Christmas Orders

We have been busy at work for a while. Had a fantastic time selling at craft fairs across Atlantic Canada. We know we have created some Chocoholics along the way! So we thought we would give you the chance to get in those last minute orders for the Holidays. How else can you replace the turtles you bought for your Dad but they somehow accidentally found themselves eaten. It's okay we got your back!

How do you get more chocolate?  Depends on where you live

1) Saint John Area Email me at ganacheandpanache@gmail.com and let me know what you need. We will have a pickup point on Saturday December 20th in the uptown Saint John area.

2) Fredericton Area Visit us at the Sunday Christmas Market at the Boyce Farmers Market in Fredericton on December 7th, 14th and 21st. Email me at ganacheandpanache@gmail.com and let me know what you need so that I can have enough instock and set your order aside.

3) Halifax Area Email me at ganacheandpanache@gmail.com and let me know what you need. Minimum $50 order. We will have a pickup point on the evening of Monday December 22th in the Clayton Park area.

What do we have in stock?
Caramel Clusters
Turtles  
SFG Clusters
Caramallow Clusters

6 pc Bag $15
6 pc Christmas Tin $20




Manon Creams
Classic Manon Creams - milk, white, and dark
Holiday Manon Creams - gingerbread, candy cane, dark orange, cranberry, spiked eggnog
Fruit Manon Creams - strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, apple, maple

10 pc Manon $12.50 or 2/$20
25 pc $25
35 pc $35
Meltaways
Hot Chocolate, Lemon, Orange, Peppermint, Chai Tea, Toasted Coconut, Trifectas, or Cappacinno

10 pc bags $12.50 or 2/$20

Chocolate Covered Oreos $12.50 or 2/$20

Almond, Coconut Butter or WOW Butter Cups
4 pc per bag $12.50 or 2/$20

Almond Brittle 200 g $12.50 or 2/$20

Chocolate Bars $7.50 or 2/$10

Dark - Health Nut, almond, orange pistachio, plain, pistachio cranberry

Milk - Fruit and nut, fig and almond, almond, date and brazil, rice krispie, smores, plain

White - plain, pumpkin seed and cranberry, cranberry

Peppermint swirl (dark and white with candy cane)

Single Origin Bars $12.50 or 2/$20

70% Sainte Domingue

                                         72% Venezuela

                                         75% Tanzanian

Any of the 2/$20 items can be mixed and matched

Ganache & Panache Holiday Craft Fairs and Christmas Baskets

And the count down is on. There are only 31 days left until the Holiday Craft Show Season starts. Game on!

We will be pumping out more chocolate than we ever had before. My amazing husband is already hard at work in the kitchen making Hot Chocolate Meltaways in his new molds. They are going to be so pretty and perfectly square. We are also upgrading our packaging for our truffles and meltaways to boxes like the ones they use in France and Belgium.  Ohhh la la! Our new boxes will look like these ones from chocolatt.com; Lady Chocolat of Belgium definitely knows what she is doing.



We will be pairing up with Gillis of Bellise Wines and the Cape Breton Oatcake Society to offer fabulous Christmas Gift Baskets. The baskets will be available at the Holiday Craft Fairs and for delivery in mid-December. There will be 3 types of baskets: a Holiday Basket, a Luxury Basket and a Live Local Basket. Each basket will contain a small ballontin of our fabulous Manon Creams, a variety pack of Bark, a bottle of Gillis of Bellise Wine and a box of a dozen Oatcakes. The contents of the Live Local Basket are still being fine tuned but in addition to our amazing products there will be many exciting products made by other New Brunswick artisans. Keep tuned for pricing and order forms next month.  

Summer is here!!! I love Ice Cream!

Wow. I cannot believe that summer is here in full force. The days have been gloriously warm - with the tiny exception of yesterday's hurricane.

We have been out to all of the farmer's market and are loving it. By all I really mean all of them; Sussex Friday, Kingston and the City Market on Saturday and Queen Square on Sunday. Our chocolates are a little distressed about the heat though. We had a whole box of stuff melt on Friday because it was much hotter than expected. The coolers will be filled with ice and the product will be chilled for the rest of the season.

So the thing that is really on my mind these days is ICE CREAM. God I love the smooth creamy treat. This weekend pre-hurricane I had a chocolate epiphany - brownie ice cream sandwiches. Yeah you read that right BROWNIE ICE CREAM SANDWICHES. Rich moist gluten free brownies sandwiched around smooth creamy frozen goodness.  So I made some - to be precise 50 of them! Chapman's Gluten free, peanut free ice cream was on sale so I stocked up and now we will be selling yummy delicious ice cream sammies all summer long.



I also learned that I love glitter. I never really played with glitter as a kid. Probably far to messy for my not so crafty mother. I had some excellent helpers make a sign to let everyone know we have ice cream sandwiches. Then I had a lot of fun playing with glue and the left over glitter. Could become a little glitter obsessed.  

Easter is Coming! And we have bunnies of the chocolate variety.

I love Easter! Daffodils, pastel colours, chocolate bunnies and cream filled eggs.  As a kids I think I may have even loved it more than Christmas.  Mostly because there was no anticipation - you knew exactly what you were going to get and it was going to be glorious.

There would be Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies hidden through out the house and we would always get a new skipping rope and a new spring dress.  There was no Easter dinner stress and the meal was always a fantastic baked ham with green beans, mashed potatoes and carrots. In the house the windows come open and fragrant Easter Lillies adorn the tables.

