Taxes and Chocolate

On this April 15th, celebrate with chocolate and be happy that we do not live in a country that considers taxing our chocolate as some are suggesting in the UK

Rosewater Chocolate

raw rosewater cheesecake with chocolate-orange-pistachio crust
Originally uploaded by kamutflakegirl

Instead of chocolate and roses, consider rosewater chocolate.

As in a dark chocolate bar with rosewater
Chocolate Rosewater Tart
Rosewater with White Chocolate

Chocolate and Pomegranate

Pomegranate isn't just for fancy martinis and juice. Try adding it into your dessert menu in the below ways:

Chocolate Pomegranate Torte
Chocolate Pomegranate Seeds
or if you're not up for baking here's a bar to check out
or for something chocolate-less try this cake

Chocolate Bunnies

So, after a brief hiatus I am returning to the world of chocolate just in time for one of the most important chocolate holidays, Easter.

This Easter, I give you the following sites to consider:

for an all-time favorite milk chocolate bunny or the solid milk chocolate bunny or for a dark variety consider this fair-trade option or an organic, vegan variety for something a little more unusual perhaps this will match your taste or for something more low-key check this out

This is just for starters. . .

Artful Chocolate

Chocolate Sushi
Originally uploaded by pokeystik

Chocolate is a serious matter. So why not lighten it up from time to time with your own artful creations, like this chocolate sushi for instance.

Let your cereal and your chocolate collide. You will have fun with it and so will your guests.

Classic chocolate

milk_and_cookie
Originally uploaded by idovermani

And then there are the times when a chocolate chip cookie and a glass of milk hit the spot. O.k. I would eliminate the milk but even as a non-milk drinker this seems appealing.

Try adding a couple of ounces of shaved dark chocolate into your cookies for an extra dose of goodness.

Make Your Chocolate Hot

White Chocolate Jalapeno Love
Originally uploaded by norwichnuts

In the case of this photo, someone apparently lost a bet and the chocolate dipped jalapenos were the consequence.

While there is debate over the value of eating a raw, hot pepper dipped in chocolate there is good reason to believe that a little bit of hot in your chocolate is not a bad idea. In the case of chilis, many call for a few tablespoons of cocoa.

Now another way to make your chocolate hot is to add some diced, seeded, jalapeno to your brownies, your cakes, and your truffles (these recipes often call for toasting the jalapeno first).

Good Bad Chocolate

Cocoa Peeps?
Originally uploaded by CarbonNYC

If there is such a thing, I'm not sure I'd put Peeps into this category but I do have some choices.

Old favs like Reeses Peanut Butter cups (esp. the Easter egg variations b/c they give you even more good/bad peanut butter)

Nutella mmmm spread it on your white bread in gobs, spread it in the bottom of your ice cream pie

Magic Shell remember this? We used to load it on our ice cream and later report to the mother of our sick, sick stomachs.

Kinder Eggs a European good/bad. Good=they give you a miniature toy in your white/milk chocolate egg. Bad=the chocolate itself white/milk blend

I feel like I'm forgetting some critical Good/Bads pls. feel free to tap me on them.

Tangerine Please

Canon 50mm f/1.4 prime lens test
Originally uploaded by the_tahoe_guy

This holiday weekend, I had a short stack of tangerine pancakes with chocolate sauce. Oh, my.

Try adding the zest from a 1/3 of a tangerine ( to your liking) to your favorite pancake recipe and melt a few quality chocolate chips such as Callebaut or a good bulk chocolate chip overtop.

I think you will approve.

On President's Day Take His Advice and Have Chocolate with Salt

When I first heard of this concept, I was a nonbeliever. But, it turns out (that done with just the right amount of salt) this can be an incredible chocolate experience.

Three winners in this field are:

Fran's gray and smoked salt caramels
Poco Dolce with their bittersweet tiles
Theo with their ghost chile caramels

Valentine's Last Ditch

Chocolate Valentine's Sculpture
Originally uploaded by emilywjones

So, I've given you a lot of ideas for this approaching chocolate loving day. Maybe they did not always appear neatly in the list above as promised, but if you scroll through this blog you'll find ideas sprinkled about the page.

If you still haven't figured it out and the hand-painted chocolates aren't up your alley. Then maybe a sculpture out of chocolate or cookies is still a possibility? You have twelve hours.

Ready, set. . .

Cognac and Chocolate

Let's paint the world in cognac and chocolate!
Originally uploaded by lepiaf.geo

Another great duo. Here are some options:

Lindt makes a milk chocolate with a cognac filling
Chocolate Cognac Truffle Tartlet Recipe
Chocolate Fondue with Cognac

or choose a good, quality dark such as Divine and pair it with a cognac. Raspberries would also make a nice accompaniment to this match

All the way to Japan

Valentine's chocolate from Kyoto
Originally uploaded by bananagranola

So, maybe Japan is a little far to go for Valentine's confections so I thought I'd bring these to you via this lovely photo. If you were really, really wanting to impress I think you could stay up all night and paint edible images on chocolate formed from shells. And then, you could play Kaiawase.

You know, you could if you really, really wanted to impress.

And then there are the things we shouldn't do with chocolate

Batch Caramel Bacon Pumpkin Cupcake
Originally uploaded by clevercupcakes

for instance--what is this fad with adding bacon to chocolate? Vosges has done it to the tune of $7.50 chocolate bars and now I'm seeing it pop up all over the cupcake world.

In this case there is also caramel and pumpkin involved. Yikes! Sweetness says just say no to the pig in your chocolate.

