Mrs. Cavenaugh's Chocolate Factory Tour

Because I love chocolate so much, I took another factory tour with my family and friends.  This time we toured Mrs. Cavenaugh's Chocolate Factory, a local "Mom and Pop Shop" located in Salt Lake City.

Mrs. Cavenaugh is a real person.  She began making chocolates by simply experimenting with her family's recipes.  After giving them her own unique flare, she began making them for neighbors.  She quickly gained recognition and popularity, so she decided to go for her dream and sell her confections.  In 1964, she took out a $15,000 loan, even though the banker seriously doubted her success.  But she gave him a box of her chocolates as a "token of thanks" (or bribe?).  He opened them at once and proceeded to eat the entire box.  He loved them so much that he became her very first customer, ordering 200 pounds of chocolate when she opened her shop!

Upon entering the factory, we watched Lori hand-tempering some molten chocolate in preparation for dipping almond clusters.

 It was really fun to watch her literally pick up the liquid chocolate and drop it back down onto the granite stone to cool it to the perfect temperature.  Then we watched her mix in the almonds and drop clumps of it into candy papers.

Have you ever seen that I Love Lucy episode, where she gets a job at the chocolate factory?  Yeah, it's just like that...  (Unfortunately, I couldn't find the one of her dipping chocolate, but this part is still really funny!)

The Top 10 Things I Learned:
1.  The factory makes about 100,000 pounds of chocolate each year.

2.  Mrs. Cavenaugh's most popular item is the Mindy Mint, but the Cherry Cordial is the most popular item sold online.

3.  The Aztec Chief Montezuma supposedly drank 50 cups of dark chocolate liquid every day.  Hmmmm... I wonder how much he weighed?

4.  Liquid chocolate is called Chocolate Liquor, even though it is not alcoholic.  Wait!  Maybe that's why I go into a drunken stupor after eating chocolate!!!  Bring it on!!!

5.  I LOVE I Love Lucy (they showed the Chocolate Dipping Episode at the end of the tour).

6.  Cacao is more successfully grown on small farms rather than on large plantations because they can't handle too much sun.

7.  It takes 5-7 days to dry cocoa beans.

8.  The Spanish learned about the warm chocolate liquid Montezuma drank, tried it, took it back to Spain and added milk and sugar to make it more palatable.  Smart thinkin'!

9.  Only 10% of the cacao pods growing on a tree actually mature into "fruit."

Caramel Popcorn cooling on the fourth table from the front

10.  Marie employed all of her kids in the family business and called them "The Youngest Dippers in Captivity."

The original cash register.  Might be a little out dated now...

Question of the Day:

Have you ever seen I Love Lucy?  What is your favorite episode?

Mine:

This was the first time I had ever seen it, but I was laughing so hard I almost fell off the bench I was sitting on!  I'm still laughing about it!

Dark Chocolate Covered Bananacicle

OH MY GOOBERS!!!  

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S SUMMER!!!

Ah, summer: the time of year when it's awesome to swim, bike, bake, hike, and eat popsicles...

One problem: I don't have popsicles at my house (hence the phrase: My mom is the Food Nazi).

We also don't have chocolate... Well, we do, but I don't know where my dear, sweet mother hid it.

[Mom here: all chocolate and peanut butter is banned to the locked safe...]

BUT, we do have frozen bananas.  So, taking a little inspiration from Chocolate Covered Katie, I took the liberty of making my own dipping chocolate and made a Dark-Chocolate-Covered Bananacicle.  (Try saying that 7 times fast!)

They are super yummy and super easy to make...

The nice thing about them is that the chocolate is pretty dark but mellows out nicely with the banana.  It makes a great satisfying snack that isn't super addicting and leaving you hunting for more sugar... or chocolate...

Dark Dipping Chocolate:

2 tbsp coconut oil

3 tbsp cocoa powder

30 drops liquid stevia

2-4 shakes of salt

1/16 tsp vanilla

2 frozen bananas, cut into chunks

Melt the coconut oil in the microwave for 15 seconds.  Mix in the cocoa powder, stevia, salt and vanilla.  Stir until all the clumps are gone.

Dip the banana chunks into the chocolate mixture and allow to cool on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper.  

Watch in awe as the chocolate mixture hardens in less than 30 seconds.

Eat and enjoy the crunch of "mock dark chocolate magic shell" on the creamy, dreamy freezy banana.

This is kid tested and Food Nazi Mother approved!

Question Of the Day:

What are you excited for most this summer?

Me:

LAKE POWELL!!!  Costa Rica, and Girls Camp!

Chocolate Pudding

Trick question for all of you chocolate lovers:

WHO HAS EVER BEEN ABLE TO SAY THAT THEY HAD CHOCOLATE PUDDING AND ICE CREAM FOR DINNER?

ME!!!

Yes, that is right.  My food Nazi of a mother actually let me have pudding and ice cream... for dinner.  Now, I know that you are probably wondering what alien from Mars abducted Mom. 

But I am here to tell you that she really did not get abducted.  Nor was she drugged unsuspectedly.

However, there was a catch.  My pudding was healthy (but still yummy)...  As for the ice cream, it was a green smoothie gone wrong.  Fortunately it was NOT an avocado-artichoke smoothie.  It was my favorite frozen fruit mix with a bit of butter lettuce.  It was yummy, but it was the consistency of ice cream.  That's why I can say I had ice cream for dinner. :)

Back to the pudding (I LOVE PUDDING!)

Non-Dairy Chocolate Pudding Recipe:

1 lb silken tofu

4 Tbsp cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 Tbsp xylitol (or another 1/4 tsp stevia)

3/4 tsp stevia

1 banana (could be frozen)

Put into a blender and blend until smooth.  Refrigerate until creamy, and thick like pudding.

(If you need to, add a little bit of almond/coconut milk to the mixture.  My mom and I did that, but it ended up being very runny.)

Question of the day:

Have you ever had dessert for dinner?  If so, what did you have?  And if you haven't, what would you like to have?

Me:

I had pudding and "ice cream".  And, I've had dessert crepes for dinner!  YUM!!!