Seattle Chocolates Panoramic Pecan

Although I've seen Seattle Chocolates in my area, when I was visiting Seattle and saw this truffle bar in the Space Needle gift shop, I was compelled to buy it. The package design was very cool, and I thought it would make a good souvenir...and I ended up eating it myself. To be fair, I shared it with 3 people, but I do feel a little guilty.

I never made the connection before, but many of the Seattle Chocolates truffle bars pay homage to famous locations in the Seattle area. Some good examples are the Pike Place Espresso Bar and the Whidbey Wildberry Truffle Bar, but I haven't tried either. Panoramic Pecan promised raisins and praline pecans in dark chocolate truffle.


Because it's a truffle bar, the chocolate had a matte finish and a very soft snap. It smelled of raisins and chocolate (like Raisinettes, if you've had them). The chocolate was sweet for being dark, but it was very smooth and silky with a mildly bitter finish. I liked the texture and the flavor very well.

Did you notice that I haven't mentioned any pecans or actual raisins yet? That's because in the first of 4 quarters of the bar, there was almost nothing but chocolate. My piece had one tiny candied pecan piece, and while it was crunchy and had a nice caramelized flavor, I was pretty disappointed with the distribution.

Luckily, one of my guinea pigs let me have half of another piece later, and the experience was quite different! The plentiful nuts added a firm, sweet crunch and the raisins were tender and flavorful. It reminded me of a high quality trail mix. If only the whole bar had been like that....

B+

Seattle Chocolates website

Cadbury Dairy Milk Fruit and Nut

This bar certainly changed my opinion of fruity chocolate bars. Before it, my only experience with them had been some sort of off brand chocolate bar with dried fruit, and that left a rather vile taste in my mouth long after the one bite I had was swallowed. Thank goodness for Cadbury.

Cadbury starts with good chocolate, at least to my tastes. It has a very distinct flavor that is similar to other non-gourmet European chocolate bars but quite different from Hershey's. The texture tends to be smoother, and the flavor is very milky with just a hint of caramelization.

The bar had the signature aroma of Cadbury chocolate - milky with caramel notes - but I could smell the dried fruits, too. The chocolate was very smooth and melted quickly on the tongue, leaving the tart taste of the raisins and the crunchy almonds.

The whole almonds, easily visible in this picture didn't add much flavor. Almonds have a pretty delicate flavor, so it was probably masked by the intense milk chocolate. The raisins had a good taste and texture, and the texture of the nuts made for a more interesting bar. I prefer this bar to the plain old milk chocolate, and my husband said it reminded him of trail mix.

A-

Cadbury Website

Raisin Kugel

I bring you the kugel – something I’m unfamiliar with. My first and only kugel was from the Famous Fourth Street Deli in Philadephia about a year ago. As far as I can tell, kugel is Yiddish/Jewish for casserole, but not just any casserole! Kugels can be sweet or savory. Kugels can be made from noodles, farfel, potatoes, or matzo.

At the beginning of the week I experimented in making a savory kugel with noodles, mushrooms, and leeks. After proudly presenting these to the boy, he said that this wasn’t right. His exact words were, “They’re OK. I can tell you made them.” Well! You could eat my fist instead!

He prefers the sweet kugels and said that savory kugels are usually made with farfel or potatoes. I guess you shouldn’t mess with tradition. I think sweet kugels taste like dessert, but they’re usually eaten as part of the main meal. I grew up eating sweet potato soufflé (essentially sweet potato pie without a crust) during the main meal, so have no space to balk.

Raisin Kugel

16 ounce package wide egg noodles
12 ounces sour cream (reduced fat works, too)
12 ounces small curd cottage cheese (reduced fat works, too)
6 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup raisins
2 cups corn flakes, coarsely crushed
2 tablespoons brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, melted

• Cook noodles and drain.
• Combine sour cream, cottage cheese, eggs, sugar, and raisins in a large bowl.
• Add cooked noodles to wet mixture in bowl and coat noodles thoroughly
• Combine corn flakes, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl.
• Drizzle melted butter on corn flake mixture and combine.
• Place noodle mixture in a greased 13x9x2-inch pan. Top with cornflake mixture.
• Bake for 1 hour in a preheated 350 degree oven.
  

Ginger Granola Bars

I adore ginger. Ginger jam on bagels, pickled ginger with sushi, Moravian ginger cookies, chocolate covered ginger… You get the idea.

I devised this recipe after being inspired by ginger granola bars I bought from the grocer in the UK. I’ll eat chewy or crispy granola bars, but I prefer chewy. These are chewy and don’t require baking – perfect for hot summer kitchens. One caveat: Keep these stored in the fridge if your kitchen is warm or the sugar/honey binder warms up too and the bars crumble.

Ginger Granola Bars

½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup butter
⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
1 ½ cup oats
1 ½ cup cereal (I used Kashi GoLean)
½ cup raisins (substitute dried fruit of choice)
¼ cup crystallized ginger, chopped finely
¼ cup sunflower seeds (substitute nut of choice)

• Combine brown sugar, honey, vanilla, butter, and cinnamon in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 2 minutes or until sugar is dissolved. Cool completely.
• Mix oats, cereal, raisins, crystallized ginger, and sunflower seeds in a large bowl.
• Mix the brown sugar mixture into the oat mixture.
• Spread mixture into a buttered 13x9 baking pan and press down firmly.
• Refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Cut into bars.