Monday, January 31, 2011

Brandy Alexander Drinks and Brownies: National Brandy Alexander Day

Today is National Brandy Alexander Day. A Brandy Alexander is a sweet, brandy-based cocktail that became popular during the early 20th century. It was supposedly created for the wedding of Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood and Viscount Lascelles, in London, in 1922. The Brandy Alexander is based on an earlier, gin-based cocktail called simply an “Alexander”.

From the Brandyalexander website comes the history that Movie Stars have consumed Brandy Alexanders on sets of movies and TV shows and during celebratory events over the last century.  Among the famous calls are by Jack Lemon in Days of Wine and Roses. In one scene Lee Remick receives a Brandy Alexander and is impressed with the chocolate flavor, yet smooth taste of the drink. In the pilot of the Mary Tyler Moore show, Mary calls for a Brandy Alexander when asked if she would like a drink at her job interview and Peggy on a blind date in an episode of Mad Men, Indian Summer calls for a Brandy Alexander.  Over time other movies made reference to Brandy Alexanders.

So with this exciting alcoholic Food Holiday, break out the Brandy and Creme de Cacao!

Brandy Alexander

1 1/2 oz brandy
1 oz dark creme de cacao
1 oz half-and-half
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg

In a shaker half-filled with ice cubes, combine the brandy, creme de cacao, and half-and-half. Shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with the nutmeg

I'm not sure where I found the original recipe for Brandy Alexander Brownies, but I found a similar recipe at The Pioneer Woman that includes a recipe for Brandy Alexander Icing. My original recipe below includes optional walnuts, and I don't usually frost brownies. They're plenty rich the way they are, but I do use more chocolate, but then I'm always Dying for Chocolate.

Brandy Alexander Brownies

Ingredients
6 tbsp sweet butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
2 tbsp creme de cacao
2 tbsp brandy
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:
In mixing bowl cream together the butter and sugar till fluffy.
Add eggs; beat well.
Blend in cooled chocolate, creme de cacao, and brandy.
Stir together the flour, baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Stir into creamed mixture.
Stir in  chopped nuts (optional)
Spread in a greased 9x9x2 inch baking pan.
Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes.
Cool.
Cut into bars.

Optional: Frost with Brandy Alexander Frosting before cutting into bars!

Brandy Alexander Frosting
2 tbsp Sweet Butter, Softened
1 cup Powdered Sugar
1 tsp Creme De Cacao
1 tbsp Brandy

Mix all together!

Trader Joe's 72% Cocoa Dark Chocolate Bar: Stuff That's Easy to Find

A friend of mine recently asked why I didn’t review any “normal” chocolate. Normal being chocolate, presumably, being chocolate that most people have access to.

Since not everybody works a mile from Biagio. Shame that it is.

I suppose the answer is that you don’t need me to tell you that a plain Hershey’s Bar kind of sucks. But this friend did have a point – most people have a hard time getting their hands on Hotel Chocolat, myself included. But rather than raid the display at the end of the checkout counter at a drugstore, I decided to check out the Trader Joe’s 72% cocoa dark chocolate bar, which is imported from Belgium.

The bar doesn’t have a great melt, and left a bit of a dry feeling in my mouth, though the chocolate itself didn’t seem especially dry.

The taste features strong coffee notes and a bit of a vanilla undertone. While it is not sweet, it does have just enough sugar to make it palatable to somebody who likes milk chocolate a bit more than dark. There’s nothing fancy here, and I wouldn’t make a special trip to pick up these bars, but I go to Trader Joe’s to feed my peanut flour and microwaveable salmon patty habits on a fairly regular basis, so these might find their way into my shopping cart as well.

Have you tried any chocolate from Trader Joe’s? What did you think?

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Biagio Sample Day: Single Origin Bars and Unique Creations

Since the holiday season means brisk business for most shops, especially chocolate shops, Biagio hasn’t had a sample day since the one I went to in November. I was becoming anxious about missing the date for the next one, as I have several upcoming meets and work-related travel, but was relieved to see that yesterday was pegged for sample day.

Didn’t make it yourself? Don’t worry. I can fill you in on some of what happened.

They had about a dozen chocolates available for sampling. Some of them were new to me, including an interesting white chocolate with Moroccan mint by Domori that I enjoyed immensely.

Others I have more experience with than I care to admit.

The offerings for the tasting were varied and included quite a few single-origin dark chocolates.

First, the Uba Budo offers a 72% cocoa bar sourced from one plantation in Sao Tome. The bar is fairly sweet with a fruity taste that lingers.

