Chocolate Covered Yummies

Last month I attended a chocolate workshop at work and learned about tempering chocolate.  Tempering is method for heating and then cooling chocolate so that the finished product has a nice gloss sheen, and snap.  If tempered correctly, the chocolate will not bloom due to poor technique.
 I chose the Seeding Method as my method of choice because I have a small surface area in my kitchen, and it was just the easier method. The seeding method involves heating chocolate to a temperature to about 115F and then adding chocolate to reduce the temperature down to 90F.  .
If I'm feeling up to it, I'll add a detailed post about the different methods of tempering chocolate. 

Chocolate covered almonds

Chocolate covered almonds with Heath toffee. I swear, these chocolate covered almonds tasted just as good, if not better than store bought chocolate covered almonds.

Chocolate covered apricots, kettle potato chips, and senbei (from Hawaii). Good thing Mike was taking a nap when I was experimenting in the kitchen, or he might have thought that I was a bit crazy dipping all this food in chocolate.  

This looks like a mash-up and on the verge of kind of gross looking, but I thought that this was delicious! I chopped up some dried apricots, cherries, and almonds and then poured the leftover chocolate on it.  It's my version of a fruit and nut bark or chocolate mendiants.  So good! I guess I have to work on making it look pretty.

Dude, Sweet Chocolate

For the longest time, I've been wanting to go to a store called "Dude, Sweet Chocolate" far off in Oak Cliff (South Dallas). Last year, during a white elephant gift exchange at a Christmas party, I was fortunate (as compared to the Harry Potter Malfroy figurine Mike ended up with) to end up with a box of rose petal-containing truffles from this store. I do not even like rose flavored foods or rose petals, but found myself enjoying this strange combinations of flavor in this box of truffles.

Here's a picture of the different products Dude, Sweet Chocolate sells.

Dude, Sweet Chocolate is a tiny little store that almost looks like a warehouse.  One side of the store houses the kitchen where the chocolates are made (I think), and the other side serves as the store front. 
The saleperson was beyond generous with the chocolate samples. I think I tried about six different items, including an artisan chocolate (~$2/a piece).  The salesperson let us sample "crack in a box" which was like an extremely nutty rocky road. Dark chocolate coating a mixtures of macademia nuts, soy nuts, hazelnuts, and almonds.

We ended up purchasing a box of chocolate toffee and a box artisan chocolates. I really wanted to like the "Fungus Amoungus" which was a chocolate/toffee containing porcini mushrooms and pumpkin seeds-but the earthy musty flavor was a little too much for me. I kept thiking of moss and cleaning a stuffy room.
I also sampled the "Luchador" which was a chocolate toffee with apple butter and tamarind.
I settled on the "Vincotto" which contained red wine vinegar, figs, and argon oil. Mike and I didn't know what argon oil was and thought that it might be a chemical on the periodic table. We asked the salesperson and she said it was an oil from almonds or something. This toffee was pretty good.

I didn't realize it at the time, but after looking at the company's website did I find out that I bought the "DUDE" chocolates.  I think the chocolate flavors are geared to men's taste buds.  It's $12 for a box of six pieces.

This is a picture of the DUDE chocolates that came in the box I purchased. 
Parique -Louisanna tobacco, cognac
Irish Channel - Laphroaig Irish Whisky, pure pine
Marakesh - fresh dates, raz al hanout
Black Gold - black garlic, sweet wild mushrooms
Puro and Olive - 74% San Dominican, black olive salt
Miso Happy - red miso, tahini, black sesame

SWEET chocolates, that I decided against purchasing. I think I would have enjoyed the sweet chocolates better.  I did not care for any of the DUDE chocolates. Mike and I both concluded that some of the DUDE chocolates tasted like chemicals and had odd flavors too them. The best one that I could stomach was the black olive salt one.

Tahitian - passionfruit, ginger salt
Sassy Frasy - banana, sassaparilla, birch bark
Hill Country - Zip Code honey, lavender, Dallas Mozz. Co. goat crema
Lemon Buttermilk - fresh lemon, buttermilk
Indian Rose - rosepetal jam, marzipan
Baccus - Texas cabernet, golden raisin

I have mixed feelings about "Dude, Sweet Chocolate." I'd like to think I have an adventurous palate, but I'd prefer chocolates with simple flavors and additions. I admire Dude, Sweet Chocolates flavor experiments, but I think that the flavor combinations are too extreme for me.  My advice would be sample the adventurous flavors of chocolate prior to purchasing them. 

Dude, Sweet Chocolate is a  small cute hip place to visit in Oak Cliff. I kind of enjoyed my first visit to the Oak Cliff, Bishop Arts District. It kind of reminds me of West End in Brisbane, Australia or what I imagine Portland, Oregon would feel like. 

Dude, Sweet Chocolate
408 West 8th Street
Dallas, TX 75208
(214) 943-5943