in salads and pasta dishes. is anyone else making use of wild food this season? i will be envious of any mushroom experts!
helen had a great time in mortons of galway last saturday where the locals and tourists of salthill were very chatty and enthusiastic! the marshmallow clusters and honeycomb crunch were the first to go!
emily just suggested earl grey tea for our new milk chocolate - it was an old favourite in our fresh dark truffles at limerick farmer's market. it also sold brilliantly at sheridan's cheesemonger's in galway in our small bars with star confetti days. it has been done before by other chocolate companies but is still quite rare in a solid bar and so good to eat. another contender?
helen, one of our original chocolatiers, will be in mortons of galway this saturday (22nd may) giving samples of our chocolates. she would love to see any of you and has many tales to tell of setting out on dark mornings to farmers markets in cork and dingle and the highs and lows of early cocoa bean adventures!
it seems such a long time ago but it was only last week that we were in this lovely town, glad of the sunshine after wild storms and floods.
i know. it sounds gross but i can't get it out of my mind! i am in the middle of reviewing our whole range: experimenting, inventing and dreaming. i am looking for something to go with a milk chocolate, maybe on the dark side of milk. i am also just back from a crazy, stormy, lovely spanish holiday where i tasted cinnamon salami amongst other delicious tapas dishes and it somehow shifted my soul. it won't work with chocolate so i should just leave it but it is nagging away there. what if i just use all the other ingredients and leave out the pork? i don't have the recipe so i need to do a lot of testing and tasting. watch this space...
skelligs & cocoa bean chocolates have now opened our first chocolate cafe at 77, High Street, killarney - opposite Quills...the factory is currently closed to visitors while we under go some renovations on site - so apologies for any inconvenience caused, but our chocolates can be purchased from the skelligs chocolate cafe in killarney. if you visit, we would love to hear your feedback!
it's actually a gloriously oozy chocolate cake with a well of dulce de leche and topped with intense dark chocolate which i made for my husband's 30th birthday. on seeing it cut into though a friend screeched in horror 'is that lard?!' now i wouldn't say we are an entirely healthy family but a cake filled with lard isn't exactly our style.
despite still being a bit of a dark chocolate purist, i love the crazily sweet and addictive skelligs creation of mini marshmallows & honey comb in creamy milk chocolate. they are hand made and hand wrapped in our kerry workshop. in fact ,emily and i like it so much that it ended up looking very much like a cocoa bean invention wrapped in bright pink and orange. it's ours now colm - hands off!
we are waiting for esme to get home from school so that we can start the party, decorate our tablecloth and eat the cake just before dinner - all worries about spoilt apetites thrown to the wind!
esme and elsie were very excited about going to school and nursery this morning in their flashing shamrock badges from their grandma and granddad. iris is sick and refused to be drawn into the girls' celebrations at first but has just woken up more in the mood for fun!
we creamed 50g butter and 100g caster sugar and then added an egg, a splash of vanilla extract and finally 100g self raising flour and a dash of cocoa powder. we spooned the mixture into the four tins and baked for 10 minutes at 180 degrees c.
the icing is 40g soft butter creamed together with 125g icing sugar and a dash of milk. colour it shamelessly green and eat it with a glass of red lemonade or a pint of guiness!
i made these paddy's parade crunchies tonight and remembered a day five years ago when emily and i made about a hundred bags of these for the saturday market in limerick just before st. patrick's day. we tied them up with orange and green ribbon and homemade labels. we sold loads - probably about sixty. all our regulars bought some, getting into the spirit - practically everyone who came to the market went home with a bag!
i made the cake in a square cake tin for 25 minutes at 180 degrees using 100g butter, 100g caster sugar, 2 eggs and 100g flour with a sprinkle of cocoa powder. i was chatting to emily and put all the ingredients in the mixing bowl together instead of creaming the butter and sugar first. i decided i couldn't do anything about it so whisked them all together and kept my fingers crossed. the cake rose beautifully so i was either lucky or there is a conspiracy to make baking more complex than it needs to be!
this is a great cake but maybe you do have to like beetroot because there is a pleasant earthy taste that runs alongside the dark chocolate that would probably taste distinctly beetrooty to someone who is not a fan. i am a fan and i found this cake a pleasure to make and eat. 
i suspect that the romantic rose and pistachio bar will run away with the cocoa bean bar valentine sales award this year though i wouldn't be too quick to write off the aphrodisiac qualities of the chilli and pink peppercorn. those living in the glen, who are in the know, will put the smart money on glamorous g and t - the runaway winner every year. come on rose and pistachio - you're my favourite!!!!
i made lemon curd on the same night as i was making truffles for a friends 40th birthday party and i joined them in beautiful union! 60% ganache with single cream, a good dollop of lemon curd (easy recipe below) and enrobed in lovely dark, dark chocolate. they were perfect. 
then i started experimenting with vinegar and made the most beautiful chocolate ganache with rich undertones of thick and sweet seggiano balsamic, almost like a winter walk through the woods but much warmer... 
the nominations for the irish blog awards are open until february 5th. if you fancy nominating us, just click on the link! http://awards.ie/blogawards/
