Endangered Species Chocolate Bar
May 2, 2011
The All-Natural, 72% Dark Chocolate with Cranberries and Almonds bar is oh-so good in oh-so many ways. First of all, the flavor is excellent. The chocolate is bold with soft earthy notes. These flavors blend perfectly with the chewy cranberry pieces and crunchy almond bits.
Endangered Species brand chocolates promotes awareness and conservation of at-risk species of animals. This particular variety (cranberries and almonds) is surrounded by a wrapper that, when you read the inside, increases your knowledge about the struggles of the Gray Wolf.
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Chocolate Marble Cake
April 28, 2011
Sometimes you just need to have a good home made cake, with chocolate in it, of course.
Here's a recipe for a chocolate marble cake. After it cools spread some chocolate frosting on the top and you'll be all set!
| Chocolate Marble Cake • 1/3 cup butter • 1 cup sugar • 2 eggs, well beaten • 1 1/2 cups flour • 2 teaspoons baking powder • 1/2 cup milk • 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate • 1 tablespoon butter • 1 teaspoon vanilla Read more |
Grandessa Irish Chocolate
April 26, 2011
I didn’t know that there were “Irish style” chocolates until I saw a box of chocolates from Grandessa. This box claimed an Irish assortment of filled milk, white, and dark chocolate. To satisfy my curiosity, I bought a box.
The chocolates are uniquely shaped in a square “cup” that holds caramel, lemon meringue, and strawberry truffle. The molded piece is open at the top. The Caramel Sensation is a smooth caramel inside a milk chocolate cup sprinkled with dark mini chocolate chips on the top. The Lemon Supreme is also inside a milk chocolate cup sprinkled with crystalline sugar on the top. And the Sumptuous Strawberry is dusted with a sweet red powder and tucked inside a white chocolate cup.
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Chocolate Bunny Bread
April 20, 2011
Chocolate bunnies? How about a chocolatey loaf of bread shaped like a bunny instead? OK, how about eating the bread first and then the usual chocolate bunnies for dessert?
Here's a recipe for a chocolate bread, with the added benefit of chocolate chips, shaped into a fun bunny for Easter. If you want to sweeten it for the kids, decorate with frosting and jelly beans.
| Chocolate Bunny Bread • 3 1/4-3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour • 2/3 cup sugar • 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder • 2 packages rapid rise yeast • 3/4 teaspoon salt • 2/3 cup milk • 1/4 cup water • 1/4 cup butter or margarine • 1 egg • 1 tablespoon vanilla • 1/3 cup milk or dark chocolate chips • Decorations: jelly beans, frosting (optional) Read more |
Xyla Sugar-free Chocolate
April 18, 2011
I don’t have a dietary need to eat sugar-free chocolate, so I rarely do. I am not an expert when it comes to reviewing these types of product. I was thinking, however, that if something sugar-free tastes pretty close to the “real thing” than it’s gotta be pretty good. Right?
Right! I just finished eating a Xyla™ brand Healthy Chocolate™ sugar-free dark chocolate tasting square, and I thought it was delicious. The chocolaty flavors start out bold then the fruity, citrusy, and soft earthy notes show throughout. The texture is mostly smooth but there is an occasional gritty crunch of (I would guess) the xylitol.
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Chocolate Zombie Bunny
April 15, 2011
As we're coming up fast on Easter you may be thinking about all that Easter candy you'll need to put in baskets and hide around the house. Of course some of that candy is likely to chocolate bunnies. Your children will expect the annual chance to bite off the bunny ears.
Perhaps you already know that your son or daughter is crazy about Zombies and will attack a defenseless chocolate bunny by not just eating its ears first, but by going straight for its brains. Maybe it's time to play along and consider giving the bunny that fights back - a chocolate zombie bunny!
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Fudge Brownie Pie
April 13, 2011
Here's an interesting recipe for a brownie within a pie. Basically it's a big round brownie in a pie crust. Sounds like the best of two worlds.
| Fudge Brownie Pie • 1 9-inch unbaked pastry shell • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips • 1/4 cup margarine or butter • 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk • 1/2 cup biscuit baking mix • 2 eggs • 1 teaspoon vanilla • 1 cup nuts, chopped Read more |
Mayan Superfood – Sweet Raw Cacao Nibs
April 11, 2011
Theobroma cacao is the scientific name for Cocoa Beans. After the cocoa beans are harvested, fermented, dried and shipped to the chocolate manufacturer, they are stripped of their outer-most coating, called the shell, and roasted before being ground into chocolate liquor (unsweetened baking chocolate).
These shelled beans are called nibs. Almost all nibs are roasted. Roasting brings out flavor and color development. Roasting also drives off moisture and undesirable “volatiles.”
I wanted to share this brief story about bean processing because RAW nibs are not roasted, and I’d like you to see where they come from and why they stand out even more as a superfood than the already proclaimed superfood-ness (is this a word?) of chocolate.
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Chocolate Price Drop?
April 8, 2011
Good news. With the former president of Ivory Coast negotiating an exit strategy with UN authorities, it appears that chocolate prices may be headed down.
Cacao shipments from Ivory Coast had dropped to near zero after the election conflict in late 2010. That's a problem since the country supplies about a third of the world's supply. Because of the reduced supply, prices have been on pretty much a constant increase.
Now that a surrender is being negotiated, cocoa futures prices dropped immediately to the lowest point in the last three months. This is based on the speculation that the 350,000 tons of cacao held in Ivory Coast port warehouses would be released while the European Union removes its trade embargo.
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Favorite Chocolate Cheesecake
April 6, 2011
I enjoy making cheesecakes. Over the years I have picked up a few good recipes. One of my favorites is a Garlic Cheesecake! As you can imagine, this is not for dessert. It's a good appetizer though.
Well, I'm not writing for Garlic University Online so I'm not going to give you the recipe for that cheesecake. Instead, I'm going to give you the recipe for one of my absolute favorite chocolate cheesecakes.
This is a substantial cheesecake with lots of chocolate impact. It's rich and dense. It takes time to make, but the results are really worth the effort.
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