It’s a wonderful day here at truffle truffle because – even though it still feels a bit chilly outside – the flavors of spring have arrived!  I always have fun with the seasonal collections because they give me an opportunity to play with new flavors and ideas, but I especially love this new spring line.  The truffles deliciously showcase fresh herbs from the garden, and each is topped with a tiny burst of flavor that perfectly compliments the infused ganache centers.  I am personally in love with the arugula truffle, topped with a candied pinenut, and the thyme truffle, topped with a candied dried organic cranberry.  The flavors are clean, surprising, well-balanced and perfect for the beginning of Spring!

Not to be out-shined, the Spring caramels are also fabulous!  I am totally obsessed with the rose water caramel right now – the sweet-and-salty balance of our original caramel recipe is perfectly enhanced by subtle floral notes.  And the strawberry rhubarb caramel is also delicious.  We dehydrated fresh rhubarb to concentrate all of that intense, unique flavor into a fine powder and used that to flavor these caramels, alongside fresh strawberry puree.  What a delicious and fitting homage to the culinary delight first pulled from the earth every Spring – rhubarb has never had it so good!

Try our Spring truffle and caramel collections, or select these flavors individually to combine with our other delicious treats.  What better way to kick-off a beautiful Spring?!

truffle truffle made its television debut on Fox News Chicago’s Deal of the Day this morning to promote today’s deal of the day: an adorably delicious tower of sweets that includes a 4-piece box of caramels, a 4-piece box of truffles and an individual s’more.

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/good_day/deal_of_the_day/truffle-truffle—chicago-news

Fortunately, I was running a bit behind schedule (so typical) and didn’t really have time to get nervous about my role as spokeswoman, so it went off without a hitch.  And the gracious anchors and Fox News staff quickly became big fans of our little treats!  We are so thrilled and grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in this segment and spread the truffle truffle love throughout Chicago.

Stay tuned for more great press – there are some exciting things on the horizon!

your wait for truffle truffle’s aphrodisiac truffles and caramels, and our charmingly delicious marshmallow hearts, is over!  the valentine’s day collection is now available at www.truffletruffle.com/valentines.php.  the combination of delicious sweets and beautiful packaging makes these treats the perfect gift for your valentine…or for yourself!  and if you, like us, have trouble choosing among so many tasty options, your problems are solved.  with this collection, we’ve introduced the first truffle truffle tower, the tower of love!  the tower of love conveniently includes all of the delicious items in our truffle truffle valentine’s day collection: a 16-piece box of assorted marshmallow hearts, an 8-piece box of aphrodisiac caramels and a 4-piece box of aphrodisiac truffles.  you can’t go wrong!  if you are looking for just a bit of sweet though, my personal favorites are the bananas foster caramels, the double dark truffles and the marshmallow heart jar, which is just adorable! no matter what you choose, the lucky recipient is bound to love them.  And with the aphrodisiac flavors, some of that love is bound to rub off on you!

happy truffling!

The groans that might involuntarily overtake you when you think of Valentine’s Day – and in mid-January, at that! – will meet their match and unavoidable demise the moment you see and taste truffle truffle’s new Valentine’s Day collection!  As always, we have paid as much attention to making our products charming and beautiful as we do to making them delicious…and yes, we’ve succeeded on both fronts.

Those of you lucky – but chilly – trufflers who live in Chicago don’t have to wait to taste these wonderful treats!  As of this morning, our Valentine’s Day collection is available at Southport Grocery and Cafe, 3552 N Southport.  Go in for brunch (I am a loyal devotee of their sweet & savory french toast – it’s ridiculous!) and pick up some of our artisanal chocolates and confections for dessert…or an early gift for your valentine!  On their shelves you will find our aphrodisiac truffle collection tin, our individually-wrapped aphrodisiac caramels, assorted shortbread s’mores, and…my current obsession…the assorted marshmallow hearts (passionfruit in white chocolate, coffee in milk chocolate, and raspberry in dark chocolate), which are beautifully packed in a reusable glass jar wrapped in handmade decorative papers.

Those of you further afield will have to wait a bit longer to see and taste these valuable treats – we will be launching the Valentine’s Day Collection on www.truffletruffle.com early next week.  But we promise…they’re worth the wait!

Happy truffling!

It’s hard to believe how quickly Christmas has become Valentine’s Day, but here at truffle truffle, preparations are definitely underway!  After a well-deserved break from the kitchen to ring in the New Year, we are hard at work testing recipes for the new seasonal caramel flavors, and so far the fruits of our labor are very tasty!  In honor of Valentine’s Day each new caramel flavor features ingredients long considered to be natural aphrodisiacs.  So plan on giving your Valentine some of truffle truffle’s delicious caramels, and who knows where the day will take you!

The Valentine’s Day menu will be available on our website,www.truffletruffle.com, next week (don’t worry…we’ll remind you to check it out!), but we thought we’d give you loyal trufflers a little sneak preview!  The Valentine’s Day Aphrodisiac Caramels will be: Bananas Foster (my personal favorite, so far!), Amaretto Peach, Pear Anise and Vanilla Saffron…each perfectly chewy, uniquely delicious, and guaranteed to sweeten your Valentine’s Day!

truffle truffle has found a new home in Chicago’s Bucktown/Wicker Park neighborhood at Olivia’s Market (2014 W Wabansia, www.oliviasmarket.com)!!!  Olivia’s is a fabulous gourmet grocery and deli that carries delicious cheeses, charcuterie and boutique snacks, as well as fabulous small-batch wines and hand-crafted beers to accompany them…and, as of last week, truffle truffle products too!  Our 9-piece truffle boxes are currently available there in several flavors, including mint, champagne, blueberry, beer & pretzel, triple chocolate, and espresso.  Stop by Olivia’s the next time you’re in the neighborhood and pick up your favorite truffle truffle flavor, as well as the perfect savory treats and libations to serve at your next gathering!

