We who are about to chocolatier salute you

Chocopalooza begins today!

I plan to start with a whole lot of chocolate-dipping. I have the following centers more or less ready to go:

• candied yuzu, bergamot, grapefruit, and Meyer lemon peels
• hazelnut gianduja with raspberry-orange fruit pate
• peanut gianduja with Concord grape fruit pate
• Coconut almond fudge
• ginger-lime-chile caramels (to be dipped in chocolate and topped with chopped peanuts)
• Dried apricots

Collectively these are occupying four of my seven sheet pans. Since that means I have only three sheet pans on which to deposit finished items, I need to finish these items before I can make any more centers. Fine by me!

This also means that I need to prep transfer sheets with colored cocoa butter this morning. I’ve decided to add a colored background to all of the chocolate designs, as I think they add cheer. So I’ll have to paint on the cocoa butter this morning, and there is quite a lot to paint! Fortunately I have two hours before B. gets up, so I can use that time to do the painting.

Once B. is up, I plan to finish the maple-fudge-with-pecan-gianduja centers and maybe make a batch of chai-honey caramels. Neither of those occupy sheet pans, and they both need time to set, so best to get them done early. At 10:30 my friend Susan arrives and we’ll start dipping chocolates.

Off to paint designs with cocoa butter! This should be lots of fun.

Photos later, I promise!