Johanna Woodhead Selection
When someone offers to take you out for breakfast in Kirriemuir, your expectations aren’t particularly high but 88 Degrees proved me wrong.
It is a wonderful little coffee shop with a ridiculously well stocked deli, plus the owner Johanna Woodhead also turns out to be an artisan chocolatier with plenty of her wares on display. I gravitated towards the glass case which had an assortment of handmade chocolates and got one of each. I neglected to make any notes about the names of the chocolates, but I’m pretty sure I’m not a million miles away.
Snickers Bar
Organic peanut butter and salted caramel in a pretty dark and white chocolate cup, with a bonus ganache layer to add that extra punch of chocolate. Despite that, it is the peanuts which win the day and it all works out remarkably well. There’s very little to complain about here.
Chocolate Truffle
A relatively generic chocolate truffle which I was more than happy to eat, even although there wasn’t to make it stand out from anyone else’s chocolate truffle. Or to put it another way, it was a good chocolate truffle, but not much else.
Mint Truffle
Another very good chocolate with a decent level of mintiness and a lovely smooth filling. Again, nothing too out of the ordinary but still very pleasant and I’d quite happily work my way through a few of these if given the chance.
Salted Caramel
A nice crisp shell conceals a very rich caramel inside which verges on being just a little bit too sweet for my tastes. A little less sugar and a touch more salt would definitely improve things.
Raspberry Truffle
My opinion of this chocolate changed at the midway point of consumption. At the start, it felt terribly underfavoured with not nearly enough raspberry, but this is one of those subtle experiences where the fruitiness just builds and builds to exactly the right level as the smooth truffle filing melts away. Probably my favourite of the quintet.
So all in all, a very nice collection and a very pleasant surprise at the end of breakfast. I shall definitely make a return visit next time I’m in Kirriemuir, and in the meantime I just need to coax a friend to send some other goodies from there until I’m back in Scotland again.
88 Degrees, 17 High Street, Kirriemuir, DD8 4BA, Scotland
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- Filed under 88 degrees, assortment, johanna woodhead, uk.
Point taken!
Chef, couldn’t agree more!!! I was taiknlg to another chef friend of mine about how September is the best time of year to be cooking. I love the fall flavors and after months of light summery dishes i look forward transitioning into earthier flavors of autumn. But that narrow 2-3 week window in between seasons provides such interesting combinations. I like what you’ve done above. I recently I did Scallops with apple fennel puree, late season broccoli shoots, hazelnuts, and crispy fried scrapple.