Chocolate Treats

The Psyche Remembrance Festival is due in a few short weeks and what better way to show appreciation for another, than with chocolates? Now any cossetling worth their salt must know that the best chocolates are made weeks in advance. Without proper preparation work, what is even the point of specialty chocolates? Cosette said in passing that it would be great to prepare chocolates for the souvenir shop at the next holiday so Heloise showed up bright and early the next day to get the process going, no use in laying about if there is something to be done.

Heloise walked up the cobbled path to Cosette’s home, Rongi the longon was riding on her shoulder while Vina the vulorro was treading alongside them.

“Won’t you do the honours Rongi dear?” The longon gruffed in approval as he beat his wings to fly towards the door. His tail thumped on the door briefly before floating back to Heloise’s shoulder. She gave him a little head pat as they waited for Cosette to open the door. 

Cosette looked like the bed just spit her out, “Hmmm? Good morning Madame Heloise, what brings you here today?” 

“Cosette, did you not want to make chocolates for the festival?” Heloise said, affronted. Vina supported the cause by primly grooming her paws, looking down her nose at Cosette. 

“Oh of course Madame Heloise, I was not expecting you so soon, I thought this would be done the week of the festival!” 

“Nonsense! If you would like to follow my recipe, we must start as soon as possible!” Cosette tried to stifle a yawn as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes as Heloise stood there expectant.

Seeing that she was fighting a losing battle, Cosette invited Heloise in and started to get ready to face the day. Heloise and her cosprouts made themselves at home on the couch, but it did not take long, Cosette surely was used to getting ready in a hurry to catch the train. 

First thing is first, gathering the ingredients. Heloise, Cosette and the cosprouts, there is a dense forest just a walk away. The weather is surely warm enough for the early berries to start fruiting. They clopped through the forest to find berry bushes with the help of Vina’s nose. Vina even took a few samples before approving the group for picking the berries. Heloise dug out basket for them with a berry bag for Vina to strap onto her back. Rongi loaded up the berries into Vina’s bag while the cossetlings picked enough berries for chocolates and then some. 

By the end of the day, they had three different berries and two nuts packed away. They called it a day but Heloise showed up bright and early the next day with a drying tarp and the berries.

“Good morning again Madame Heloise, what is the agenda today?” Cosette murmured sleepily. 

“It’s a short day! We must take advantage of the morning sun and lay these berries out to dry. I trust you have a safe place to lay this all down? Cosette nodded and led Heloise into her backyard, then puttered back inside to get ready. Heloise laid down her tarp and started to scatter the berries onto a flat layer. 

“Nice work, alright that is all, I will see you in a few weeks! Make sure to cover them up if they get wet and flip them over if they look like they are ready.” Heloise waved farewell and walked off.

“Oh Madame! What do you mean a few weeks! Wait, I feel like I need more than that!” Heloise knew Cosette would get a handle on it, it’s only just letting berries dry in the sun.

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Four weeks later, Heloise’s own batch of berries were dry so Cosette’s berry stock should be ready as well.

“Now Madame Heloise! I have a perfectly good kitchen! We can work there!” Cosette fretted as Heloise was dragging a cauldron to the outdoor campfire. 

“Nonsense Cosette! You have a perfectly nice firepit here, how do you imagine making all the chocolate for the shop in a small pot?” Heloise huffed. “Rongi! Please do the honours!” Rongi lit the fire under the cauldron with a deep breath. 

Heloise slowly poured in chocolate disks into the cauldron and stirred slowly. She added more until the base was nicely melted. Cosette helped Heloise split the chocolate into different pans on a table that Heloise had Cosette dragged out.

“Alright Cosette! Now take your pick of the toppings and make your own flavours.” Heloise turned her attention to her pan and added the dried red berries and both nuts until they were evenly spread. Heloise is tapping her hooves on the spot thinking about the delicious nuts! Rongi and Vina chirupped and got Heloise’s attention. 

“Not to worry, I didn’t forget about you two! There are chocolate pans for you.” Vina chose many berries to cluster onto the pan. Rongi was happy with the chocolate that Heloise made for herself. They put the chocolate pans in the fridge and let the chocolate solidify it. When it was ready, they broke it into nice bars to have a taste. 

“There you go Cosette! Aren’t you happy about the work you put in? It tastes so good because it was made with love and hard work.” 

“Ahaha yes, thank you Madame Heloise! This was a great experience, wake me up next year and we can do this again!” Cosette cheered.