I also had to check out the Bonnat Chuao, as it was 100% Venezuelan. This 75% cocoa bar was very smooth, as most Venezuelan chocolates are, and has an intense bitter taste that is well-balanced with just a bit of sugar.

And finally, I was under strict instructions from Candice at 20° N &20° S to research the situation with Amedei at the store, since she’s had trouble finding it. I’m happy to report that she’d have no trouble here.

Biagio even had their Grenada 70% cocoa bar out for sampling, and I found it to be quite smooth with a vanilla flavor that had an intense and lingering earthy taste to accompany it.

In addition to the single-origin bars out for tasting, several bars that featured unique add-ins were available.

The Divine bar of Dark Chocolate with Raspberries included very tart dried raspberries that dominated the flavor of the chocolate.

The Malie Kai Milk Chocolate Nibby Bar offered a sweet milk chocolate to nicely contrast with the bitter cocoa nibs.

And finally, that Domori Biancomenta white chocolate with Moroccan mint offered a strong mint flavor and a bit of crunch from mint leaves against smooth white chocolate.

After partaking in the sampling, I picked up some chocolate to take home.

Since I so enjoyed the Domori Biancomenta, I got one of those bars along with a Lattesal, which features milk chocolate and sea salt.
I also picked up a Malie Kai Dark Chocolate Nibby Bar, since it happened to be on sale. I'm interested in how it compares to the Milk Chocolate Nibby Bar that was out for sampling.

Finally, I also picked up bars from two chocolatiers I've been meaning to check out. First, a Patric Rio Caribe Superior bar. Second, I was unable to step away from the Christopher Elbow dark chocolate bar with roasted macademia and sea salt.
Keep an eye out for in-depth reviews of these bars. And do go to the next sample day at Biagio. If you can't make sample day itself, you simply must go to the shop to find some unique chocolates.

Have you ever been to a chocolate sample day?

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Hotel Chocolat: Venezuelan Milk Chocolate Bar

While I thoroughly enjoyed hitting up some old standby chocolate joints on my trip to Boston last year, I was very happy to try out something new. Namely, Hotel Chocolat. While I already discussed some of the Christmas-themed treats I picked up when I stopped in, I did, as always, ensure that I got at least some pure chocolate so that I could accurately assess the quality and character of the brand’s unadulterated chocolate. My selection? A plain milk chocolate bar that featured 43% cocoa solids.

I was drawn to this bar in particular because the cocoa is from Venezuela. After years of enjoying El Rey and Valrhona, which source their beans from Venezuela, I’m a strong believer that Venezuela is responsible for producing some of the most exquisite cocoa butter in the world.

From a texture perspective, this bar was no exception, and the high-quality cocoa butter is evident as this bar has an exceptional melt.

The taste was creamy and nutty, with chocolate flavor. The bar was sweet, but the sugar was not overpowering. Though I enjoyed this bar a great deal, I’m not convinced that it’s much better than El Rey milk chocolate, which I can pick up for $9.99/lb from my local Whole Foods. Next time I visit Hotel Chocolat, I will probably save room in my luggage and pick up a more unique chocolate creation instead.

Is there a region that grows particularly good cocoa in your opinion?

Chocolate Cake in a Jar

One of my Facebook friends was recently snowed in, and horror of horrors, she was out of chocolate. It got me thinking that one should always have a hidden stash just for these emergency situations. That doesn't have to mean candy; it can be cake! Chocolate Cake in a Jar is the perfect back-up. These cakes can be stored like any other canned goods, in a dark cool place. To be safe, if you're not going to eat this cake in the first few days (assuming it's sealed correctly), you can and should store it in the freezer. As in any food canning process, make sure the jars, seals and lids are sterilized, and that the seal is tight.

This recipe adapted from allrecipes.com is fabulous! It's perfect when you don't need an entire cake. Easy to eat, too! And delicious. Hint: Use the jar size in the recipe. Don't use a bigger size jar because it won't bake through, and the uncooked middle could become contaminated.

Chocolate Cake in a Jar

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons unsweetened DARK cocoa powder
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon Madegascar (Madegasse is fabulous!) vanilla extract
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

Directions
1. Sterilize 2 (1 pint) straight sided wide mouth canning jars, lids and rings by boiling for 10 minutes. Keep the lids and rings in the hot water until needed. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking soda and cinnamon. Set aside.
3. In a medium saucepan, combine butter, water and cocoa powder. Heat and stir until butter is melted and mixture is well blended. Pour into a large bowl.
4. Stir in Flour mixture and blend. Add buttermilk, egg and vanilla and beat by hand until smooth. Stir in nuts.
5. Distribute evenly into the 2 prepared canning jars. Place the jars on a cookie sheet and bake at 325 degrees F for 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted deep into center of cake comes out clean.
6. Using heavy oven mitts, remove cakes from oven one at a time. Place a lid, then a ring onto the jars and screw them down tightly. Place the jars on the counter and listen for them to "ping" as they seal. If you miss the "ping", wait until they are completely cool and press on the top of the lid. If it doesn't move at all, it's sealed.
7. After it cools, cake will pull away from the jar and when you are ready to eat, open and the cake will slip out.
8. Unsealed jars should be stored in the refrigerator and eaten within 2 weeks. Sealed jars can be placed in the freezer. The cake is safe to eat as long as the jar remains vacuum-sealed and free from mold. 

