chocolate review
Theo Mint Dark Chocolate
February 20, 2012
The Theo Dark Chocolate bar with Mint is made with 70% dark chocolate and a unique blend of spearmint and peppermint.
I love mint. It's one of my top 5 favorite flavor combinations with chocolate. I couldn't imagine enjoying a mint chocolate bar that wasn’t traditional 100% peppermint. You just don’t mess with tradition!
However, I really liked the unusual blend of spearmint with the peppermint.
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Jelly Belly Chocolate Dips
February 13, 2012
Jelly Belly makes chocolate coated jelly beans called Chocolate Dips, and they are addicting!
Never before had it crossed my mind, while eating a jelly bean, that it might taste better wrapped in chocolate. And, yet, here I am munching on Very Cherry flavored Chocolate Dips and I can't stop. The whole bag is gone, and so is my shapely waist. 🙂
These jelly beans weren't just grabbed off the line and thrown under a chocolate curtain. The jelly beans have definitely been altered because there is no hard sugar shell. The bean has been panned (rolled around in a revolving drum while being sprayed with a thin chocolate coating) with the chocolate covering the gooey jelly bean center.
The dark chocolate coating is a real chocolate made with cocoa butter. The chocolate by itself lacks a strong chocolatey flavor. Nonetheless, it is chocolatey enough! Besides, you don't want to melt away the coating first. Instead, chew up the combination together to get the full enjoyment of fruit and chocolate. The texture is perfect.
I thought the cherry Jelly Bellies was evenly balanced, neither the chocolate nor the cherry overpowering the other.
In addition to cherry, there are orange, raspberry, coconut, strawberry, and mint flavors.
To me, jelly beans are really sweet, too sweet, and I can eat only a few. The best thing about the chocolate dips is that the sweetness is toned down and a pretty authentic flavor replaces it.
The six flavors of dips get an OMG! declaration from me.
Ghirardelli Intense Dark Toffee Interlude
October 10, 2011
October is Breast Cancer awareness month and Ghirardelli is using the power and popularity of chocolate to make a difference. Each time you purchase an Intense Dark chocolate bar, Ghirardelli will donate $1.00 to the National Breast Cancer foundation. After enjoying one of the many varieties of Intense Dark, don’t throw away the wrapper until after you’ve entered the code on their website. The code is printed on the inside of the packaging.
It is hard to choose my favorite among the Intense Dark varieties because they’re all so good!
I most recently had the pleasure of eating Toffee Interlude. This rich, bold chocolate surrounds crunchy toffee pieces and caramelized almonds. The buttery and caramel flavors blend nicely with the soft sweetness of the chocolate and the hint of salt from the almonds.
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Chocolate Pecan Caramel and Petite Sirah
August 29, 2011
During a recent chocolate and wine tasting program, I introduced the pairing of a dark chocolate covered pecan and caramel cluster with a Bogle Petite Sirah.
Looking for a wine that would work with cluster, I described what I needed and then took the suggestion from a very knowledgeable wine guru. But up until serving it, I had not tried this particular combination. This always makes me a bit nervous because I am using something unfamiliar, yet I’m simultaneously excited to try something new.
The pairing did not disappoint! This wonderful twosome worked great in the tasting and would also be a very satisfying after dinner treat.
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Aunt Belle’s Chocolate Fudge
August 1, 2011
Do you remember the slogan for an old commercial that had people taking sides on tacos? Some would say, “I like making it!” and others would say, “I like eating it!” If you are over 40 and grew up in the U.S., I’ll bet you remember.
When it comes to fudge, most people would say they like eating it way more than they like making it!
Making fudge is tiresome, tedious work that often ends with unsatisfactory results. Fudge has to be cooked at a high temperature then cooled while stirred constantly or the sugar will crystallize into a gritty mess.
So, with patience and a gastronomic aptitude one can achieve great fudge. That is why I like eating it. I don’t possess either one of those fudge making qualities.
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Aunt Belle’s Bear Paws
July 25, 2011
Aunt Belle's Confectionary, LLC has two stores in northern Minnesota, and I just found one of them in Walker, MN.
Walker is a small town with a main street that looks and feels like a trip back in time. Aunt Belle's boasts old fashioned homemade candies and fudge. According to their website, you'll step into their store and feel like a kid again. I did feel giddy like a kid in a candy store (pun intended) and picked out all the goodies I thought I'd enjoy; chocolate dipped brittle, chocolate covered potato chips, chocolate covered nut clusters, and chocolate fudge.
While they had several different types of nut clusters such as the traditional turtle, I chose one of the variations called the Bear Paw.
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A Refreshing, Summer Pairing
July 18, 2011
Like most people, I crave a sweet treat at the end of a meal. In the summer, when food is generally on the lighter side, I like something sweet but not TOO sweet.
After you‘ve eaten your grilled chicken breasts and pasta salad, try this pairing between Ghirardelli LUXE MILK™ Toffee and Round Hill Chardonnay.
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Sweet Obsession Chocolate
July 11, 2011
"Simply the finest chocolates on earth!"
Whatever happened to truth in advertising?
I review a lot of chocolate, and I’d be the first to emphasize that anything I report is a matter of subjective opinion and personal preference. That is, what I write is MY personal preference. Just because I like it, doesn’t mean everyone will like it. We all get that.
This time, however, you can take my review as gospel truth and just trust me…. YOU WILL NOT like Sweet Obsession™ chocolate.
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Chocolate Hazelnut Tea
June 27, 2011
The Stash Tea Company makes a trio of “dessert teas”; chocolate hazelnut, vanilla cream, and almond cream. These teas are made with decaffeinated black tea.
I drank my chocolate hazelnut tea one afternoon when I was “in the mood for something.” I didn’t actually know what I was in the mood for, but since I didn’t have my usual chocolate pick me up handy, I thought this tea might do the trick.
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Mug of Chocolate Cake
June 20, 2011
A couple nights ago my teenage daughter had a craving for chocolate cake. Although this sounded good to me too, we had one big obstacle in our way--no working oven. Our oven called it quits one week earlier and we had not replaced it yet.
The next day, with chocolate cake still on my mind, I looked up dessert recipes for the crock pot, microwave, grill, Nesco Roaster, anything that did not require baking it in an oven. To my surprise, I found A LOT of recipes out there using alternate cooking devices.
Eventually, I found a recipe for a one-minute microwaveable chocolate cake in a mug.
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