Sunday, October 11, 2009

autumn = chocolate

Autumn in Japan means time to eat chocolate (well, to me anyway). Everywhere you go, you'll see pastries, cakes and other goodies made with chocolate because the weather is cooling down.

Here are some goodies I have been having lately...

Mister Donut's rich donut, I've posted about the rich donut filled with dark chocolate pudding before, but this is a dark chocolate donut filled with dark chocolate pudding and dusted with dark cocoa powder...be sure to wipe your mouth after this one...it will surely leave a black ring...

Homemade bark...I melted 1 cup of 60% Ghiradelli chocolate chips and added a 70% Sarotti bar. For the bits, I added cashews, pecans, almonds, sunflower seeds, cranberries and chocolate covered kakinotane (a spicy type of arare(rice cracker))...mmm!

Bigot's Da Vinci...this is definitely "a work of art". A whipped chocolate mousse dome layered with wafers and some chocolate giving it a little crunch inside. The outside is a sheen coating of chocolate, topped with a carmelized hazelnut and some sliced almonds....rich! a chocoholics dream dessert!

Refrain's milk tea croissant....This croissant had a teeny layer of earl grey chocolate in the center. The outside was coated with a milk glaze that had specks of tea in it, while the inside layer had the most earl grey flavor, the rest was nothing spectacular...meh.

Refrain's couverture...a flaky danish with some chocolate in between the layers. Covered with milk chocolate, this one was definitely chocolatey.

Pafonte's nut danish...a danish covered with milk chocolate and topped with almonds, pistachios and walnuts. No skimping on the nuts nor chocolate...mmm!

Starbuck's latest macaron...marron (chestnut)...The bottom tasted like chocolate with some coffee in it. In the middle was chestnut paste...yum!

If the season is changing where you are, are you enjoying anything special?

5 comments:

Barbara said...

Chocolate just what I need right now Kat,

Jenster said...

They all look so ono! Personally, I think chocolate is an all-season treat but perhaps if I lived in Japan, I could save it for autumn and be much slimmer.

Now that the weather is cooling off a bit in Seattle, I'm craving warmer and heavier foods, such as noodles and stews. I made a batch of beef stew in the crockpot the other days (eaten with rice, Hawaii-style) and a batch of stir-friend yakisoba with char siu today. My waistline definitely gets a little thicker when the weather gets cooler.

Deb in Hawaii said...

Isn't it time to eat chocolate any time?! ;-) Looks like you are enjoying lots of goodies.

Rowena said...

The next time I'm in Milan, I'll have to make a point of looking for chocolate. You make my heart skip for you with these!

K and S said...

hope you get some soon Barbara :)

mmm those stews sound so comforting Jenster!

well, yes, Debinhawaii ;)

can't wait to see what you find in Milan Rowena :)

Take care everyone!
Kat