Friday Fab Five 22 • Everyday Lifehacks from Barb

I am so excited to tell you that I will find myself back in the Gygi Kitchen next month. Their “Chocolate Extravaganza” is the way they give back to the community. Both of my classes are just $5.00. They are demo classes, meaning you will be watching my process, asking questions and of course trying what I am making. Are you coming? Here are the links…

Chocolate shells

Ding Dong filling and shell decorating

(Click HERE to see all the other Demo classes)

I am also excited to tell you that my tickets are purchased and NEW YORK, I will see you in December. I love Christmas in New York. It feels like home to me. The walkability, the subway, the food and all the Broadway shows. We bought tickets to see the Music Man with Hugh Jackman and I’m so excited. We also snagged Rockettes tickets at the iconic Radio City Music Hall. I’ve always wanted to take my girls, so now I am.

1. What It Takes

This has been a lot lately. There is a lot happening behind the scenes that hasn’t gone as planned, and as soon as all the legal stuff settles I can tell you more about it. i just never thought when I started this baking journey that I’d be dealing with some of the things I have these last few months. I’ve hit a lot of speed bumps, hiccups and flat out walls. Will that keep me down? Nah, But does it take a toll, it sure does. Life can be that way, don’t you think? Roller coaster moments that eb and flow. The goal is to make it out upright. So forgive me that I’ve been a little more silent on social media; I am still here.

2. Back to the Basics with Barb

I know, you are looking forward to this series. Me too!!! I have to make sure it’s perfect. I am doing it in a live format but we (my team) are going over all aspects so we don’t miss anything. Expect these to start them probably mid-November. We are going to redo a live once a week to build better bakers. This series, like most everything I do is free! So tell a friend and watch my stories (or check back here) for updates.

3. I am dropping a BOMB

I told you, I have a huge Hot Chocolate Bomb event coming up and I thought I would give you a sneak peek of some of the flavors that will be front and center. I love creating, its one of my favorite things and this was just another way to create fun flavor combinations while staying true to the love of hot chocolate.

So here they are with some of the components:

Eggnog- Nutmeg and white chocolate with a hint of cinnamon

Salted Caramel Cider- Caramel bomb shell with cider powder

Snickerdoodle- White chocolate hot cocoa with cinnamon and sugar in a white chocolate sphere

White Chocolate Peppermint– this is a classic! HERE is the crushed peppermint for the top

Birthday Cake- Yep! Add birthday cake flavor to your white hot chocolate mix and add sprinkles to the bomb shell.

Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel- Dark chocolate sphere with gold chocolate and sea salt with hot chocolate powder (or use Dark, by Ghirardelli)

You can find everything you need for these flavors and MORE on my amazon lists. They are packed full to make a hot chocolate bar of your own, I even included these cool soup containers I am using to serve the hot chocolate in.

4. Home for the Holidays

No judgement, but who’s listening to Christmas Music? THIS GIRL. Well, it’s a tie between the new Taylor Swift album Midnights and my favorite Christmas playlist that includes classics from Amy Grant to Lauren Dangle and of course, Josh Groban. Every time I play songs from Sarah McLachlan or Penatonix it takes me back to the amazing Christmas events I had at my old store for our Christmas Special. People would line the city streets four blocks long before we opened. I brought in goodies to feed the line and we would gather canned food and jackets for donations. We would do raffles and it just was some of the best memories. Which brings me to some deep thoughts by Barb. I’ve been thinking about opening a store front again. A bakery this time. A place to teach, and bake and share memories through food. It’s a huge dream, but I’ve done it before so I don’t think its a pipe dream; I just go back and forth on the time commitment. So tell me, If I had a bakery in our little town, would you come visit me?

5. What’s On the Blog

This has been a BUSY blog week! My team hit publish on several fun new posts. MACARON GHOSTS, SALTED CARAMEL, SNICKERS and we updated an old post FALL COLORS. Can you believe it?! This week after making all the hot chocolate bombs we are starting on Christmas, so excited to show you new styles and fun ways to make holiday macarons.