Friday, January 28, 2011

Chocolate Blueberry Pancakes: Two Ways

Today is National Blueberry Pancake Day. Add some chocolate, and you can celebrate this fun food holiday in two ways.

This first recipe is from Cooking Light. Just a few tweaks, and you'll love them! Perfect Buttermilk pancakes with the addition of blueberries and chocolate! These will be good this weekend. I usually have fresh blueberries around, but you can also use frozen.

BUTTERMILK BLUEBERRY CHOCOLATE PANCAKES

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Cooking spray
1 cup Blueberries (less if frozen.. I like the frozen Wild Blueberries from Trader Joe's)
1/2 cup Dark Chocolate chips or Dark Chocolate, broken up (alternatively, you can use white chocolate!)

Directions
1. Spoon flour into dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (flour through salt) in large bowl, and make a well in center of mixture. Combine buttermilk, oil, and egg; add to flour mixture, stirring until smooth.
2. Spoon about 1/4 cup batter onto hot nonstick griddle or nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray. Add Blueberries and Chocolate pieces (or Chocolate Chips).  Turn pancakes when tops are covered with bubbles and edges seem cooked.
***

So that's what you'll make fresh today! I'm also fond of Mixes in a Jar. Here's a quick and delicious recipe for Chocolate Blueberry Pancakes in a Jar. Make some to have on hand or to give as a gift. One helpful hint when making mixes in a jar is to really pack the ingredients in. Use a tamper, if you have one...except for the dried blueberries and chocolate.

CHOCOLATE BLUEBERRY PANCAKES IN A JAR

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried Blueberries
2/3 cup dark chocolate chopped into chip size (or chocolate chips)

Layer flour, then sugar, then the baking powder mixed with baking soda and salt in a 1-quart wide-mouth jar.  Add blueberries, then chocolate. Seal Jar. Cover jar with burlap or other fabric and tie with raffia or a bow. Attach gift tag with the following instructions:

Chocolate Blueberry Pancakes 
Makes 25 pancakes
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup sweet butter, melted
Contents of Jar of "Chocolate Blueberry Pancakes"
1-1/2 to 2 cups whole milk (or buttermilk)

Mix eggs and melted butter in large bowl. Add contents of jar. Stir until well blended. Add 1-1/2 cups milk. Stir until dry ingredients are moistened.

Heat griddle or skillet. Pour batter onto hot griddle 1/4 cup at a time. Cook pancakes until golden on both sides.

I be Stylin': My Stylish Blogger Award from Beth

First Julie tagged me. Now Beth from Swim, Bike, Run DC. But at least this time, Beth gave me an award: The Stylish Blogger Award.

I’m super-stylish. Beth knows this because she sees me coaching synchronized swimming while she aqua-jogs. I routinely wear a shirt that reads “Train Hard. Win Easy.”

Style. I’ve got it.

Anyway, I guess this means I’m supposed to tell you seven things about myself. Some say they should be surprising. Uh, right. Either way, here goes:

1. Even though you wouldn’t know it from reading this blog, I eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Between 9 and 13 servings a day. Yes. Lots of squash, greens, pears, apples…delicious

2. While this is probably not very surprising, it’s perhaps a bit unusual that I have a chocolate cabinet.

Really

3. I wrote a thesis on the influence of major scandals on presidential popularity. As a result, I have an unhealthy obsession with Richard Nixon.

4. I don’t really like chocolate chips. They’re waxy because they have less cocoa butter to allow them to maintain their shape during baking. Gross. Bulk bar chocolate is better.

5. Last April, I became the youngest national-level synchronized swimming judge in the United States. And then I judged at the biggest synchronized swimming meet in the world at the end of June.

There are over 1000 athletes who attend that meet. It was, um, long.

6. I am probably the youngest person in America using a digital converter box to watch TV, as I don’t have any kind of cable subscription. Unsurprisingly, I don’t watch much TV outside the local news.

7. I exercise at least an hour every day, and swim 4-6 days a week. I love the water.

Now I get to award this to some folks.

