Follow the link to my eggnog recipe

Mark's killer eggnog recipe, click here.

Christmas Chocolates - There's still time

There's still time to order your Christmas and New Year's chocolates from Life By Chocolate. End the old year right with some wonderful organic and fair trade chocolates. Enjoy life! Live a little and have a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.



24 piece boxes!



12 piece boxes!



Novelties, quarter pound Santas and smaller Santa Faces as well.



Or order your chocolates individually. If you don't see something, call us and we can help.

Mark's Killer Eggnog Recipe

Here is my wonderful and tasty killer eggnog recipe. This makes about 5 cups of nog.

Ingredients
6 eggs
1 cup fine rum (I used Bacardi 8 year old rum. You can just use Bacardi dark.)
1/2 cup confectioners (10X) sugar
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Nutmeg to grate over the top of the drink.

This is very simple. First separate the eggs.



And remember to separate them into the right bowls. As you can see here, I separated the yolks into my little 5 qt Kitchenaid bowl and the whites into my big mixing bowl.



I tried to compensate by using my handy dandy immersion blender but no go. So, I washed out the mixing bowl and did a switcheroo. Ah, bliss. Soft peaks here we come. This is definitely going to be a skiing year.





How did I make this mistake? Well, that's easy. Normally, I whip my eggs in my big copper bowl with a whisk. So, while on automatic, I simply do what I always do, put the egg whites into the big bowl. No, I'm not color blind.

Once you've straighten out the bowl arrangements, mix the rum into the egg yolks and let sit in the refrigerator while whipping the egg whites with the confectioners sugar until you get soft peaks.



Next combine the heavy cream the egg yolk mixture.



As you can see, thinking that the immersion blender would do the trick, I combined the cream into the mixture before I did the switcheroo. Next time, I'll abort and switch earlier. Anyway, then fold in the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture.



Now ladle into your serving cups



and grate some nutmeg on top, or not. Kim doesn't like the nutmeg so I leave it off for her.



Now, off to roast chestnuts and watch Fanny och Alexander. Enjoy your nog.

The Traditional Trimming of the Tree

While my older brother Randy is off in Australia in the middle of a Chinese eating and drinking fest and waiting his turn at karaoke and majiang, we have been trimming the tree.

Here's how we do it. First, I make pastries. Second, Kim puts out the crackers from heaven, cheese and pâte and we eat said aforementioned and drink my spectacular and potent eggnog. Here are the pictures.



Crackers of the Gods with some pâte and cheese.






While I'm making the pastries, see previous posts for my recipe, and making the eggnogs (I'll try and post the recipe tomorrow), Kim is putting on the lights. She insists. Note the Dalmatian lights.



And then we put on the ornaments, trying not to drink too much eggnog and fall down.



We got these first two in Vienna or somewhere in Austria. Probably at a Kristkindlmarkt (Advent Market) in Austria.

I think I have a mug from every Glühwein stall in Austria. Rum and Hot Chocolate stalls too.







Now we are going to continue our traditional James Bond Marathon with Tomorrow Never Dies. Tomorrow we'll be opening presents and also watching Fanny och Alexander. I can hardly wait. Now, time to go to the upstairs parlor and revel.

Still Time to get your Chocolate Orders in

Just go to Life by Chocolate and order your Christmas and New Year's Chocolates.

Christmas Time in the Country

Enter the magic land of Life By Chocolate and see a sampling of Life By Chocolate's new offerings and some old favorites.

I'm going to start you off nice and easy with some simple caramels and our reformulated peanut butter bites.

First the caramels....

Plain...




Our new pumpkin pie caramels, these are decorated for Halloween but we're still selling the ones with the pumpkin decorations. It's fall after all.



And now for the new peanut butter cups. These are now peanut praliné and very, very yummy.



Heavenly.

Next we have one of my favorite chocolates, my orange cinnamon with 25 year old balsamic vinegar. I've been experimenting with 10 year old to see if I could get more punch.



Then we have some seasonal pumpkin ganache, made with pumpkin and wrapped in milk chocolate. Unlike the pumpkin pie caramel, which has the same spice mix that I use in my world famous pumpkin pies, this confection actually contains pumpkin.



We've decided to make the cats year round, not just for Halloween. People love them. We have them in Vegan, Dark, Milk and of course a beautiful White.



Plenty of pumpkin trios left and they're on sale. The orange one has toasted hazelnut marzipan in the middle.



Moving more towards Christmas and Winter, let's start off with our beautiful Hot Chocolate, chocolate ganache on the bottom, cinnamon marshmallow in top, enrobed in dark chocolate and then topped with white chocolate shavings. Hmm. What a treat for sitting around the fire. There's no way to spill these Hot Chocolates.

Melts in your mouth not on Mom's carpets or wood floors.

Next, we have our trees and presents, Vegan, Dark and Milk Chocolate,



And who delivers these wonderful presents but Santa. Our new Santa Faces. These little four inch treats are solid Vegan, Dark, or Milk chocolate. A super stocking stuffer.



And finally, we have our 24 piece, 12 piece and our 9 piece sets. Here's the 12 piece in holiday boxes.These come in Vegan, Dark and Mixed Chocolate.

The Vegan Chocolate Box contains cherry cordials, almond and cranberry, tamarind and agave, and a solid piece of 72% organic and fair trade vegan dark chocolate heaven. The organic and fair trade Dark Chocolate Box contains peppermint cordial, maple cream, cherry cordials and a solid piece of 73% heaven. The Mixed Chocolate Box contains peppermint cordial and maple cream in organic and fair trade dark chocolate and cherry cordials and the solid in wonderful Swiss milk chocolate.




A big yum in a beautiful box.

The Christmas Chocolate Collection

Did I mention the Christmas collection. We have chocolates in our wonderful Swiss Chocolate as well as our Fair Trade and our Certified Organic as well as Vegan. Now, that's a list of chocolates no one can refuse. Just go to our gift section for all of our beautiful chocolates, including other elegant holiday boxes. Truffles are here! These truffles are infused with 9 different teas, making 9 unique truffles. They are all made with a cream ganache, so enjoy them while they are here. They don't last and I only make them during the holidays.







Doesn't that look good?

The Christmas Collection has arrived

I don't have the collection up on the website yet but I thought I'd peek your curiosity with some pictures. Expect it on the website by next week. Enjoy the Christmas Collection.







Doesn't that look good?

Order before the 12/11 for Christmas shipping

Get those orders in by tomorrow if you would like them by Christmas. Email chocolate@lifebychocolates.com or call 518 966 5219, operators are standing by. ;-) Well, Kim and I are.

Thank you one and all for your patronage,

Mark and Kim LaPolla

The Tea Set

The Tea Set is a beautiful set of nine truffles with a ganache center made out of tea. There are 3 black, 3 oolong and 3 green teas and it is in a beautiful green and gold box with a nice faux leather finish. It comes with either a beautiful cocoa pod ribbon or a beautiful Christmas ribbon with Christmas written in different languages. The Christmas ribbon comes in either red or green. The Tea Set retails for $20.



Of course, you may order any one of these fantastic truffles individually. Click here for a detailed description of each truffle. Or go to Life by Chocolate website for a description of all of our chocolates.



It's all about the tea.



Come and see.