Chocolate Truffles: An Easy Fix

Sometimes, hopping in your car and jaunting off to your favorite bakery isn't always the most prudent decision.

Or maybe you're just feeling a little creative.

Either way, homemade goods incorporate a little touch of something you can't buy. For all of you homemade-phobes, don't feel the need to rush into it.  There's lots of things you can bake to ease yourself into it.  But if box brownies or pre-made cookies aren't your style, and you want to go a little classier, you've found your recipe:

Chocolate Truffles!

Sounds fancy, right?  Don't be scared! This simple, easy recipe only requires three cooking ingredients and not much prep-work.  

Things you'll need:  

• 3 cups semi-sweet chocolate
• 1 (14 oz) can of sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 
• 1 medium sized saucepan
• 1 refrigerator safe bowl
• Toppings!

 

1.  First, cut your chocolate into relatively small pieces.

2.  Next, put a medium sized saucepan on your stove.  Once warm, pour in your can of sweetened condensed milk and add your cut chocolate right on top.  

3.  Stir until the mixture becomes a thick chocolate syrup.

Make sure it is lump free!

4.  Pour mixture into a refrigerator-safe bowl and add your 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract.

5.  Put in the refrigerator to chill for three hours.  By doing this you are creating a ganache.

6.  Once your time is up, the mixture should be hard and thick but able to be scooped and dark brown in color. 

7.  Take a 1/2 tablespoon and start scooping out the ganache.  Roll them into balls between your hands.  It will get messy!

8.  This next part is up to you.  Roll and completely coat the ganache balls into whatever you would like--nuts, berries, sprinkles, powdered sugar--you can decide!  I used Trader Joes' 50% salted almonds, Trader Joes' Raw Loose Hazlenuts, Hershey's Baking Cocoa, and Shaw's Chocolate Sprinkles.  For the nuts, I found it was easiest to grind them up in a food processor in order to prevent large chunks.  

9.  Place your ganache balls into a refrigerator container and let them set for 1 hour.  Then, you can either leave them in the refrigerator if you prefer a harder chocolate, or remove and store at room temperature.  ENJOY!

If you have leftover chocolate, you can put it right back in the sauce pan and remelt it and create a dipping sauce! We coated Trader Joes' Dried Apricots and Trader Joes' Unsalted Peanut Pieces! Yum!

Serpe's & Sons: Sixty Years of Yum

 Driving past this brick building, you wouldn't necessarily think that much of it.  But follow my directions: Pull onto the side of the street.  Stop your car.  Get out.  Pull open the heavy glass door. 

And enjoy.

Inside is a production.  A very, very sweet production.  Everywhere you look, there is a pie, cookie, roll, or tomato pie slice, and if someone isn't blocking your view (because it's so crowded, there probably is) you  can catch a glimpse of their famous cannolis.  There are many workers, all busying themselves packaging up sweets for the never ending stream of customers.  It's just a normal day at Serpes bakery, one of Delaware's greatest.

Serpe's and Sons bakery has been open for 60 years, and has always been owned by the very Italian Serpe family.  Today, Dominic, the youngest brother, owns the property and his good friend Brad is the head pastry chef while brother Joe handles the rolls.  While I wasn't allowed to go back and check out the baking action, it's clear they're working some magic back there; since 1990, they've won the Best of Delaware's "Best Bakery" and "Italian Specialty" every year.  All baking is done on property with their own flour and yeast, and absolutely no preservatives.  

Serpes also does a lot of wholesale. I wasn't even surprised to hear that my favorite sub shop, Capriotti's, is their main buyer of their rolls.  They also serve many of the area's country clubs.  However, people come from all over Delaware, Philadelphia, and New Jersey to pick up a slice of tomato pie. 

Here is Maxine, who has been working for Serpes for 13 years.  "Once you work here, you never leave," she chuckles, as she pulls a freshly baked chocolate cake out from the kitchen.  As I watch, open mouthed, she ices the cake in less than 3 minutes, barely giving me time to photograph her progress.  She ices cakes for every occasion upon request.  Her favorite at Serpes is the pepperoni bread, and of course, the cake!

"We are the party store!" worker of 9 months Larry crows when I ask him what he thinks makes Serpes different.  He goes on to explain how they are an ever flexible, convenient store for every occasion.  The day we went was a week to Superbowl day, and there were football shaped cookies, cakes, and team color oriented color displays everywhere you look.  

We are finally able to push through the crowd and order a dozen rolls and three mini cannolis.  Ushered out the door with smiles from the workers and pushes from eager customers, we depart the legendary store with our expectations met and bellies ready.

Serpe & Sons Bakery

1411 Kirkwood Highway, 

Elsmere, DE 19805

 302-994-1868

Hours:

Monday-Saturday - 7am-6pm

Sunday - 7am-4pm

Black Lab Bakery: Bread Heaven

On a dreary day, no one wants to do anything but curl up on your own couch and watch some trashy TV.  But, gather up all of your willpower and venture into Little Italy to the Black Lab Bakery...trust me, it'll all be worth it.

Pass through the set of of heavy metal door's and you have arrived in bread heaven.  A cornucopia of smells hits you immediately: chiabbata loaves, french baguettes, and sweet breads flood your senses.  You don't even need to open your eyes to enjoy the bright, delicious atmosphere.

The popular Italian loaf

We arrived at Black Lab around 11 in the afternoon, which was during their "hush" hours.  Opening at 8am Wednesday through Friday, they are usually sold out of their baguettes and dinner rolls in the first hour.  At 12, the business picks back up as people come from all over to taste their succulent tomato pie.  Because of the lull, we were able to talk to 7 year owner Barry Ciarrocchi.  Ciarrocchi is eager to share the bakery's history.  Erected in 1930 and called once DiFonzo's, the shop was a specialty Italian tomato pie and baked goods seller.  Passed through the family for many years, it slowly died as bigger, flashier stores popped up.  Luckily, Ciarrocchi scooped up the building and turned it around, breaking ties from the confectionery side and focusing more on the breads.  Having a master's degree in plant pathology from Penn State University and studying chemistry groomed Ciarrocchi into creating his own form of breads.  He experimented with texture, taste, and different methods for years by himself before perfecting the bakery's top selling Italian rolls.  Because of all of the science involved, Ciarrocchi then named his shop, "The Black Lab."

 

Fresh baked loaves ready for sale

As the business grew, Ciarracchi decided to expand his product line into new, more "trendy" options, such as different pastries, whole wheat breads, and different types of tomato pie.  But, "Traditional ways are the ways that stick," says Ciarracchi.  The Italian loaf, classic tomato pie, and dinner rolls continue to be again and again the best sellers. Here's an inside look of where the magic happens:

Black Lab only uses the best flour!

Ingredients all mixed together...

Dough is hand rolled by workers...

Then cooked in an 11 ft deepstone oven ...

Placed immediately out for sale!

 Definitely coming again!



Black Lab Bakery
812 North Union Street
Wilmington, DE 19803
302-658-1302

Hours: 

Wednesday - Friday 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Saturday - 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Sunday - 8 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Closed Mondays & Tuesdays