Godiva Outdoing Themselves

Godiva, take 1 #1069
Originally uploaded by Nemo's great uncle

For those chocolate obsessed folks looking to splurge on a $25 box of chocolates, or more, in the USA or Canada, consider Godiva.

A take on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, they have announced a contest where only lucky couple will enjoy a fantasy weekend including a room of chocolate. I repeat. A Room of Chocolate.

But before you run out and buy a box, take a peak at these official contest rules. In the meantime, dream a little dream of the golden ticket or Brooke Shields, oh that already happened. She most certainly will not be coming along with the fantasy, but hey enjoy the chocolate dream wherever it takes you.

Vegan Chocolate: A Positive Memory

I love my dairy.

Usually there is a period at the end of this statement and that is all. But, I must admit I just rediscovered a chocolate company I had nearly forgotten about Denman Island Chocolate.

Oh, my--they are so very rich and lovely and organic. Denman Island Chocolate arrives in neat, little packaging that is sometimes playful and involves the shape of woodland creatures, or Buddhas (these are not, I believe listed on their site though).

Really, you must treat yourself to a little mint/chocolate frog or a Buddha pronto. And tell me they don't stack up to the dairy kind!

Lime and Chocolate

Chocolate Lime Strudel
Originally uploaded by ajagendorf25

A friend came over last night and brought me chocolate, which of course makes her a dear friend, but not just any chocolate she brought me chocolate with lemon and pepper. Oh, my. It got me to thinking what else can we do with chocolate and citrus and then I found this photo. I feel a little like a tease with this post, because I'm not producing the recipe for the above. Tell you what. I will mail one bar of the aforementioned chocolate to the first person (in the USA--sorry can't afford to ship overseas) who gives me a good recipe for the above lime and chocolate strudel. Deal? You'll be pleasantly surprised with this bar and shocked by its producer.

Chocolate and Coconut and . . .

チョコレートマフィン / chocolate and coconut muffin
Originally uploaded by yomi955

I found this photo so beautiful I wanted to share it. . . actually I wanted to eat it, gingham and all but that would be very silly and would probably involve some form of electrical shock.

On a more serious note here is a recipe for wedding the two. O.k. these have rum in them and they are not muffins but cakes, but how can you go wrong with Epicurious?

Drink Your Chocolate

sipping chocolate
Originally uploaded by heliosphan

Who said we were just talking about candy bars? Especially in the winter months, consider drinking your chocolate. Some decadent brands include Scharffen Berger, Shokinag or Kakawa for something with a MesoAmerican/Aztec bent.

Milk Chocolate

brains of milk and chocolate
Originally uploaded by Alejandro Peters

There are worse things in life than being reduced to milk and chocolate. Worse things than being called a Milk Chocolate Brain on the playground, the office, or your local cafe.

So, let's talk about milk chocolate. Some of you die-hard fans are reluctant to approach but I sense you're more willing to consider it over White Chocolate, the twice-removed cousin.

Milk chocolate does not have to be Reeses or Mars or Snickers or KitKat or or or. . . there are some varieties worth purchasing on their own value, not because you misread the label. For one, try Jade's Genmai bar which contains only 35% cocoa blended with jasmine and roasted brown rice. Seriously, you will be pleasantly surprised discovering that a little more milk in your chocolate isn't always a horrible thing.

Light Chocolate

lite chocolate
Originally uploaded by gravityx9

I found this photo humorous and hope you will, too.

In the past decade, chocolate has caused quite the stir as various findings announce benefits including anything from mimicking the euphoria of falling in love to possible reduction in blood pressure and decrease in symptoms of Chronic Fatigue.

So, what about light chocolate? Generally, I am a skeptic of anything listed as light as the substitutions are usually synthetic, which doesn't bode well for long-term consumption, and/or they have a larger dose of sweetener. But for kicks, I thought I'd put aside my skepticism and do a little research on the matter. This is what I found:

When cooking, applesauce appears to be the number one substitute for butter as in this Martha Stewart recipe for brownies or in the case of mousse, use a combination of egg whites with egg yolks and a reduced fat milk as in this Cooking Light recipe

In terms of chocolate itself, you're best off reducing the amount you intake versus going with the alternatives. But I welcome your feedback.

Surprise me. Turn me onto a low-fat chocolate bar that you find as irresistible as its pleasantly plump counterparts and I'll add it to this posting.

Do Tootsie Rolls Count?

Introduced to Europe/European chocolate at the age of five, spoiled by sweetness ever since. I have, on occasion and under the influence of fever, sworn off cacao but always returned to my senses/my emergency stash of usually 70% (although I am a sucker for Lindt.)

As a die-hard fan of fantastic chocolate, I wish to believe that Tootsie Rolls, in fact, do not count. I have been amazed at my fellow chocolate lovers who would not only admit to liking them but would place them in a category of chocolate-like foods, that in their minds, redeems the Tootsie Roll because it is not trying to be chocolate. They would also add carob to this category while I, again, would dismiss carob on its basis of being a poseur or some substance that moms in Green Halloween districts give the Trick-or-Treaters along with packets of granola and toothbrushes and pennies.

Obviously, I am outing myself. But you tell me what you think. Take the poll. Tell me that the Tootsie Roll is something other than a cheap way to fill those plastic orange pumpkins we used to carry around instead of . . .well, plastic bags on Halloween.

Chocolated

as in spirited, to be chocolated away. Used in a sentence: to be taken by the spirit of chocolate, to receive the gift of chocolate (whether virtual or real), to have eaten serious poundage of chocolate to result in the state of being chocolated. Generally perceived as a pleasant state, albeit temporary. Chocolated. Spelled like chocolate with a "d" on the end. Chocolated.