Would YOU like your very own fresh white truffle?

Yes, you could win one. Just a second on that.

This is a bit of a social media experiment. I want to see if this sort of marketing works or not.

The deal is that I was in a contest at Marx Foods, and was asking people to vote for Cookistry. The contest is now closed, and I want to thank everyone for their votes and comments!

Meanwhile, Marx Foods is also giving away a fresh white Alba truffle in a comment-to-win contest, and I have that linky right here. I have nothing to do with that contest; in fact, I've entered to win it, myself. I'm just passing along the info. That contest ends Nov 20, 2011, so if you find this post later, the contest is over.

So the question was whether people would reward me with a vote for telling you about the truffle and think this is a brilliant cross-promotional marketing strategy, or would they ignore my plea for a vote and go right for truffle-winning? Or are you so annoyed that I'm not giving away the truffle that you're going to ignore both links and walk away in a huff? (And where did you get that lovely huff, anyway?)

I've never done this sort of asking-for-votes post (although I've seen similar things on other blogs), so I want to see how you all respond to this.

Now that the gimme-a-vote part of the experiment is over, I've got to say that it was a marginal success. I did get a few extra votes and the comments were nice. I didn't win the contest, and that's fine, too. You can't win 'em all. And truthfully, I'd rather win a contest based on how good the recipe is, rather than on my social media skills.

On the plus side, Marx Foods asked to feature my recipe as a guest post on their site (even before the contest was over) so I think that's a feather in my cap.

Good luck on truffle-winning. It would be sweet if whoever won it got there from this site.

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Olive Oil Taste Test

A while back, I was invited to a dinner at Ototo in Denver sponsored by Star Olive Oil. All of the dishes were made with olive oil, including dessert.

While it was a great dinner, it was hard to really discern the differences in flavor of the oils in the finished dishes - so I decided to have a little taste test at home. I brought home samples of some of the oils from the event, and then I went shopping to pick up a few more versions of the olive oil to make a more complete selection.

I sampled the following oils: light-flavored, original extra virgin, California extra virgin, organic olive oil with omega-3 and DHA, and holy land olive oil. I tasted all of them with bread.

I started with the light flavored oil, and it was indeed very light. This is the oil you want to use for dishes where you don't want the flavor of olive oil to be prominent, but you do want the health benefits.

Next were the original extra virgin followed by the new California extra virgin. After tasting the light oil, these were both much more flavorful with a bit of the peppery flavor at the finish.

After several tastings, I could detect differences between the two, but they were very similar. The California had a "greener" flavor up front as well as little more bite on the back end.

The original was very similar - so much so that in a salad dressing or mingles with other flavors, you might not be able to tell the difference between the two. I mean, I was eating this straight-up with bread. And my husband said that he couldn't tell the difference between the two.

The big difference, then, is that the original extra virgin comes from Spain, while the California is, obviously, domestic.

Next up was the organic with omega-3 and DHA. This one has a slight fishy flavor; not in a bad way, but like some people notice a fishy flavor in eggs with omega-3 and DHA.

The flavor isn't strong, and some people might not detect it, but I'd suggest using it in dishes where the flavor makes sense or where other flavors would overpower it. There is also an organic oil without the omega-3 and DHA. I didn't try that one; I might give it a shot later, but right now I have a lot of open bottles of olive oil.

Last was the holy land olive oil. This one isn't for sale yet, but it should be available soon. It had a more buttery flavor with less of the peppery finish. I'm not saying it was mild or tasteless. The opposite, in fact. It had a very rich flavor, without as much of the assertive peppery note at the back of the throat. If I had to choose just one oil, this might be it. Fortunately, I don't have to choose. And believe me, I usually do have several type of olive oil on hand at all times.

Disclaimer: I received some of the oils as a sample, but I also purchased some of them.

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Not your kid's hot chocolate

I've launched a little food-related project in conjunction with the folks at Fooducopia, a site where small food producers sell their products. My part in this is that I'll be creating recipes specifically for products sold on the Fooducopia site. This is one of those recipes. This time the secret ingredient was Alpine Toffee.

I'm pretty sure that if you have some toffee, you're not going to grind it up and use it as an ingredient, right? You're going to eat is. As is. Right out of the bag.

If you're going to serve it, though, you might break it into smaller pieces. And then, when that bag is empty, you'll have those yummy crumbly bits at the bottom of the bag. You could use them on top of muffins or cupcakes, but let's face it, there aren't going to be enough of them for a whole batch of cupcakes. And you're probably not going to want to take a hammer to the toffee to make more crumbles.

But you want to use them, right?

They make a perfect garnish for some adult hot chocolate. Might as well top the hot chocolate with some whipped cream, too, And then serve the toffee alongside. It's an adult indulgence, whether it's dessert or your special evening treat.

You can make your hot chocolate any way you like - from a mix, or from unsweetened cocoa. Many recipes suggest using powered milk, but I prefer to make it with regular milk if I'm starting with good cocoa. For convenience, you can buy sweetened cocoa, and just add hot milk.

Of course, you can spike your cocoa with anything you like. Amaretto would be nice, or even a coffee liqueur. But to go with toffee, I thought rum was the perfect companion. It's made from sugar cane and it pairs nicely with desserts.

Spiked Hot Cocoa

Hot cocoa, made from your favorite recipe or mix
Rum, to taste
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Toffee crumbs

Make the hot chocolate according to your favorite recipe. Meanwhile, combine the cream, sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl. Beat with an electric mixer (or whisk by hand, if you prefer) until the cream is whipped to soft peaks.

Serve the hot chocolate with a splash (or more, to taste) of the rum. Top with the whipped cream and garnish with the toffee crumbles. Serve with whole pieces of toffee.

To be clear, I'm not reviewing or endorsing the products in this recipe. I've created the recipe for Fooducopia to post on its site and I'm re-posting the recipe here for my readers as well. Then again, since I created the recipe, rest assured that I liked it. I don't cook stuff that we're not going to eat.

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