Chef Linda's Confection Commentary

Tag: HazL+Nutly™

The Sweet Spot Between Elegance and Confection

Elegance and confection. Pleasingly ingenious. My own interpretation of the word elegance would include simplicity; however, simplicity isn’t always present in an elegant solution. In electronics, in technology, in manufacturing those solutions tend to be quite complex. We recognize elegance when we see it: in clothing design, in the manufacture of small appliances, in an iPhone. So, what does elegance have to do with confection?

 

One thing that makes elegance so attractive is precision. We admire products and services that are seamless and precise. Handcrafted furniture, a high-quality pen or watch, a beautifully engineered hygrometer that’s available to us for just a few dollars.

 

We’re mapping out our production through the end of the year, including the launch of an annual flagship confection product that will have its roots in elegance: the Essential Confection Box. Remembering that our two product qualifiers are superb single-flavor and textural development, we’re building a stable of our best recipes confected with the glorious fruit of the current Pacific Northwest season.

 

Cookies of impactful design like swirls of Italian amaretti; fat, cracked thumbprint cookies of house made hazelnut butter; three flavors of Essential Cantucci Mini™ we sell only to restaurants; our beloved HazL+Nutly™ (currently in use as bookends of summer gelato sandwiches); a glorious candied fig butter cookie (yes, we’re candying fresh figs next month); our never-before-released to consumers pistachio shortbread (have you ever had pistachio butter?) to name a few. Dark, sweet Oregon cherries and our own Marionberry jam (an Oregon-grown-only berry) will make appearances. And sparkle will definitely have its day.

 

 

Marionberry, blackberry, lingonberry, elderberry, black raspberry

There was a time when we didn’t know each other by name, only reputation

The reputation of my grandmother’s exquisite black raspberry jelly

So precious it only made appearance in the tiniest of jars as if incognito

And it changed my understanding of what gifting was about

Funny how a little fruit can do that

Elegance makes an entrance in the svelte silver cookie tin. We believe in functionable reusability, and this box will find a permanent home among your keepsakes.

 

At this writing, we can only hope to keep up with the infusion of flats of Marionberries, apricots and dark Bing cherries. Next month’s bounty includes peaches, figs and tiny artisan grapes.

 

For our personal use, we’ve been producing savory blueberry jam for turkey and lean meat sandwiches, and a fabulous savory umami Marionberry sauce for grilled chicken and fish.

 

Simple Excellence is Essential Confection’s tag line, and it’s hard to express how much value we place on simplicity and excellence as components of the gifts we create. It circles back to my interpretation of elegance: pleasingly ingeniouswith simplicity.

 

We love hearing from you and are most appreciative of your friendship and support.

 

 

 

 

Building Something of Value to Others

Strokes of culinary mortar

applied discretely in partnership;

trust first extended, it

the midwife of salubrious confection

 

Building Something of Value to Others

An interesting creative aspect of entering a completely new field is the opportunity to take a candid look at what historical features of my work style truly seemed to have benefitted others.

 

In reflecting, I realize that I’ve done my best work when I had the opportunity to build something of significant value to others that was self-organizing and deeply rooted in service. I love the process of – and have felt rewarded by – building something of value to others.

 

Recognizing this as my primary work style helps formulate how the work we do at Essential Confection and Essential-Insight Advisors can be most beneficial to our customers and clients.

 

A Snapshot of our Work

Here’s a snapshot of our work in Q122:

  • Partnering with other artisans. The most fun, and totally in line with how I love to work. We’re partnering with regional artisans to produce confection products using their own artisan products. It’s that “building something of value to others” piece I just mentioned.
  • Product development. We’re methodically building a stable of unique, Pacific Northwest ingredient-sourced cookies in pre-scaled dough. To-date, we have In+Dulge™, our luscious 3-chocolate, ‘accidentally gluten-free’ cookie dough; and brand new HazL+Nutly™ using our house made Oregon hazelnut butter. More PNW-sourced cookie dough products to follow.
  • Restaurant desserts. Essential Confection produces 7 texturally luxurious desserts to help restaurants create a reliable, predictable dessert profit center. Everything from the glorious Essential Almond Cake (using sublime almond paste) with 72% chocolate frosting, to Essential Citrus Olive Oil Cake (lemon-infused EVOO), to Essential Flourless Chocolate Torte to Essential Tiramisu (4 liqueurs). Our seasonal fruit desserts change each quarter.
  • Videos! In keeping with my love of writing, we’re dropping weekly ~2 minute videos designed to a. encourage cooks to deepen their pleasure of baking and cooking through self-education; and b. help restaurants incorporate the soft skills of hospitality to increase their restaurant’s success and profitability.
  • Here’s how Euclidian geometry aligns with creating confection products!

https://www.facebook.com/linda.naylor/videos/3262388327379139

  • Here’s how chefs worldwide create the experiences that are most important to us all:

https://www.facebook.com/linda.naylor/videos/624911065512465

  • A super-high quality mail order company has approached to consider taking our Essential Douglas Fir Shortbread™ national this year. We’d love to help other taste the Pacific Northwest, so…

 

A Super-Nova in the Works

In Q2, the advent of local fruit has so many exciting possibilities. (This is always true in Oregon. We get excited about sunshine and fruit.) We have a project in the hopper on a decidedly Oregon variety of an Italian fruit delicacy. More to follow, here, as well…

 

And, yes, Essential Confection has a holiday super-nova in the works… totally emblematic of the Pacific Northwest. A real stretch for us that we think – executed correctly – will have no equal. Of course, our beloved Essential Panettone™ will make its annual holiday appearance, dressed to the nines.

 

Working in partnership is discovery-filled. Creating unique artisan products that benefit our partners and delight our guests helps solidify our company as a true partner in a truly relational sphere.

 

We love hearing from you.

Linda

 

 

 

 

 

 

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén