Photo caption: Chocolatier Audrey Brown
Kingston chocolatier Audrey Brown is an alchemist of chocolate, constantly exploring and experimenting with new, unique flavours for her handmade chocolate creations. One of her first recipes, for Limoncello basil truffles, has become – ten years later – one of the most popular for her business, Cocoa Bistro.
When you look at chocolate, you always think sweet,” says Audrey. “There’s really a complexity involved when you add in savoury things, like herbs or nuts or alcohol.
Her innovative recipes can transport you, in one bite, to another time or place.
With simple ingredients, Cocoa Bistro staff coax out flavours that evoke memories. And then with painstaking care, they create each tiny masterpiece, hand-painting tinted cocoa butter into each chocolate mold before pouring in a thin layer of dark chocolate. The chocolate is then poured out again, leaving a thin shell. “It’s very important that the shell is thin,” says Audrey, “so that you don’t meet any resistance when you bite down into the truffle.”
Photo caption: Creating the chocolate shell layer of a batch of truffles
After the shell is set, the ganache is made. Basil leaves are muddled into fresh cream, which is then heated to release the herb’s oils. The infused cream is mixed with a white chocolate ganache, and then Limoncello liqueur and fresh lemon juice are added. This is piped into the chocolate shells. A second thin layer of chocolate seals up the truffle. The entire process for one batch – about 200 truffles – takes two days.
Photo caption: Audrey assists Melanie Helsby with the completed truffles.
Then there’s the Canadian campfire truffle. Audrey uses Lapsang Souchong tea for its smoky flavour (sourced from Cha Cha Tea in Kingston) as well as maple pecan whisky (from King’s Lock Craft Distillery in nearby Johnstown). Each truffle is topped with hand-painted white and red swirls of cocoa butter, an indication of the fiery, smoky flavours inside. The sweet and spicy Ryan Reynolds truffle features chipotle-infused caramel enrobed in dark chocolate.
Photo caption: A selection of Cocoa Bistro truffles
Audrey changes up her chocolate offerings seasonally. The spring–summer collection has 12 different flavours and the fall–winter collection has 15. You can get truffles in boxes of four, 12, 15, or 24, and choose your favourite combinations. If you love traditional chocolate flavours, you can get a vanilla bean truffle, made with Madagascar vanilla bean and a milk chocolate ganache. Or you can go for something a little more unusual, like the Guavalicious, featuring guava and white chocolate ganache in a dark chocolate anatomical heart mold.
Cocoa Bistro truffles are made with a mix of international (high-quality Belgian chocolate) and local ingredients (including cream, honey, and fruit purée). Sourcing local ingredients is easy for Audrey. Every Sunday, she can be found at the Memorial Centre Farmers’ Market. There, she sells her truffles as well as a selection of chocolate bars and barks. “It’s an amazing place to be to connect to local food,” she says. While she has a storefront in Kingston’s west end, she also loves being part of the market every Sunday, where she gets to meet visitors to Kingston as well as see her regulars. While Cocoa Bistro’s creations are in great demand leading up to those holidays associated with chocolate – Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Easter – Audrey also has a growing fan base of those who know that any day is a good day for a handmade chocolate treat.
Cocoa Bistro
840 Development Drive
Open Tuesday–Saturday
At the Memorial Centre Farmers’ Market
303 York Street
Sundays
