Friday, April 23, 2010

When good chocolate goes bad

Around the holidays last year, I found the most delightful thing at a T.J. Maxx and More in Marietta. These Dobla chocolate Coffee & Tea Cups looked simply wonderful, and I tucked them carefully in the back of the pantry for safekeeping.

I planned to fill them with one of those yummy white silk fillings (mostly cream cheese and heavy whipping cream) next time I hosted a tea party. Alas, that tea party got delayed much longer than I expected, and I wondered if the cups would still be usable.

Alas, they were not. In fact, I was quite dismayed to open the box and discover the cups were not enclosed in some sort of plastic or foil covering as I had assumed they would be. Not only were several of them broken (did that small dent in the corner of the box do all that?), but clearly the air and time had done its damage. I can't help wondering what they would have looked like if I had opened them at the time I bought them. I really need to do some research about how long chocolate stays fresh.

What should have been a pretty, glossy cup was just a dismal little musty mess. Here is what it should look like. I do hope I'll run across these again one day, in new, fresh condition, but I don't think I'll take my chances at a discount store again knowing what these looked like. Have any of you ever come across these cups and tried them? I'd love to hear a report from someone who got good ones!

5 comments:

  1. Well they certainly are cute. So sorry that they went stale before you could use them.

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  2. Ah, they sure would be pretty in their fresh state!

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  3. So sad for you. I am not sure how long chocolate lasts. They would have been wonderful if fresh as you planned them.

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  4. So sorry for your experience. I can't help thinking that they make a chocolate "mold" for this tea cup somewhere. I have a chocolate mold for a tea cup and saucer, but the tea cup is to be filled with the melted chocolate leaving it solid. (I think adding a cream topping to that would be a little too much). I use the tea mold when I want to create a basket of tea wares for donation to some function for my church or kids school. Anyway....I hope that you find your chocolate teacups. Good luck

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  5. Oh how fun those would be for a dessert at a tea party! Thanks for sharing, I'll keep my eye open for those! FUN!

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