The best part of waiting for Easter to come was the the snow would start melting away and we could see the grass again. It was time for things to start turning green and the crocuses would be pushing up through the neighbors garden beds.  Its a time of new life and rebirth, the earth is becoming alive again.Oh yes SPRING, wonderful spring. The buds will soon be out on the trees and I can start planting my garden. Evening strolls, no heavy jackets and mittens, everyone coming out of a long winter of hibernation.

Bunnies, eggs, Easter gifts and fluffy, yellow chicks in gardening hats all stem from pagan roots.The firstEaster Bunny legend was documented in the 1500s. By 1680, the first story about a rabbit laying eggs and hiding them in a garden was published. These legends were brought to the United States in the 1700s, when German immigrants settled in Pennsylvania Dutch country, according to the Center for Children's Literature and Culture. The tradition of making nests for the rabbit to lay its eggs in soon followed. Eventually, nests became decorated baskets and colorful eggs were swapped for candy, treats and other small gifts.

Well back to the kitchen, the bunnies need to be made :) and those eggs need to be filled.

Chocolate Survey

Our Chocolate Survey


Well things are well underway with our business plan and our kitchen has been going non-stop. I took a well deserved break today but wanted to get a survey out so that I could hear from all of you chocolate lovers out there. We want to know about who is eating chocolate,  how often you are eating it, which brands you are eating, and where you are buying it from. We don't require you're life history and your first born child. Their are no gimmics or big prizes to be won. Just you helping little old us figure out where we fit in the chocolate market place in the Saint John area - all the way from Saint Andrews to Sussex.

Our Chocolate Survey click on this link to take our survey

NAME THAT BAR CONTEST! Only 4 days left.

We created a new bar last month. Its a cranberry-salted cashew-truffle bar. Man its good - not just good its AMAZING. Its like there is a chocolate orgy going on in your mouth when you eat it. Hello sweet cranberry...ohhh there you are salty cashew, followed by good lord dark chocolate truffle filling where have you been all my life. 

I am totally clueless as to what I should call it. That's where you come in. Name that bar. Enter as many times as you like with a unique name by posting it on our Facebook wall ( https://www.facebook.com/ganacheandpanache) or sending a tweet @GandPChocolate. Make sure to state NAME THAT BAR in your post. Tell your friends about it. Tell you co workers. Tell anyone you know. The winner will receive a 3 packs of the bar with their name and a 3 pack of SFG Bars ((So Freaking Good - Salted Caramel, Pecan, Raisin).

Contest closes at midnight March 31st, 2014. Open to all residents of Canada, Quebec inclus! 

Testing the Waters in New Markets

Thanks to everyone who has purchased chocolates from us at the City Market this past weekend. The City Market is a fantastic place. I met some truly wonderful people and had a whole lot of fun. I would have to say our test of the City Market was a success and I can see that my thought of opening a business there were right on the mark.

I will be there next Saturday March 22nd and then I will be taking a short break to work on a business plan but will be returning to the City Market with new products sometime in April for Easter. Oh business plan you do keep a lady busy.

Name That Bar and Create a Bar Contests!

So much for taking a break. The wheels in my head are always turning and the brain child of the day is two new contests!

 

We are trying to grow our product line and  we want you our readers, followers, likers and chocophiles to participate. There are two ways you can do this:

 

1) NAME THAT BAR.

We created a new bar about 2 weeks ago. Its a cranberry-salted cashew-truffle bar. Man its good - not just good its AMAZING. Its like there is a chocolate orgy going on in your mouth when you eat it. Hello sweet cranberry...ohhh there you are salty cashew, followed by good lord dark chocolate truffle filling where have you been all my life. 

I am totally clueless as to what I should call it. That's where you come in. Name that bar. Enter as many times as you like with a unique name by posting it on our Facebook wall ( https://www.facebook.com/ganacheandpanache) or sending a tweet @GandPChocolate. Make sure to state NAME THAT BAR in your post. Tell your friends about it. Tell you co workers. Tell anyone you know. The winner will receive a 3 packs of the bar with their name and a 3 pack of SFG Bars ((So Freaking Good - Salted Caramel, Pecan, Raisin).

Contest closes at midnight March 30th, 2014. Open to all residents of Canada, Quebec inclus!  

2) CREATE A BAR

Tell us what you like. Use you imagination - it can be anything from a  new spin on a classic favourite or a totally bold and daring combination like cherry and chilli jam with cinnamon ganache.   Ohh that sounds good! That might be the next bar in our name that bar contest.

So create a bar, give it a name and post it on our Facebook wall ( https://www.facebook.com/ganacheandpanache) or sending a tweet @GandPChocolate. Make sure to state CREATE A BAR in your post. We will be selecting four bars from all of the entries to make. The best two of these bars will be deemed the winners and each of the entry winners will receive a 2-3 packs of the winning bars they had a hand in creating.

Contest closes at midnight April 30th, 2014. Open to all residents of Canada, Quebec inclus!  

 

Working on a business plan!

Thanks to everyone who has purchased chocolates from us over the past few weeks at Rhoda's Flea Market. It has been great fun making chocolates and testing the market has been insightful.

I will be there next Sunday February 22nd and then I will be taking a short break to work on a business plan but will be returning to Rhoda's Flea Market with new products sometime in April.

This Week In Chocolate

Well things are starting to move along in turning this from a hobby where I hawk my goods at the flea market to a real business venture. I have 2 meetings regarding renting a commercial kitchen, sold gobs of truffles to a local restaurant and confirmed the date for my meeting with the Saint John City Market Vendor's Selection Committee. In even bigger news I managed to swing involvement with the 2014 Ford Women's World Curling Championship right here in the Port City March 15-18th.

So for now I will leave you with some foodie photos of the truffles. Hope you all had a Happy Valentine's Day!