another day, another blog

the new blog

As much as I enjoy using this space to write about clover & clutch, I've decided it's probably best to set up a separate place to do that. So, I've created a new blog for all my truffles, bonbons, and raw confections. Check it out to find out about everything happening in my chocolate world, and keep checking back here for more on non-chocolate food.

chocolate is raw (or at least it can be)

raw caramel & sea salt truffles

raw cayenne & cinnamon truffles

raw sesame orange truffles

raw ginger bonbon

Finally, clover&clutch's online shop is back up, and now we're shipping with ice packs to protect the chocolates. But, it's even better than ever because now we've got a more complete line of raw chocolates!

That's right, raw chocolates. Each of these delicious confections is made using only raw ingredients such as raw cacao, raw agave, raw nuts and nut butters and fresh raw juices. Of course, the ingredients are never heated above 110 F to preserve all their nutritious benefits. And, oh, are they delicious! In fact, I think I prefer the raw ones to the regular ones. Check out the full line here.

Ginger and Rose Hand-Dipped Truffles

ginger & rose truffles

The recipe for my ginger and rose truffles is posted on the vegan etsy blog. Check it out here!

new kid on the street

fig and port dark chocolate truffle

Announcing the newest addition to the clover and clutch family: Fig & Port. These smooth chocolate truffles begin with a sweet fig center that is rolled in a port-infused chocolate ganache, and finally hand-dipped in dark chocolate and garnished with a sliver of dried fig. Fifteen of these delicious truffles come packaged in a clover & clutch truffle box, making the perfect gift for someone special, or a treat for yourself. Of course, they're available to purchase here.

introducing...clover & clutch

isn't she pretty?

The past couple of months have been pretty busy, and my lack of blog activity directly reflects my lack of kitchen activity. It's kind of sad that I was so excited about my nice, new kitchen, and I've barely spent time in it at all making "real food" (you know, not sweets...).

But, I have been at least a little productive. In the past couple months, I decided to "just go for it," if you will (and you will), and try to sell my food. The plan was to make all sorts of baked goods, but I started making truffles and I got really into it, so I just kept going. I had tons and tons of ideas for flavors, so I made as many as I could and I made my friends and family eat them. In the process (aside from eating way too many truffles), I learned a lot; I learned about how to ship truffles, what coatings work the best, the best techniques (at least for me) to make truffles, and I learned a lot about working with chocolate. Hundreds of truffles later, I'm proud to introduce you to clover & clutch. I've still got a bit to learn, and I'm still working on more flavors, but here is what I have so far.

pomegranate

coffee & walnut

coffee

cherry

cardamom & pistachio

caraway & cocoa

They're all available at my etsy, which is, of course, http://cloverandclutch.etsy.com

In the future (probably a couple of months from now) I may be doing more flavor testing of truffles and other sweets. If you're interested in getting some goods, maybe we could work something out (like you just pay for shipping and I'll pay the rest in exchange for your feedback), leave me a comment or email me and cloverandclutch@gmail.com

BAKE MY DAY: some like it hot

spiced apple cake with chili de arbol caramel

cayenne persimmon tart

sugar-free chocolate chili truffles

chocolate chili truffles

anaheim lime coconut pie

poblano almond chocolate cupcakes

For this week's BAKE MY DAY* I decided to use chilis to heat things up a bit. I wanted to try to use a variety of peppers from the Capsicum genus to provide different flavors and different levels of heat.

*BAKE MY DAY is a weekly event I host where I choose an ingredient or a theme and try to make several baked goods, accordingly. It gives me a great excuse to try a lot of new things!


Spiced Apple Cake with Chili de Arbol Caramel Sauce:I started off with this Holiday Bundt Apple Cake from Dessert, Diet and Dogs. I was happy to find a recipe that was using whole grain flours and agave and brown rice syrup for most of the sweetness. Unfortunately, I didn't have barley flour, so I substituted with whole wheat flour. The only other difference was that I added 1/4 teaspoon cayenne to the apples. When I mixed up the batter, it seemed a bit dry, but I baked it anyway. Perhaps I messed up somewhere (but I really couldn't figure out how), or perhaps I just slightly overbaked the cake, but it seemed the slightest bit dry. I'm taking full responsibility for that, though, and, otherwise, it was such a lovely cake, that I still recommend it.

I only added 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne because I didn't want the cake to be too spicy (only some like it hot, and I wanted to make sure everyone could enjoy the desserts). So, I chose to put most of the spice in the caramel sauce.

For the caramel sauce, I used this recipe because I wanted to use up my maple syrup. It tasted good, but it wasn't quite like caramel. I've used another recipe in the past that looked much more like caramel, although now I can't remember what recipe that was. (Does anyone have a caramel sauce recipe that you absolutely love?) I did add 2 dried chili de arbols (stems removed, but I added the seeds), chopped into little pieces. The sauce was spicy and delicious, and poured over lightly toasted spiced walnuts, it really made the cake (and totally made up for any dryness).

Cayenne Persimmon Tart:
When I was thinking about foods that chilis would go well with, one of the first things that came to my mind was mangoes. I love a mango with a little kick. Unfortunately, the mangoes this time of year just aren't good enough to cut it, so I decided to try something with persimmons, which have a similar flavor and happen to be in season now. I found Delicious Coma's recipe for a persimmon tart and decided to give it a try.

I used cold shortening in place of the butter and added cayenne to the spices to be sprinkled on top of the persimmons. The crust turned out quite good; however, the persimmons were not so good. My persimmons weren't ripe enough (and if you've ever had an unripe persimmon, you know how bad they are). I thought they might take on a sweet flavor when baked (much like a quince), but they remained incredibly astringent. But, the tart looked lovely and it would have been great had my fruit been better (and that's the easiest thing to fix, so I'm alright with that).

