CHEF HAS A CHOCOLATE HEART

Upon arrival at the Stein Eriksen Lodge, in Park City, Utah, for our stay during the Sundance Film Festival 2013, we were greeted by this box of artisan chocolate truffles compliments of the hotel since we were returning guests. These little sweeties looked almost too beautiful to eat --  we did say “almost!” And they looked too beautiful to taste good. Of course we dived in to find out. So glad we were totally wrong! They were exceptionally delish. We wanted more... and I wanted to know more about them. (There was no label on the box.)

We found out that these gorgeous delicacies were created and lovingly handmade by the Stein’s assistant pastry chef, Curtis Cameron, as a passion project. He uses rare single origin blends of cacao beans to achieve desired flavor profiles, ranging from dark Venezuelan 72% , a lighter Mexican 66%, a rare Ghana 40% for milk chocolate. The fillings are made in house from proprietary nut compounds, balsamic reductions, fruit purées, Portuguese Fleur de Sel from Portugal and liqueurs. All natural, fresh small batches maximize the taste and texture of each individual flavor.  

Super-creative seductive flavors include: Strawberry Pink Peppercorn, Sesame Butter, Red Pepper Tequila, Mango Balsamic, Calvados Caramel, Milk Chocolate Sweet Potato, and Pistachio Cherry, to name a few.