Leigh, since her blog is actually about fashion. And because she eats my macarons. Go become one of her first blog followers; she just started.

Jessica, who plays with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (!). And makes her own macarons. She’s also another Daring Baker. You really need to follow her blog.

Are you stylish? Am I? (Don't answer the second question).

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Chocolate Peppermint Cake: Vintage Ad and Recipe

It's National Chocolate Cake Day, and this Peppermint Chocolate Cake is divine!

This Vintage Baker's Ad is is all about Janet! Well, yes, it's all about me!!!

I love these Baker's Ads that tell a story. The reality, though, is that they're pretty sexist. This ad dates from 1938, but the recipe is still great. I would substitute a few ingredients, but you'll love it!


January Daring Bakers' Challenge: Biscuit Joconde Imprime for Entrements Dessert

It’s the 27th of January. What does that mean, besides the fact that February is right around the corner? It means that it’s time to post about the January Daring Bakers’ Challenge, which was, well, a visually impressive challenge.

I freaking made a cake with hearts on the outside! For Valentine’s Day! And there’s pink! Isn’t that a sight!

Bragging aside, the January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert. You should check out the .pdf file of her full instructions, because I’m just going to go over the interesting parts here.

Joconde Sponge Ingredients

¾ cup almond flour

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

¼ cup cake flour

3 large eggs

3 large egg whites

2½ teaspoons granulated sugar

2 tablespoons melted butter

In a clean mixing bowl whip the egg whites and white granulated sugar to firm, glossy peeks; set aside. Sift together almond flour, confectioner’s sugar, and cake flour, then add the eggs one at a time on medium speed until smooth and light. Fold in one third reserved whipped egg whites to almond mixture to lighten the batter. Fold in remaining whipped egg whites and then fold in melted butter. Set aside.

Then I moved on to make the pink paste that would yield those beautiful hearts on the outside of the dessert.

Joconde-Décor Paste Ingredients

7 tablespoons butter, softened

3/4 cups powdered sugar

3 large egg whites

3/4 cup cake flour

Few drops red food coloring

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then gradually add egg whites; beat continuously. Fold in sifted flour and tint batter with red food coloring until pink.

Now for the fun part: making that design happen. First, I sketched out lines of hearts on parchment paper cut to fit a 10 inch by 15 inch jelly roll pan.

Then, using a pastry bag and fine piping tip, I filled in the design with my tinted décor paste.

I moved the paper onto the pan and slid it into the freezer for 15 minutes, and then poured about 2/3 of the batter onto the piped design. I poured the remaining batter into a 9 inch springform pan lined with parchment paper to give the final product a cake-like bottom, and baked both at 475ºF for about 10 minutes. I flipped the jelly roll pan over onto parchment paper prepped with powdered sugar, and allowed the cake to cool slightly before peeling back the top layer of parchment paper to reveal my heart design.

Even though the instructions said to bake for 15 minutes, 10 minutes actually slightly overbrowned this. Jessica over at Bake Me Away! noted that the overbaked portions simply look like zebra stripes and I ought to pretend this was the look I was going for.

Right-o.

That aside, I pressed ahead, cutting out the cake into strips 2 inches thick, which I’d sketched out on the parchment paper to ensure that hearts weren’t broken (woka woka woka).

I removed the thin bottom cake layer from the springform pan, put the pan out on my balcony so that the freezing cold temperatures could quickly cool it, and lined the pan bottom and sides with parchment paper and plastic wrap so that I could use it as my entremet mold. I put the prepared cake bottom in the pan, and then lined the sides with the precut strips, pressing the cake edges together to achieve a continuous outer layer of cake.

After finishing “the hard part,” I filled the cake with lemon white chocolate mousse.

And doesn’t it look like it needs more white chocolate?
Yes, I do believe it does. So: Raspberry white chocolate ganache.

Raspberry White Chocolate Ganache Ingredients

12 ounces chopped white chocolate (Callebaut)

¾ cup heavy cream

6 ounces pureed and strained raspberries

Heat cream and white chocolate over low heat until chocolate is just melted, remove from heat and stir smooth. Allow to cool to room temperature, periodically stirring, then add the raspberries. Chill slightly before spreading over lemon white chocolate mousse layer.

Allow entire cake to chill overnight, then impress everybody around with the beautiful design on the outside and the tasty layers inside.

In case you were keeping track, there’s a pound and a half of white chocolate and almost a quart of cream in this thing.

Just a little on the rich side. Best to enjoy small slices. Often.

Have you previously wondered how entrements desserts were made?

