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.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Light Chocolate
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.
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.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
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.
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.
Friday, January 23, 2009
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.
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