Pie Holic and VANILLA BEANS collaborate on savory chocolate pies for Valentine’s Day

With Valentine's Day getting closer, the shops all around Japan started to change their displays.

Along with the decorations, seasonal and limited-time menus, with many unique desserts, are making their appearance, too.

Valentine’s day is also an important day for the chocolate makers and sweets shops, as every year, many have to come up with new limited-edition items and creative designs.

This year, starting from January, the California-style pie specialty store Pie Holic came up with a collaboration with VANILLA BEANS chocolate design company.

They brought us new limited-edition sweets and a new flavor savory pie available on the Valentine limited edition menu.

The sales started from January 15th, and on their online shop, they also have a limited sale of the “Savory & Sweets Chocolate Pie Set”.

The set includes six types of mini pies, savory, sweet, with three different chocolate flavors of Bean to Bar Chocolate: Colombia 55, Brazil 65, and Ghana 80 from VANILLA BEANS.

The set costs 3,618 yen and includes the following:

1. Colombia 55 x bacon

Matching the sweetness of Colombia 55, bacon and nuts are part of the main ingredients. Their role is to complete the taste by bringing out more umami to the pie.

It is a pie with a good balance of sweet and salty, which was possible because of the bacon mousse and the mellow sweetness of Colombia 55 chocolate.

The bacon covered in chocolate, with pepper accents on top, but also the refreshing compote of apricot on the inside of the pie, create a unique yet exquisite combination.

2. Colombia 55 x nuts

This pie has bitter-sweet caramel cream on the top of the chocolate ganache and roasted almonds and pistachios that add to the aroma.

It has a balanced taste that is between sweet and bitter.

3. Brazil 65 x Potato

Another savory and unique combination is that of the Brazil 65 and potato. It has a rich taste that matches perfectly with the bitter and nutty flavor of Brazil 65. It contains mashed potatoes mixed with a generous amount of fresh cream. As a finishing touch, it has a refreshing aftertaste given by fleur de sel (flowers of salt/sea salt harvested in France) and the scent of rosemary.

4. Brazil 65 x custard

This one might be one of my favorites in terms of appearance. It looks luxurious, and it has vanilla beans and custard mousse shaped in a dome on top. Brazil 65 is well-balanced, having a bitter-sweet taste, and it matches perfectly with the less sweetened custard.

5. Ghana 80 x cheese

I never thought I would find a combination of blue cheese and coconuts on top of pie dough.

But never say never. It is undoubtedly the most interesting combination I ever came across, but that makes me even more excited to try it out. I mean, how often can you have a taste of all three at once? The smell of roasted coconut sprinkled on top and its fancy appearance makes it worth trying. You can also enjoy it with a bit of honey on top.

6. Ghana 80 x Orange

The last one in the set is a pie that reminds me of summer and fruit tarts. Chocolate and oranges have always been a good match. The bitterness of Ghana 80 and the sweet-sour orange compote are a match made in heaven. It also gives off a refreshing aftertaste and a pleasant fragrance.

The ganache underneath and orange topping add to its freshness, further enhancing the chocolate flavor and even leaving an aroma similar to coffee.

You can order the above set on the Online Shop, and if you choose to go to the store, you can either eat inside or have it for take-out.

The store also offers a Raw Choco Pie (550 yen) for the eat-in menu (limited-edition) and a Chocolate Stick pie (550 yen) for the Take-Out options.

The sweets above are available until February 14th, 2021.

Let us know which one you would love to try out.

grape Japan