Well, December has gotten off to a great – and hectic – start here at truffle truffle, and with the holidays quickly approaching, we couldn’t ask for better timing!  This week, truffle truffle participated in two exciting events.  On Tuesday, we were featured at the About.com holiday party at Blue Mercury in Lincoln Park.  It was an intimate gathering of about 40 guests, which gave us an opportunity to really share our love of all things truffle truffle!  The beer & pretzel truffles were wildly popular (”heaven in your mouth” according to one guest!), followed closely by the fleur de sel caramels, both of which, incidentally, are among my personal favorites.

Once the About.com event was cleaned up, it was immediately back to the kitchen for a long night of chocolate work to prepare treats – hundreds and hundreds of treats – for the World of Chocolate event, a benefit hosted by the AIDS Foundation of Chicago to raise money for AIDS research and prevention efforts.  It amazes me that in the period of just a few short weeks, I’ve had to make the adjustment from thinking in terms of dozens to thinking in terms of hundreds.  Needless to say, I’m not complaining!  The growth of the business has been a wonderful blessing, and one that I am hoping to perpetuate.  Still, it has been an exhausting transition (hence the whimper part of the bang/whimper dichotomy!).

After a week of intense preparation, we showed up at the Hilton Chicago to get set up for the 1,700 guests that would be arriving within the hour.  My anxiety peaked when we entered a beautiful ballroom bustling with the other 20 or so chocolate companies setting up for the festivities.  With a staff and a budget that is only a fraction of what many of the other chocolatiers had at their disposal, I was concerned about being the small fish in a very large and chocolatey pond – would our booth be too modest? would we run out of samples too early? would our little treats seem silly beside the more formal and elaborate offerings of some of the other contenders?  That anxiety was quickly alleviated by the absolutely beautiful table display that Dustin – my hero – put together, and was completely dissolved by the reactions of the guests who swarmed our table to indulge in the beer & pretzel brittle, elderflower and earl grey truffles and assorted s’mores and caramels.  We were quite popular!  In the end, truffle truffle was acknowledged with 2 Judge’s Awards and a 2nd place finish in the People’s Choice Award category!  I was so proud!  While it is always wonderful to receive the praise of friends and family, it is somehow more credible when the rave reviews come from total strangers.  truffle truffle seems like much less of a pipe dream all of a sudden!

Amidst all of the frenzied preparation and the excitement of the event, it could have been easy to lose sight of the bigger picture – were it not so important.  All of those vendors and all of those guest were there that night to raise money for the vital cause of AIDS research and HIV/AIDS prevention.  I spent a lot of time in college and just after volunteering for organizations dedicated to HIV/AIDS prevention and caring for patients with advanced stages of AIDS, and I have regretted not being able to carve out time more recently to continue my activism.  So, participating in this particular event was very rewarding for me personally.  Given that more than half of the people who contract HIV are under the age of 25 globally, awareness and education programs can pay huge dividends in stopping the rate and spread of infection.  As such, the outreach efforts of organizations like the AIDS Foundation and others are vitally important to combating the spread of this epidemic as well as increasing access to care and treatment for those who have already been infected.  The AIDS Foundation of Chicago raised over $200,000 with the World of Chocolate event and I am so grateful for whatever small portion of that truffle truffle was responsible for raising.  As truffle truffle continues to grow, I am committed to maintaining its social consciousness and carving out a niche that allows us to give back to the Chicago community and beyond in meaningful ways.

Perhaps it is best to begin this blog with a disclaimer…I am not by any stretch of the imagination a seasoned blogger.  Consider yourself forewarned. In all honesty, I have neither written a blog entry before, nor have I ever read a blog, but I am committed to this and, at least for the moment, my enthusiasm outweighs my general skepticism and mild aversion.

I have been told that it is best to establish some kind of contextual framework for a blog, and I have thought about this aspect quite a bit.  Never one to consider myself an authority on any particular subject, nor to find my personal life and musings of any particular interest to the rest of the world, I have been at a loss as to how to approach this.  But it occurs to me that the experience of abandoning a somewhat lucrative and stable career to start a completely unrelated business without any knowledge of how to do so, and, more specifically, a business that focuses on chocolate and confections only 6 months after “graduating” from a pastry arts program provides fodder for a discussion that will be somewhat educational, mostly interesting, and certainly amusing!

In some ways I wish that I had started this blog at the beginning because I have already learned so much and made so many mistakes (some horrifying, some hilarious…and all costly), and I feel there are lessons to be learned and laughs to be had from that.  But here we are, about 3 months into the business (if you count from the launch of the website…9 if you count from the first official transaction) and in the middle of what I hope will be the first of many significant growth spurts.

Needless to say, it has been quite a year.  I have never felt so unprepared, ill-equipped, overwhelmed, enthusiastic, passionate or terrified about anything I have ever done.  And I have never worked so hard in my life, which – as those of you who have known me for awhile will attest – is quite a statement. Seriously, I’m exhausted, and convinced that truffle truffle has aged me 10 years already!  But more than anything else, I feel so lucky to have this opportunity to build something that is uniquely mine, to do something creative that makes people happy (even if it is superficial and fleeting), and to continue the entrepreneurial legacy of my family, which goes back three generations at least.  It has been – and continues to be – a whirlwind, a rollercoaster, and sometimes a complete nightmare, but one that I wouldn’t trade for anything.

And with that, for now, it’s off to work I go!