 |
| The first stop: truffle tasting at Patisserie Valerie… |
The past few weeks have involved a lot of writing and editing work (i.e. the remunerative word generation and rearranging that pays bills rather than the more-enjoyable-but-not-remunerative blogging stuff!). However, there have been two culinary highlights squeezed in among all the wordsmithery, and this post is an account of the first…
 |
| Patisserie Valerie don’t just do truffles… |
 |
| So much temptation in the shop window, but we had to save ourselves for the chocolate treats yet to come! |
I have to confess that being faced with the prospect of gorging chocolate all afternoon, I had mentally psyched myself for copious cocoa bean derivative consumption, so I was initially somewhat taken aback just to be offered one truffle at the first stop on the tour. However, as we progressed, any slight disappointment soon turned to immense gratitude for the prescient prudence of the organisers – it rapidly became evident that pacing oneself was essential on this yummy marathon so this “gentle” start was absolutely the right approach.
 |
| Hot chocolate beyond compare… |
Next stop on the tour was just a couple of hundred metres’ walk away, at the renowned Hotel Chocolat on Hanover Street. Here we were served a small cup of the richest, most luxurious hot chocolate that I have ever had the pleasure to taste (and that even includes the fabulous chocolate gloop served at Angelina’s in Paris). Yours Truly would happily have drunk a vat of this divine cocoa nectar, but the tour may well have come to a premature end if I had!
 |
| Good things come in threes… especially packs of truffles! |
 |
| White chocolate treats incl. blueberry truffles! |
 |
| Hotel Chocolat – a dangerous place to browse… |
 |
| DD1 and I smiled at this sign on the pavement… |
 |
| Guide Jules begins to build up the brownie hype… |
 |
| Prize-winning brownies from Bibi’s Cake Boutique |
 |
| Cupcakes are another Bibi’s delicacy |
 |
| And those larger cakes look pretty yummy, too! |
Bibi’s counters and shop windows boasted a cornucopia of colourful cupcakes, and it was genuinely hard to tear ourselves away (not to mention stop drooling!). But move on we must, so a brisk 10-minute walk ensued. This brought us to the Coco on Broughton chocolaterie, there to sample cheekily-named Tia Maria truffles known as “Venus nipples” (check out the photo and the derivation of the name will become immediately apparent!).
 |
| Maria gives us the gen about “Coco on Broughton” |
 |
| Chocolates with a naughty name! |
Our fifth stop on the tour involved another five-minute walk followed by an elevator ride to the top floor of Harvey Nichols, where we viewed and tasted the work of The Highland Chocolatier, Iain Burnett. His tiny cubes of pure truffle ganache filling simply melted in the mouth and I found the delicate artwork on his chocolates somehow reminiscent of William Morris designs.
 |
| The Highland Chocolatier’s counter in Harvey Nichols |
 |
| The macaroons in Harvey Nicks looked pretty tasty, too! |
 |
| Walking through Edinburgh was good fun on a sunny autumn day |
 |
| The sign says it all… a kitchen full of FUDGE! |
 |
| Triple chocolate fudge – don’t mind if we do… |
 |
| A shop window guaranteed to stop a 50-year-old Scot in her tracks |
 |
| Sweet dreams: row upon row of traditional confectionery |
 |
| Decisions, decisions… |
