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cuoadminChocolate and Cocoa Recipes

By Jeffrey Kirk on January 9, 2010 | Comments (0)

Back in 1909 Walter Baker & Co., Ltd. published a little book called Chocolate and Cocoa Recipes By Miss Parloa and Home Made Candy Recipes By Mrs. Janet McKenzie Hill.

The staff here at Chocolate University Online have created a special 100th anniversary edition of this book and released it in a PDF download format.

In addition to the original text and 138 recipes, the book contains an all new introduction by CUO staff.  We also took each of the pictures and moved them to the same page as their corresponding recipes.  It’s much more convenient to see the picture right there rather than looking at various photo pages to get an idea of the finished product.

Furthermore, we added a great new alphabetical index.  Now if you know the name of the recipe you’ll be able to find it quickly.  That makes the book much friendlier than the original which, quite uselessly, listed all recipes in page number order.

The new version is for sale and immediate download at our Chocolate Store page.  Enjoy!

Categories: chocolate recipes, fun chocolate facts, shameless self promotion
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brynConfessions of a Chocoholic

By Bryn Kirk on December 31, 2009 | Comments (0)

I recently taught a chocolate and wine tasting seminar.  We tasted delicious, hand-made chocolates from local chocolate shops.  Afterward, one of the attendees took me aside and made a confession… 

She said I did a great job pointing out the reasons to fall in love with gourmet chocolate, but that sometimes she just wants a big handful of M&Ms.  She wondered if something was wrong with her.

Perhaps there are many things wrong with her, but I don’t think craving M&M’s is one of them!  :)   A large part of enjoying chocolate involves memories of our early chocolate experiences.  Children as young as age 9-11 start to prefer chocolate over other candy.

(Some of my early chocolate memories don’t involve Hershey bars or M&M’s so maybe that is why I don’t reach for them when I have a chocolate craving.  My Dad introduced me to Marshall Field’s Frango™ Mints and Dark Chocolate Covered Orange Peel at an early age.  Thank you, Dad!)

If you crave mass-produced candy bars you are not alone.  The top ten most popular chocolate bars in the U.S. (based on sales in US Dollars) are:

1. Snickers
2. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup
3. Kit Kat
4. Butterfinger
5. Milky Way
6. 3 Musketeers
7. Baby Ruth
8. M&Ms Plain Chocolate Candies
9. Oh Henry
10. Hershey Milk Chocolate Bar

Snickers tops the list with over 2 BILLION dollars in global annual sales!

Sometimes our past favorites are not made anymore.  Do you remember any of these candy bars?

  1. Bar None
  2. Caravelle Bar
  3. Chocolate Babies
  4. Chocolate Cow
  5. Chocolite
  6. Forever Yours
  7. Rally Bar
  8. Marathon
  9. Mars Bar
  10. Milkshake Candy Bar
  11. Nestle Alpine White Bar
  12. PBMax Candy Bar
  13. Peanut Butter No Jelly Bar
  14. Seven-Up Bar
  15. Willie Wonka Oompas

I will always recommend you choose fine premium chocolate over the vending machine candy bar.  But, if you need a trip down memory lane, I say go for it.  And after you have satisfied that urge, promise me you’ll take a moment and enjoy a fresh chocolate truffle or a rich butter cream.

Categories: fun chocolate facts
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cuoadminMy Dog Ate My Homework

By Jeffrey Kirk on September 2, 2009 | Comments (0)

Remember that fun excuse, “My dog ate my homework?”  Everyone knew it wasn’t true, yet it always made the rounds, year after year, at least in jest if not seriously…

Well, that excuse isn’t very good at Chocolate University Online.  Since your homework is chocolate, you’d better hope your dog doesn’t eat it!  We’d hate for you to get behind on your homework tending to a sick dog.

EYOHsmallBut now, as kids are heading back to school, perhaps there is a new excuse to consider, “My Husband Ate My Homework!“  You bet, when chocolate is around, someone is going to eat it.  And, as a student at CUO you’ll have chocolate lying around. 

To commemorate this grand excuse we’ve introduced the “My Husband Ate My Homework!” t-shirt.  You can find this in our chocolate store.  Look closely and you’ll also see you can get a “My Wife Ate My Homework!” t-shirt as well.  Maybe this t-shirt is even more accurate as the wife is actively prowling for chocolate.

Finally, though not so much an excuse, but a declaration, we have another t-shirt of similar style available.  It tells anyone coming near to, “Eat Your Own Homework!“  Leave your hands off mine.  Or maybe the same phrase expresses your excitement that you get to “Eat Your Own Homework!”  Whatever it means to you, share it with a fun t-shirt from Chocolate University Online.

Get any of these funs shirts for yourself or as gifts for any chocolate lovers.  You’ll find these shirts in our chocolate store.

Categories: chocolate gifts, shameless self promotion
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cuoadminChocolate In Space

By Jeffrey Kirk on June 24, 2009 | Comments (1)

We spent the day enjoying our time at the Kennedy Space Center. What does that have to do with chocolate?

Apparently the astronauts need their chocolate fix too. Or, at least, the marketing department is quite active in its desire to have us think so.

First of all, our kids had to get some freeze-dried ice cream. You know that’s official “space food,” originally developed for early Apollo missions.

Apparently the ice cream is real, but it is frozen and then vacuum dried. We tried two different flavors; cookies & cream and chocolate / vanilla / strawberry. Both of these have chocolate in common.

The cookies & cream version was like an ice cream sandwich having two chocolate cookies with the ice cream between.

It’s actually amazing how good these products taste. I guess that anything with enough sugar is bound to taste good!

We tried another product too, “Space Food Sticks.”. The best way to describe this is like a fluffier version of a large Tootsie Roll. It was apparently “developed for the U.S. space program.”

Bryn seems to remember eating these as a child. I don’t remember these sticks at all.

All of these products contain cocoa. The sticks also contain cocoa butter and chocolate flavor.

Websites for these sites are www.luvyduvy.com and www.spacefoodsticks.com.

Categories: chocolate review
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