Chocolate Chili Truffles & Sugar-free Truffles:
recipe here

Anaheim Lime Coconut Pie:
recipe coming soon

Poblano Almond Chocolate Cupcakes:
recipe coming soon

chocolate and chili: the good, the bad, and the ugly

the good, the bad and the ugly

For BAKE MY DAY this week, I decided to work with chili peppers (any member of the Capsicum genus). I guess I liked the idea so much, that I decided to get started a little early, and it seems like the past few days have been all about chilis. And what better to pair it with than chocolate? So, here they are: The Good, The Bad (well, at least the "not great"), and The Ugly.

chocolate chili truffle

THE GOOD
Chocolate Chili Truffles:
After making my Chocolate Matcha Truffles several weeks ago for the first time, and realizing how simple and wonderful it is to make truffles, I decided to try again, this time using cayenne, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt to flavor my truffles. The result was delicious! It takes a couple seconds for the spice of the cayenne to hit, but it provides a nice "after spice," as one of my friends called it. Just as you've realized the flavor of the chocolate, your brain is suddenly hit by the heat, providing quite a pleasant sensation. I used this basic recipe from RecipeZaar and added 1 teaspoon of cayenne, one teaspoon of cinnamon and a pinch of salt. I also rolled them in cocoa powder mixed with a little bit of cinnamon, and then, using a drop of melted chocolate, stuck on thinly sliced pieces of (mild) dried chili peppers.

sugar-free truffles, ready to be delivered

THE BAD
Sugar-free chocolate chili truffles:
Well, they actually weren't too bad, but they aren't nearly as good as truffles with a little sugar. My friend is on a sugar-restricted diet and she also has an allergy to soy, so she's definitely been wanting something a little sweet in her life. I used the same basic recipe for my truffles, but instead of using my regular bittersweet chocolate chips, which contain sugar and soy lecithin, I melted a bar of 100% cacao. I was hoping that the natural sweetness of the cashews would at least kind of help to counter the bitterness, but unfortunately, the cocoa was still too strong. My friend said that she can use small amounts of stevia on occasion, so I added a couple of teaspoons. I'd never used stevia before, and perhaps I used a little too much (a little of it goes a long way), because it seemed to have a slightly off flavor, something I'd usually associate with artificial sweetners. I also lightly toasted some coconut shavings to bring out their natural sweetness and rolled the truffles in the coconut to (hopefully) add a little sweetness. The stevia flavor wasn't too noticeable, and the taste was less bitter, so it did help a bit.

The result: not great. But not terrible.

I do think this recipe is worth experimenting with, especially if you have soy allergies of if you would like to use more natural sugars. If you aren't on such a sugar-restricted diet, I think it could still be worthwhile to make these with agave nectar; that way you are using a sugar that won't spike your blood sugar as much, and you can control the sweetness of the truffles to your liking.

THE UGLY
Chocolate Chili:
After putting some chili in my chocolate, I decided it was time to put a little chocolate in my chili. I remembered this post from The Urban Vegan and threw in a couple handfuls into my chili recipe. It may not look very pretty, but it sure was a delicious way to end the past few chilly nights.

vegan MoFo 08: BMD "i like coffee, i like tea"

Now that I'm back in town, I'm about to unload an arsenal of backed-up posts (oh, it's so good to be at home with my computer!)
First, a post to display all of the desserts at the Oct. 9 "i like coffee, i like tea" BMD event:

chai cupcakes with buttercream frosting and cinnamon

oolong currant scones with darjeeling jam and clotted cream

ceylon pumpkin pie



chocolate matcha truffles

chocolate espresso biscotti

vegan MoFo 02: chocolate matcha truffles

chocolate matcha truffles

I just found out about Vegan MoFo (Vegan Month of Food), an annual blogging event encouraging vegans to blog more often (preferably 20 times in the month of October) about vegan food. In an attempt to do my part, here is a recipe for some delicious chocolate matcha truffles I made. I based my recipe off of this one, but I changed it a little, so I'll rewrite here, with my additions.

I used matcha powder to flavor them appropriately for this week's BAKE MY DAY, for which the theme is: "i like coffee, i like tea." Since I am baking for people who aren't used to having matcha, I only used 2 teaspoons, although you may find you prefer the matcha flavor to be stronger. But I think 2 teaspoons is the perfect amount for a subtle flavor. Also, I added 1 T agave; it isn't a lot of sugar but it helps cut the bitterness of the matcha. And here's the recipe:

Chocolate Matcha Truffles
makes 30
3/4 cup raw cashews
3/4 cup water
2 teaspoons matcha powder
1 T agave
1 lb bittersweet chocolate

1. Blend the cashews with the water, agave, and matcha for 1-2 minutes (yes, it is a long time, but you want the mixture to be VERY smooth and creamy). Make sure there are no clumps.

2. Melt the chocolate in a double broiler until very smooth. Keep stirring to help it melt evenly and to prevent it from burning.

3. Fold the cashew mixture into the chocolate and stir gently to prevent air bubbles from forming in the mixture.

4. Once the mixture is combined, allow it to rest in the fridge for 2 hours until set. Then, use a spoon to scoop out small balls and roll in your hands (it is a bit messy) and then roll through cocoa powder until coated. Top with a sprinkle of matcha powder. You can store these in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer, but you should let them come to room temperature before eating, as that will allow for the best flavor.