CHOCOLATE & CHEESE PAIRING & CREAM CHEESE TRUFFLE RECIPE: National Cheese Day

Today is National Cheese Day, and Chocolate and Cheese go perfectly together. You just have to have the right pairing.

Here are a few guidelines for the perfect CHEESE and CHOCOLATE pairing. Foods with similar flavor profiles work best together. For Darker Chocolates, choose a more complex, aged cheese. For Milk Chocolates choose a buttery cheese such as a Triple Brie. For Fruity Chocolates pair with a sharper cheese. For Nuttier chocolates pair with cheese high in butterfat. Spicy chocolates pair with sharp cheeses,

A few examples of Savory-Sweet Pairings:
Dark chocolate (80% or more cocoa) with a delicious true Blue cheese.
Burnt caramel chocolates with a beer-washed Cheese.
Bordeaux-style chocolate with a creamy triple crème Brie.
Citrus-y chocolate with a semi-hard, buttery table cheese (feta or havarti).

Here's an easy recipe for Cream Cheese Chocolate Truffles. You might also want to try my recipes for Goat Cheese Truffles or Blue Cheese Truffles.

Cream Cheese Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
8 ounces softened cream cheese
4 ounces unsweetened or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup DARK cocoa powder, for rolling (or ground/chopped walnuts)

Directions
Pour cocoa powder or nuts into a shallow pie pan and set aside.
Chop chocolate into small pieces and melt in top of doubleboiler (or a pot over a pot of simmering water), stirring after every 45 seconds to prevent overheating. Set chocolate aside.
In large bowl of electric mixer, beat softened cream cheese. Gradually add powdered sugar. Beat mixture on medium speed for a few minutes, until well-blended.
Stop mixer and stir in melted chocolate. Beat until well combined.
Remove bowl from mixer, cover it with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm enough to scoop, about 20-30 minutes.
Once candy is firm but not hard, scoop into 1 inch balls using teaspoon or candy/cookie scoop.
Roll truffles in cocoa powder or ground/chopped walnuts.
Serve truffles at room temperature, but if you're not eating right away, put in airtight container and keep in refrigerator.

Chocolate & Cheese Pairing: Perfect for Valentine's Day

With Valentine's Day right around the corner, I've been posting information about Wine & Chocolate and Wine & Beer. Either would be great for a romantic Valentine's Day 'event'. A Third pairing for the special day is Chocolate and Cheese. They go together like--well like chocolate and cheese (not chalk & cheese!). Thanks to the California Milk Advisory Board for this post on Chocolate and Real California Cheese Pairings. Use this post as a guide. Love to hear which chocolate and cheeses you pair. I had Cowgirl Creamery Triple Brie & Taza 70% Stoneground Chocolate the other night (photo). I think the Brie would have gone well with the 80-87%, but I didn't have any on hand. Happy Valentine's Day!  

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Rich, bold, decadent – this pair is a savory-sweet love connection is sure to make your foodie heart race. Creating the perfect pair is easy with these dating guidelines. Foods with similar flavor profiles go together best. For darker chocolates, choose a more complex, aged cheese while sweet milk chocolates work best with buttery cheeses, like Brie. Bright, fruity chocolates are perfect with sharper cheeses and nuttier chocolates find a perfect pair in high butterfat cheeses. Want to spice things up a bit? Try pairing spicy chocolates with sharp cheeses – the intensities play off each other beautifully!

· Pair a dark chocolate with more the 80% cocoa with a delicious true Blue cheese
· Indulge in burnt caramel chocolates with a beer-soaked table cheese
· Pair a Bordeaux-style chocolate with a creamy triple crème Brie
· Treat yourself to candied orange peel and an aged Cheddar

Take the pairing up a notch with help from “Pair Savvy” a smart phone app that helps you pair the myriad of delicious California cheese varieties with the wine and beers you enjoy. The user-friendly application is free for download on most smart phones, including iPhone and Android devices, available at pairsavvy.realcaliforniamilk.com.