Bacon Butter

I have gone through a few recipes (of my own) for bacon truffles and I am still unsatisfied. I just can't seem to get something right. Yes, they taste great, but to me something is still off. I can't decide if I like whole bacon pieces in the truffles or not. So in an attempt to eliminate the bacon pieces, but keep the bacon flavor I decided to try making bacon powder.

I cooked the bacon as well as I could without it burning. It is quite an art that has taken me some time to learn. I must admit though, I am the best now when it comes to cooking crisp (not burnt) bacon. Then I crunched the bacon into little pieces and put it into a coffee grinder. This worked at first, but because of the grease in the bacon it started to stick together and wouldn't grind anymore. So I added some corn starch as a sort of binding agent that would also dry out the bacon. This worked at first, but after a while the bacon grease overpowered the corn starch, thus making it wet and sticky again.

After a few different attempts at bacon powder, I finally realized that it was not going to work. What I had created though, was a lovely bacon butter. It resembles a chunky looking peanut butter, but when tasted, it obviously was bacon. This bacon butter was a whole new revelation to me! It could be spread on sandwiches, used in dips, or the original reason for making it, I could use it in my bacon truffle.

So I did! It worked great, but you still get the little tiny pieces of bacon. I think I prefer that to having whole chunks of bacon in the truffle though. So I present to you my bacon truffle made from my own creation: bacon butter.

Blueberry Mojito!

I have a new flavor! Once again, my Dad came into play on this one. (Parents are so helpful!) Lately my dad has been very into creating his own ice-creams and sorbets. I must admit, he has become quite good at it too. Our family has a definite sweet tooth. One of his latest creations was a blueberry mojito sorbet...or maybe it was an ice-cream. Either way, it seemed like a genius flavor combination. He told me about it and mentioned how good it could be in a dark chocolate. So I set to work!


Sure enough blueberry with mojito combined in a dark chocolate ganache was a match made in heaven. I might just go mix up the frozen drinkable version of it now! Mojito has the flavors mint, lime, and of course dark rum. These were all very evident and flavorful in the truffle that I created. The blueberry flavor though, was more hidden. It came through just slightly, but I think it was overpowered by the other flavors. This truffle will be perfect when I can get the blueberry to shine through a little more.

Zest Chocolat LLC!

Today I applied for my LLC license, how exciting!! I am 3/4's of the way finished to making Zest an official business. And I have a feeling this is the easy part...

Next week Andy and I will be moving back to Harrisonburg, VA (our hometown!) where I will finish making Zest a business. I am hoping to get our kitchen there inspected and then I will officially be in business! There is still so much to do, (oh the details!) but at least I am getting there.

My dad has been so amazing in helping me design the logo for Zest. I had a few ideas and he had a few ideas, and in the end he has come up with a spectacular design! Here is a first look at what he has come up with and will continue to work on. I am more than trilled!