May is blooming all around us! With all the citrus trees and jasmine in full flower right now, all my walks smell absolutely heavenly. Mother’s Day is also this month, so what better time to have a chocolate bouquet? These are some of my personal favorite edible flower flavors. You might notice the flavors are similar to May 2023, but I swapped out a few flavors and changed the profiles a little. Honestly, I really love how they came out this year. You might just see them again next year!
This Month's Flavors
Rose
Rose Dark Chocolate Ganache
An easy pick for a “bouquet”, rose is a tricky flavor to get right. Adding just a drop too much really makes it taste like perfume, which no one enjoys. My trick here is to infuse the cream with dried rose and only add a little rose water at the end – this gives a fuller rose flavor without tasting like potpourri. Also, the dark chocolate adds a good bitterness to take down the rose sweetness.
Lavender
Lavender Milk Chocolate Ganache
Another tricky flavor to get just right, lavender often can end up tasting like soap. Using milk chocolate adds this wonderful creaminess, and is a robust enough flavor to stand up to the lavender. Floral and sweet, this ganache will whisk you off the the lavender fields of Provence!
Sunflower
Sunflower Seed Praline with Vanilla Salted Caramel
Sunflowers are one of my mom’s favorite flowers, so I had to pick it for my Mother’s Day chocolates. The sunflower seed praline is a bit nutty and a touch bitter, with the caramel adding saltiness and sweetness. And yes, I think these are just as addicting as last year’s version!
Orange Blossom
Orange Blossom Milk Chocolate Ganache
Oh boy do I love this one! First, the texture is excellent – the ganache is ethereal and creamy and just melts away on your tongue. You get hit with milk chocolate and orange first, which develops into orange blossom florals and sweetness. I added a little orange zest to bolster the flavor here, and wow do I love the transformation as you savor this one!
Hibiscus
Hibiscus Gelée with Hibiscus Ruby Chocolate Ganache
Hibiscus is really the only flower this month which is fully of beautiful acidity and tang. I wanted to really play that up, so I used ruby chocolate for the ganache. Of course, this means the color of the ganache is excellent! But also, the red fruit and sour notes of the ruby chocolate plays so nicely with the hibiscus. I feel like this is as close to drinking jamaica as I can get in a chocolate! Refreshing and tangy, this is a really fun chocolate.
Vanilla
Vanilla White Chocolate Ganache with Pistachio Praline
You may think vanilla is an odd choice for a floral month, but not at all – vanilla pods come from orchids! That is why it is still such an expensive spice. The flowers have few natural pollinators, so the vast majority of cultivated vanilla must be hand pollinated, as well as the vanilla beans needing to be harvested by hand. All in all, an incredibly labor intense product. The pistachio praline is such a good pairing with this ganache. You get a little texture, a touch of saltiness, and earthy nuttiness. The ganache is light and sweet, delightfully creamy, and has a huge burst of vanilla floral notes.
#1 Citrus, Pistachio, and Chocolate Shortbread
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This buttery cookie is studded with homemade candied grapefruits and lemons, salty pistachios, and dark chocolate chunks. These are a wonderfully spring time cookie – full of color and pops of new flavors!
#2 World Peace Cookies 2.0
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This recipe from Dorie Greenspan is her updated version of her original World Peace Cookies. According to her, “Charlotte Druckman asked if I’d rethink the cookie for her book, Women on Food, and so I thought about the qualities that I admire in women, looked for ingredients that would highlight them and mixed them into the cookie. I added rye flour for groundedness; cocoa nibs to represent strength; pepper for a touch of unpredictability; and raspberries for sharpness and verve. The raspberries are freeze-dried and their flavor takes a little time to reveal itself.”