Setting Up an Easy Chocolate Bar
Posted by Mark Cockerille on
The chill is in the air and our thoughts turn to the cooler weather and upcoming get-togethers. You are thinking, "Let's get some people over here to enjoy the season!" You may plan a hearty meal or just heavy appetizers. Even if you are hosting just a few friends part of this celebration of the season should include a great dessert bar! You can make it a regular dessert station if you like, but if you really want to ramp up the wow factor, make it all chocolate! In addition to your sweets, I'm going to show you how to make an easy coffee cocktail in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwtP4KdMrLY . You can play barista or let guests make their own. Always have at least one surprise for your guests - in this instance, this chocolate station you already have set up. It can be outside on the porch or have a table set up near the fire pit, or just have it in another room of the house. By making it a surprise for your guests, this extends the camaraderie factor and makes your friends remember what a special time they had.
First, decide on 3 or 4 different items that you want to offer at the Chocolate Bar. You do not have to make everything yourself. It took me a long time to get over this, but I repeat, you do not have to make everything yourself! It is okay to buy 1 or 2 premade, but good quality, confections. But if you are worth your salt you have to make at least one of the items! Have a mix of textures, such as creamy truffles, fluffy cupcakes and crunchy toffee. For this kind of get-together I like to make sweets that you can pick up. No slicing of cake and no silverware needed.
Once you have decided on your goodies, you will want to pick out your dishes to use. Think outside the box and use items that don't necessarily match, but go together like I used in this week's What's InSTORE Segment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwtP4KdMrLY .These pottery pieces which we sell in the online store https://chmuseums.myshopify.com/ worked great for this Chocolate Bar. Pick something with height like a cake stand, stacked bricks, etc. as well as a couple of shorter items for interest. A simple tip for displaying your sweets is to use an ingredient from your dessert to place the items on. For instance, I made chocolate truffles with Chambord liqueur rolled in crushed macadamia nuts. I had leftover nuts so I gave them a couple of pulses in the chopper and spread them out on the plate for the truffles to rest on. It makes the dish pretty and interesting to look at.
Now that you have your display setup, use the other end of the table for the coffee cocktail station. You can play barista and make the drinks, but it might be more fun for guests to make their own. The secret here to making a yummy tasting coffee cocktail is the brown sugar. Here's what you'll need (line up ingredients in the order below):
To make the coffee cocktail:
This lip-smacking coffee will taste great on these cool nights and makes a great way to end an evening with friends. Please check out the store to see some of these pottery pieces as well as other great gift and sale items. Leave me a comment. about "What's InSTORE Fridays" or if you've tried the recipes, let me know how it all went. I'd love to hear from you. - Mark