Black Forest Caramels: Chocolate, cherries, creamy topping and shaved black chocolate—just like Black Forest cake. Photography by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.
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EMILY CHANG is a writer based in New York.
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July 2009 |
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Amella Cocoa Butter Caramels
Artisan Caramels In Exotic Flavors
Page 1: Overview
CAPSULE REPORT: Amella Cocoa Butter Caramels are lip-smackingly good, made with butter, cream, and real fruits and vegetables. Vegetables? Yes, in the Carrot Cake caramel. Aside from carrots, the twist that makes these different from other gourmet caramels is the addition of cocoa butter, which adds the silkiness to chocolate. Each caramel is hand-cut and individually hand-dipped, so no two are exactly identical (just like snowflakes!). They’re also certified kosher, all-natural, preservative-free and made in alluring flavors: Black Forest Cake, Passion Fruit and the aforementioned Carrot Cake. This is Page 1 of a two-page article. Click on the black links below to visit Page 2.
Overview
Caramel is, simply put, sugar that has been heated until it becomes dark amber syrup. Butter and/or cream are then added, and depending on what temperature the sugar reaches, the resulting product can be a hard toffee or a soft and chewy caramel candy (read more about the history of caramel).
Amella takes this classic recipe for caramel and adds cocoa butter, calling the product a  “cocoa butter caramel.” We find it to be more tender than other caramels, and it imparts a cocoa flavor to the caramel (as it does to the best white chocolate).
Yet, it is the outstanding quality of the ingredients that truly account for the tastiness of the product, and the imagination of the flavors that makes them so alluring. Two of the three (Black Forest and Carrot Cake) are riffs on classic baked desserts, while the third, Passion Fruit, is a a favorite flavor of pastry chefs and confectioners.
The packaging is another reflection of Amella’s show-not-tell simplicity: a 1.25-ounce box contains three artisan cocoa butter caramels (photo at right). Once you flip up the box lid, the iced tops of the caramels are completely visible through a cellophane pane. Each piece sits in its own frilly wrapper, bonbon style, but the caramels look almost like petit fours, the tiny cakes served at the end of a meal. These are very petit, no larger than one inch square (or as square as the hand-cutting can get them).
No one will complain, though, if you serve Amella caramels on a petit fours plate. Let’s explore the flavors on the next page.
Continue To Page 2: Flavors of Cocoa Butter Caramels
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