In America, chocolates with liquor in them consist of chocolates that someone swabs with rum or the like, then sells in the liquor aisle. In Germany and surrounding lands, they take shells of chocolate, pour in a shot of liquor, and sell it in candy aisles.
Today I was shopping for chocolate to give American friends and family as Christmas gifts. I was looking for one non-alcoholic gift (non-alcoholic options made up about 15% of the selection and were nearly impossible to find without a teddy bear motif); and some nicely presented liquor-filled pralines. This resulted in me purchasing my weight in chocolates, including a few boxes for myself: my favorite Asbach pralines with a crust, filled with Asbach liquor from Rüdesheim; and my favorite chocolate-covered and liquor-flooded cherries by Merci.
After arriving home, I could not wait. I broke those babies open while watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with Sequoia. Sequoia burst into fits of laughter every time I yelled “hooooo-weee!” while biting into one. She also giggled quite a bit when I obliged her in repeating “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” at her will.
Flash was less giddy when I dropped a full case of chocolate covered cherries on his slumbering head, then quickly ushered him out of his bed so he didn’t get drunk and hopped up on caffeine.
Today was a great day for chocolate in general. While looking at the pictures on candy boxes, I noticed that one looked an awful lot like a praline I bought at a department store confectioner early in the week. “That’s funny,” I thought, “I don’t remember what that tasted like.” Then I reached into my coat pocket.
It was really good.
I’ve shown Sequoia which chocolates in the house she cannot have. That’s because I am not German. Were I German, I would hand her the liquor-filled chocolates and say “Bon appetit!” At least, that’s what the bakery does.