Blog Birthday Giveaway Day Three: Bittersweet Confections Truffles

One of my favorite ways to pass time on a car trip is to talk about food.  Surprising, right!  We'll go from what is your favorite breakfast food (sweet or savory) to name the perfect New Orleans burger.  My favorite topic has always been, list your favorite dessert.  I can never choose just one, so my list typically goes something like this: Lemon Pie, a good rich creme brulee, my sister's Banana's Foster banana bread pudding, a butterscotch pupping with salted caramel sauce, and lastly a chocolate molten cake.   That's a pretty solid list, if I you ask me!

You can imagine my excitement when one morning at the Julia Street farmers market, we stumbled upon a vendor selling chocolate truffles in some of these very flavors.  If heaven is where all of your favorite sweet things are wrapped delicately in delicious chocolate, than I had arrived at the pearly gates.  It turns out I wasn't the only patron who felt they had discovered something special at the market that day.  Cheryl's truffle business, that had started as a side project, quickly evolved into one of the cutest and busiest chocolate shops in New Orleans.  Bittersweet Confections is the name of this family run business that resides on Canal Blvd. in Lakeview (the neighborhood where I grew up).  If you're not in the neighborhood, you can visit Bittersweet Confections here.

Canal Street Collection

Today I am so excited to be giving away a set of four truffles (pictured above) packaged as the Canal Street Collection.   The flavors included are: Bananas Foster, Pecan, Creme Brulee, and Meyer Lemon.  (Can I enter my own giveaway???)

Like the other two giveaways, I asked Cheryl a few question about her business, and she was so gracious to reply.  I think you'll really enjoy getting to know more about the woman behind these sweet treats:

What inspired you to create your own brand? I created my own brand because of my passion for chocolate. I wanted to create a truffle that was handmade with no waxy hard shell, I wanted a creamy, soft piece of chocolate with a subtle hints of various flavors. For example, my dark chocolate bananas foster truffle. That particular chocolate is made with a brown butter reduction and a banana puree. The hints of both flavors are present but the real taste is the dark chocolate.        

Truffles can be ordered and packaged indivually. Adorable as party favors!!

What piece of advice would you give other budding entrepreneurs about starting their own business? My advice to other entrepreneurs is pick something you are truly passionate about (that way it doesn't seem like work). Networking with other professionals and become the expert in your field. Don't expect success to come to you, go out and create your own successes. Set goals each week and stick to them. Lastly, surround yourself with other successful people, it's contagious.

What is your current best seller? My best selling items are my truffles.

The Complete Bittersweet Collection

If you had to choose one of your chocolate creations to eat for every meal, which one would you choose? After each meal (sometimes it is my meal), I eat my 74% darkest chocolate truffle rolled in cocoa powder.

Do you find yourself using New Orleans as an inspiration in creating your chocolates and pastries? Absolutely, New Orleans has been instrumental in the creation of my "Second Line" collection. Bananas Foster, Creme' Brulee, Meyer Lemon, Pecan, Darkest Chocolate, Earl Grey, Indian Chai and Ginger. The flavors I created come from the heart.

Second Line Collection

Finally, describe your perfect New Orleans day. My perfect day in NOLA would be to spend the day with friends and family in my home (we are two weeks away from moving back into our Lakeview home). Preparing dinner, drinking wine, listening to music watching our children play and of course finishing our meal with my petite chocolate cakes (two layers of moist chocolate cake filled with dark chocolate mousse and covered with dark chocolate ganache.

That sounds like the perfect day to me too!  Here's a few ways you can enter to win the Canal Street Collection:

1. Follow this blog (leave a little note that you do)
2. Leave a comment telling me what flavor you would choose if you were making your own truffle from scratch (Mine would be dark chocolate covered salted caramel mousse with smoked salt on top)
3.  Head on over to Bittersweet Confections website and tell me which flavor (from the flavor chart on the bottom left hand side of the page) sounds best to you
4. Let me know that you've blogged about the blog birthday giveaway week!