Monday, December 27, 2010

Chocolate Adventures on the Road: Milwaukee in December

Since the snowstorm that hit the Eastern Seaboard left the DC area relatively unscathed, I’ve luckily made my way back here from the awesome land known as “Milwaukee,” where I hung out with family and forced them to eat insane desserts.

While I was there, my Uncle Dave fed us well, which involved a trip to V. Richards.

At this little shop, I discovered not only a supply of Vosges bars, but a local chocolate bar outlet: Indulgence Chocolatiers, a Milwaukee-based business that handcrafts chocolate bars. Reviews, as always, are forthcoming.

My Uncle Dave also took us past Brennan’s, which boasts the Best. Cheese. Selection. Ever.

They also happened to have some E. Guittard in stock.

In addition to the milk chocolate that I purchased to make some lime-coconut thumbprint cookies, I picked up two new E. Guittard bars to review.

Well, and to eat. Let’s not pretend that this is anything but an awesome task.

Since Wisconsin is playing in the Rose Bowl later this week, everybody is all about the Badgers this week, and my family celebrated by making some Wisconsin-themed Brunsli.

I had some help from my grandmother, who has actually studied cooking at Le Cordon Bleu and at The Ritz Hotel Paris. I mean, wow. Am I seriously lucky or what?

Since she and I share a love of baking, she got me a copy of Warren Brown’s latest book, United Cakes of America, for Christmas.

My Uncle Dave and Aunt Maggie, who are also well-aware of my kitchen exploits, got me a convection toaster oven (!).

And my parents pitched in by getting me new baking sheets and a kitchen scale, both of which will be very helpful in my quest to make more and more macarons.

And, as no trip to Milwaukee would be complete without frozen custard, my Uncle Dave got us Turtle Sundae custard from Kopp's Frozen Custard.

The Turtle Sundae flavor features a base of Kopp's signature creamy vanilla custard, and also includes a bittersweet chocolate sauce that had just a bit of grit to it, crunchy roasted pecans, and a buttery caramel sauce.

Neat little break for Christmas, huh? I sure thought so. Plenty of chocolate, that's for sure.

Did you travel at all for Christmas? Where did you go? And most importantly, was there good chocolate?


18 comments:

  1. Oh, Kopps. My husband is from West Allis, so we often end up there when we visit in the summer. Glad you had a happy holiday!

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  2. What a fun holiday! That's awesome about your grandmother. And a convection toaster oven! My family has also picked up on my baking obsession, as evidenced by this year's gifts. I told my sister about those Brunsli cookies and she had me send her the link to your post. Lots of GF folks in her husband's fam! Also, I LOVE frozen custard, and my favorite is in Ohio at East Coast Custard. yummm.

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  3. Sounds like a great Christmas! I've never had frozen custard. Is it like ice cream?

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  4. I didn't travel, but I had fondue, which is most definitely good chocolate! =D

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  5. Your Christmas sounds great! That is so sweet you baked with your grandma .... sounds like she can make some mean desserts! Chocolate ... yumm ..

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  6. Lovely presents! Almost made me forget about stamping my foot in jealousy over your chocolate haul. A family friend in the States sent me four chocolate bars, including Vosges' Barcelona bar, which was much appreciated! Particularly as I've never blogged Vosges because I ate them all pre-blog :P

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  7. How good does that chocolate cake look? And what about its size! It could be a door wedge!

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  8. @Julie @SavvyEats Thanks, Julie! Hope yours was good, too, even if it lacked Kopp's (which I can obviously eat any time of year).

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  9. @Jessica @ bake me away! Yay frozen custard! Didn't realize you could get it in Ohio, it's VERY hard to find most places. I hope your sister likes the Brunsli, they are a lot like brownies (drool...).

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  10. @Lynn @ I'll Have What She's Having It's very similar to ice cream, but with a higher butterfat content and more egg yolk. It's dense, creamy, and amazing.

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  11. @fitchocoholic Well that sounds like a win all around - no traveling necessary, AND you got good chocolate!

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  12. @Debbie B. Everything, yes everything, is better with chocolate. And my grandmother still made Christmas brunch on her own this year - amazing, isn't it?

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  13. @Hannah Oh drool, I love the Barcelona bar. It's so, so soft. Almost like a truffle. What other bars did you get?

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  14. @Spencer @ Moo-Lolly-Bar It would be one tasty mint-chocolate door wedge, that's for sure.

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  15. WAIT. WAIT. WAIT. how did i not know (or, um, remember?) that you are a Wisconsin girl?!?!?! I LOVE those motion W's!!! xoxo GO BUCKY!

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  16. @Heather Aren't you PSYCHED for the Rose Bowl??? I didn't go to UW, but lived in Wisconsin until I was 15, so I heart Bucky. Especially since I went to a D3 school with a, uh, less than awesome football team

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