Lindt is the world’s largest premium chocolate company. The Swiss-based confectioner, which dates back to Zurich in 1845, has a U.S. production facility in New Hampshire. The company maintains quality while producing chocolate in volume, making Lindt Excellence chocolate bars, other bars, and Lindor truffles. Here’s a brief history of Lindt.

Lindor truffles—a round chocolate shell with a liquid chocolatey center—are available year-round in flavors dark, 60% extra-dark, milk, sea-salt milk and white, and flavors: a total of 27 choices, from matcha and mint to coconut and dulce de leche.

Seasonal flavors include Gingerbread, Milk Peppermint Cookie, Snickerdoodle, Snowman (white center, milk shell) and White Peppermint.

Whatever the flavor, when your teeth break into the chocolate shell, the luscious, creamy, melting, center covers your tongue with some emotion between glee and enchantment. It’s a unique sensation in truffledom.

And that’s why any chocolate lover would relish a gift of Lindor truffles.

Holiday chocolate, including a selection of special holiday boxes, is available at retailers nationwide or at LindtUSA.com, in sizes from small to jumbo.
 
The line is certified kosher by KOF-K.
 
 
WAYS TO USE LINDOR TRUFFLES AT HOME

Beyond holiday gifts, Lindor offers year-round opportunities to:

 
 
DRINKING THE TRUFFLES

Lindor truffles are not just for eating. You can drink them:

 
When we visited the Lindt Outlet Store (here’s a store locator for both Lindt Chocolate Shops and Lindt Outlet Stores), we found a large cafe counter offering the choice of these drinks and more. We dove right in.

Our recommendation: For a less sweet drink, use two Lindor truffles per 8 ounces of hot milk or coffee. For a sweeter drink, use three truffles. Whisk them in one at a time.

We haven’t stopped drinking Lindt hot chocolate since!
 
 
RECIPE: CHOCOLATE-RASPBERRY LINDTTINI

Have it for dessert (photo #4)!

Ingredients For 2 Drinks

 
Preparation

1. CHILL the vodka, creme de cacao, and 2 Martini glasses.

2. ADD the vodka and creme de cacao to a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake well. Pour into the chilled Martini glasses.

3. GARNISH with an unwrapped truffle and a fresh raspberry on a cocktail pick. If you don’t have a cocktail pick, lightly notch the truffle and place it on the rim of the glass.
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF CHOCOLATE

> THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF CHOCOLATE & TERMINOLOGY

[1] Put a bag of Lindor truffles under your tree and in your candy bowl (all photos © Lindt).

[2] Treat your guests, treat yourself.

[3] Get holiday flavors such as Gingerbread, Milk Peppermint Cookie, Snickerdoodle and White Peppermint.

[4] Enjoy a dessert cocktail with a Lindor truffle garnish (the recipe is at left).

[5] Enjoy a Lindor parfait.

Thanksgiving on a biscuit: how we enjoyed the leftovers this morning (photo © Mason Dixie Foods).

Here’s what we created for breakfast with the Thanksgiving leftovers: a turkey biscuit sandwich!

1. TOP the bottom layer of a biscuit with mashed potatoes.

2. ADD a layer of stuffing.

3. NEXT, the turkey.

4. THEN, cranberry sauce (the photo shows cranberry jelly sliced from a can. We had homemade cranberry-orange relish.

5. TOP with the other biscuit half.

6. DIG in.

If you have leftover gravy, use it to create a turkey French Dip sandwich.
 
 
WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE PIZZA?

You can put the same ingredients on pizza dough instead of a biscuit.

Check out our selection of Thanksgiving leftovers recipes, including pizzas.
 
 
> THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF SANDWICHES
 
> THE HISTORY OF SANDWICHES

Thanksgiving dinner hasn’t even been served yet, but we’re already planning tomorrow’s dinner with the leftovers: Thanksgiving Leftovers Pizza. We’ve enjoyed leftovers pizza recipes before. Here are some of our favorite Thanksgiving leftovers recipes, including the conventional and the not-so-obvious (this year’s leftovers pizza recipe is below:
 
 
MORE THANKSGIVING LEFTOVERS RECIPES

 
Thanksgiving Leftovers Pizza Recipes

 
 
RECIPE: THANKSGIVING LEFTOVERS PIZZA

It doesn’t matter if you no longer have leftover turkey. Use whatever you have to top the pizza crust. If you want meat, use bacon or whatever you have.

Prep time is 20 minutes, cook time is 45 minutes.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 400°F. Place the crust on a pizza pan or atop a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Top with a layer of mashed potatoes, then a layer of stuffing

2. SPRINKLE the turkey and vegetables atop the stuffing layer. Bake until the crust is baked and the toppings are warmed through, 12-15 minutes. While the pizza is cooking…

3. WARM up the cranberry sauce and gravy. Pass them at the table, so people can add what they prefer to the top of their pizza.

3. REMOVE the pizza from the oven and garnish with herbs. Serve with the cranberry sauce and gravy.
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF PIZZA

> THE HISTORY OF THE TURKEY

[1] Mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey, carrots (photo © Reynolds Kitchen).

[2] Mashed potatoes and corn, plus whatever else you have. Here’s the recipe (photo © The Baker Chick).

[3] Butternut squash pizza with sage. Here’s the recipe (photo © DeLallo).

[1] Super Gold Medal winner: Queen Bee Porcini (all photos © Beehive Cheese).

[2] Gold medalist: Red Butte Hatch Chile.

[3] Silver medal: Promontory cheddar.

[4] Silver medal: Seahive, rubbed with Redmond Real Salt and local wildflower honey

[5] Another silver: Teahive, cheddar rubbed with Earl Grey tea.

[6] Bronze award: Pour Me A Slice, cheddar infused with Basil Hayden bourbon whiskey.

