Chocolates for charity :)

I’m making an open offer this year, in hopes of scaring up some more AIDS Lifecycle donors: if you sponsor me for $50 or more, I’ll send you a 13-14 oz box of my yearly chocolate extravaganza!  The link to donate is here: https://www.aidslifecycle.org/donate/form.cfm?n=1017

Truffles will be going out early this year, because I’m going home for Thanksgiving instead of making chocolates all weekend – also because I’m currently unemployed and have time to make them 🙂 – but figure you have at least three weeks to donate before chocolates appear.

Speaking of chocolates, I bought some herbs at the farmer’s market this week to experiment with in chocolates and fudge:

• lemon verbena
• bronze fennel seed heads
• lemon basil
• lime basil!

I’m starting to come up with my list of things to make for this year.  I know already that it will include the following:

• jasmine tea truffles
• jasmine-vanilla-bean-orange-blossom-honey caramels
• goat cheese and honey truffles (because they were so good last year)
• peanut butter truffles (b/c I want to see if I can make some as nice as The French Laundry’s peanut butter truffles)
• deep dark Valrhona chocolate fudge with one of: macadamia nuts, walnuts, pecans
• white chocolate Meyer lemon lavender fudge, because it’s one of my favorites
• chocolate covered apricots
• chocolate covered candied ginger
• chocolate covered pears
• English toffee (of course!)

Things I will probably reprise from last year include:

• chocolate covered coconut almond fudge (think high-class Almond Joy)
• maple fudge (probably with walnuts)
• green tea truffles
• rose geranium truffles, or rosewater truffles

New things I want to try include:

• coffee truffles (maybe with white chocolate ganache and milk or dark chocolate coating) – I still have that fantastic Panama Esmeralda coffee to try
•  coffee or mocha fudge
• chai truffles
• lemon/lime/Thai basil (?) truffles – experimental, may not make it in
• other stuff as I think it up

Whew!  Lots of stuff.  I think I’ll start on it once I finish this round of AIDS Lifecycle costumes.  🙂

(So, what are you waiting for?  Sponsor me already!)