Timothy Adams Boutique Chocolatier in Palo Alto

I myself having Swiss parents, was exposed to exceptional chocolate at an early age. There is so much American chocolate in the Bay Area, that it is rare to come across some really good quality chocolate.

This boutique chocolatier shop has impressed me greatly. It is called Timothy Adams and it is on Bryant Street in Palo Alto. I’ll get to their chocolates later, but their design blew me away. The blue and the pink worked so well together and every last detail had so much continuity, even the lamp shades were beautifully designed. I was very impressed with how everything worked together, and that’s what caught my eye in the first place and made me want to enter. The two owners, Timothy and Adams, are very nice and really care about the quality and where their products come from. I have been there twice now, and it certainly was much more busy the second time around, as once people go there, they will come back.

The quality and variety of the different chocolates is amazing. There is something for everyone. Last time we went, we had four different chocolates, ordering with the intent of taking some home for later, but they were so good that we finished them all. My favorite is definitely the Creme Fraiche truffle. The inside is so silky and the taste of creme fraiche is apparent. For a white chocolate, we choose orange. The biggest problem I have with white chocolate is the overpowering sweetness, but this was clearly not an issue here. The tanginess of the orange evened out the white chocolate really nicely. We also choose a dark chocolate, which was Bourbon. The bourbon was really nice, and the flavor wasn’t too overpowering, so I liked it. I don’t know if other kids would like the flavor, but I really did. Last but not least, we had the Milk on Milk. This was on the sweeter side of chocolates, but nevertheless it was good. Everything about this place I love, and I will definitely be returning.

 

Fondant au Chocolat

Fondant au Chocolat is a great dessert. They are quite rich, although they taste amazing. I love to pair them with vanilla ice cream, or whipped cream, and they also go well with berries. When you bake them in the oven, you want to make sure that they don’t get to dry, because you don’t want it to have the same dry consistency of brownies. When you bite into the fondants, you want the center to melt in your mouth.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup of light brown sugar

1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp of all-purpose flour

3 eggs

1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 1 Tbsp of unsalted butter

6 ounces of dark chocolate

Instructions:

1) In a large bowl mix the brown sugar, flour, and eggs.

2) Melt the butter over low heat – it should not cook.

2) In a separate bowl melt the chocolate – I usually crumble the chocolate into a large bowl and cover the chocolate with hot water. Note: just about cover the chocolate with the water. Do not use too much water. Let stand still for a minute.  After one minute use a baster to carefully remove the water from the bowl.

3) Add the melted butter to the melted chocolate and mix well.

4) Pour the chocolate butter mix slowly into the egg mixture while stirring.

5) Pour the liquid mixture into buttered muffin tins – fill not more than 2/3 of a tin.

6) Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350oF.

7) Let cool in the muffin tins.

8) Sprinkle with powered sugar and serve either with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, or some fresh berries.

 

 

 

 

 

Recipe source:  Café Cooking At Home, La Boulange, by Chronicle Books LLC, 2012

Scary Halloween Cupcakes!

Today we had fun making some Halloween cupcakes for my school.  We took the easy approach.  We bought two mixes from Trader Joe’s, the Pumpkin bread mix and the Truffle brownie mix.  First we filled the cupcake holders with the prepared pumpkin mix and then we added a little of the brownie mix.  They turned out tasting really good but the at the end they ended up not looking the best but I just put some icing on them and they turned out perfect. I had a lot of fun decorating the cupcakes.

I hope you all had a fun Halloween.

Tina