[7] For a cheese lover: A gift box of Beehive’s award-winning cheddars.

Last week we reported on the top 10 winners at the World Cheese Awards.

It is with American pride that we present the winner in the Best American Cheese category at the 2021 World Cheese Awards: Queen Bee Porcini from Beehive Cheese Company.
 
 
QUEEN BEE PORCINI, A CHEDDAR FIT FOR A QUEEN

Described by Beehive as a “savory cheddar fit for a queen,” the Super Gold-winning cheese is hand-rubbed with porcini mushroom dust to impart earthy, umami notes throughout the paste* of the cheese.

A new cheese, only released earlier this year, Queen Bee Porcini achieved the highest possible rating during the first round of judging.

Beehive Cheese Company is one of our favorite cheese producers. It’s located Uintah, Utah, a town at the mouth of Weber Canyon, in a valley between the forested Wasatch Mountains in Ogden, Utah.

It’s 5 miles south of Ogden and 25 miles north of Salt Lake City.

By the way, Utah is the Beehive State†.

While Queen Bee Porcini stood in the crowd of great American cheeses entered into the competition, it was just one of seven medals won this year by Beehive.

Beehive Cheese Company also landed one Gold, three Silver, and two Bronze awards for their other cheddar cheeses.

Cheddar, by the way, has been known as the “cheese of monarchs.” It dates to the 12th century when, in 1170, Henry II of England declared cheddar the best cheese in England and purchased more than five tons of it.

Beehive cheddars took home seven medals at the 2021-2022 World Cheese Awards: Super Gold, Gold, Silver, and Bronze.

 
Congratulations to the Beehive team!

American cheeses won a total of one Super Gold (Queen Bee Porcini), nine Gold, 18 Silver and 30 Bronze at the World Cheese Awards.

Among these include Golds for Crater Lake Blue Cheese from Rogue Creamery (a Nibble Top Pick), Griffin from Sweet Grass Dairy, and Queen Anne’s Lace from Tulip Tree Creamery.

We look forward to tasting all of the winners.
 
 
BEEHIVE CHEESE GIFTS

So what do you get a cheese lover who merits a selection of international award winners?

A gift box of Beehive Cheese!

All of Beehive’s cheeses can be purchased at BEEHIVECHEESE.COM, as well as Utah retailers.

Here’s where you can find Queen Bee Porcini. It’s also available at Sprouts Markets nationally.

Gift or not, a selection of these award winners should be on every cheese lover’s bucket list.
 
 
ABOUT THE WORLD CHEESE AWARDS

The 33rd edition of the World Cheese Awards in 2021 was bigger and more international than ever before. For the first time, entries exceeded 4,000.

The competing cheeses represented 45 different countries, including recent additions such as India, Japan, and Colombia, as well as established cheesemaking nations such as France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

All entries were judged in a single day, as 250 experts from 38 different countries considered their appearance, texture, aroma, and flavor.

Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Super Gold accolades were awarded during the morning session, and the Super Golds were reassessed to find this year’s Top 16.

The International Super Jury, featuring the great and good of the global cheese community, then debated the best cheeses on the planet in front of a live audience, before crowning this year’s World Champion Cheese.
 
 
> THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF CHEESE
 
 
> THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF CHEDDAR CHEESE
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF CHEESE
 
________________

*The paste is the portion of the cheese underneath the rind, the interior body. While the rinds on certain cheeses are edible, 100% of the paste is edible.

There are different types of pastes, described by their texture, density, and color (soft, hard, semihard, semisoft, dry, moist, crumbly, etc.).

When milk is too low in beta carotene, producing pale cheese, the vegetable dye annatto can be added to the curds to give the paste more color.

†Utah’s state nickname is The Beehive State. The beehive is a symbol of hard work and industry, and the hive is Utah’s official state emblem. It appears on Utah’s flag and state seal. The state insect of Utah is the honeybee.

The state motto is also simply one word: Industry. Here’s more about state nicknames and symbols.

Looking for a cranberry cocktail for Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year’s Eve?

The mixologists at Tommy Bahama restaurants created these tasty drinks that.

The cocktail, which they call Happy Huladays, is a refreshing combination of seasonal flavors that tickle the taste buds.

We call it “Happy Holidays,” because most of us won’t be celebrating in the tropics (so don’t rub it in, Tommy!).

The rum-based cocktail is finished with a dash of Prosecco for a sparkling touch.

The cranberry ginger syrup, easy to make, can also be used:

 
You can make it days in advance, and you may want to make a double batch.

(Note that is recipe is for one drink. Use this converter tool to multiply the portions).
 
 
RECIPE: TOMMY BAHAMA HAPPY HOLIDAYS COCKTAIL

Ingredients Per Drink

 
For The Cranberry Ginger Syrup

 
For The Garnish

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the cranberry-ginger syrup. Combine the ingredients, bring to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes. Leave 1 piece of ginger in the mix and then cool.

2. BLEND in a food processor to integrate the cranberries, transfer them to a container, and store them in the fridge until needed. Do not strain.

3. MAKE the cocktail. Add all ingredients except the Prosecco in a mixing glass. Shake with ice. Add the Prosecco and gently strain into a glass.

4. GARNISH with a cranberry and mint sprig and enjoy!
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF CRANBERRIES
 
 
MORE CRANBERRY COCKTAIL RECIPES

[1] Happy Holidays cranberry cocktail from Tommy Bahama (both photos © Tommy Bahama).

[2] Another view of Happy Huladays, with a mont sprig.

[3] Or, switch to vodka or gin for an easy Cranberry Martini, shown here with a rosemary sprig. Here’s the recipe.

[4] Cranberry Sangria (photo © McCormick).

5] Cranberry Mimosa (photo © Ocean Spray).