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Barefoot Contessa: Mocha Chocolate Icebox Cake

It's always fun to see 'celebrities' at the Fancy Food Show. Ina Garten, better known as the Barefoot Contessa, was seated in a small booth in a darker hall at the Fancy Food Show last week. I almost missed her, but I'm glad I didn't. Every time I watch her show on the Food Network, I hope to be invited to dinner at her beautiful home, to dine in her lovely garden, or help out in her great kitchen.

The Barefoot Contessa has just published her 7th cookbook in the Barefoot Contessa series. The new one: How Easy is That?: Fabulous Recipes & Easy Tips by Ina Garten (Clarkson Potter, 256 pages, $35) is filled with tips and recipes for the home cook, more for beginners than the experienced chef, but great for all.

Of interest in this new cookbook to the Chocoholic is the Mocha Chocolate Icebox Cake. I haven't tried it yet, but will soon. Let me know if you have.

MOCHA CHOCOLATE ICEBOX CAKE

Ingredients:
 2 cups cold heavy cream
12 ounces Italian mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup Kahlua liqueur
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 (8-ounce) packages Tate's Bake Shop chocolate chip cookies, or other thin crisp chocolate chip cookies
Shaved semisweet chocolate, for garnish

Instructions: 
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, or with a hand-held mixer, combine the heavy cream, mascarpone, sugar, Kahlua, cocoa powder, espresso powder and vanilla. Mix on low speed to combine, then slowly raise the speed and beat until mixture forms firm peaks.

Arrange chocolate chip cookies flat in an 8-inch springform pan, covering the bottom as much as possible. Break some cookies to fill in the spaces. Spread a fifth of the mocha whipped cream evenly over the cookies. Place another layer of cookies on top, lying flat and touching, followed by another fifth of the cream. Continue layering the cookies and cream until there are 5 layers of each, ending with a layer of cream. Smooth the top, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.

To serve, run a small sharp knife around the outside of the cake, and remove the sides of the pan. Sprinkle the top with the chocolate, cut into wedges, and serve cold.

Perugina Dark Chocolate: Post-Coaching Snacking Chocolate

I have more chocolate gifts from swimmer parents to report on.

I get these all the time, I really do. Sometimes I think it’s preemptive. You know, like, “Hey so I told twelve Girl Scout Troops about our team and 26 kids want to come try synchro at practice this weekend – on and by the way, here’s some chocolate.”

It works. Most days. One particular day when it worked was when I was handed this Italian Perugina Dark Chocolate.

Opening the package in a mad rush after coaching a large group of young kids reveals a dominant vanilla aroma.

The vanilla wasn’t quite as evident in the flavor, which was hard to place. There was a hint of cream, a little vanilla, and a little coffee, carried by just the right amount of sugar to compliment the combination of flavors. The bar had a nice melt, and was not at all dry or waxy. It’s the kind of chocolate that you can snack on mindlessly, as it isn’t complex enough to demand your complete attention.

In other words, it’s perfect to eat after your mind is fried from coaching a, uh, enthusiastic group of kids in a loud pool area.

Do you have a favorite “snacking” chocolate? What is it?

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Irish Coffee Chocolate Cake

Today is National Irish Coffee Day. Last year I posted an Irish Coffee Chocolate Mousse recipe, and it's really good. This year, I'm posting a recipe for Irish Coffee Chocolate Cake. If you're a purist, you'll want to substitute your own chocolate cake and pudding recipes for the box mixes. If you're in a hurry, though, this is a great easy recipe! A terrific way to celebrate the day.

No time to bake? Go to your favorite Irish Pub and raise a glass of Irish Coffee. Have some chocolate in your pocket. Stir it in!

IRISH COFFEE CHOCOLATE CAKE

Ingredients
1 box chocolate cake mix (Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake)
1/2 cup oil
4 eggs
3 tablespoons instant coffee
3/4 cup Irish whiskey
1/2 cup water
1 small package instant chocolate pudding
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips or broken up pieces of dark chocolate
Whipped cream

Directions
1. Combine the cake mix, oil, eggs, instant coffee, whiskey, water and pudding mix. Blend well. Fold in the chocolate chips/broken up pieces of chocolate. Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan.
2. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool completely.

Alter Eco Blackout Dark Chocolate: That's a Lot of Cocoa

One cool thing about coaching synchronized swimming is that, in addition to the fact that I can use my fellow coaches and officials to dispense of chocolate treats that come out of my kitchen, the parents of the swimmer I coach are well-aware of how much I like chocolate.

And Diet Coke. But this isn’t a Diet Coke blog, so let’s move along.

Fortunately, these folks want a happy coach working with their swimmers, so they routinely bring me both Diet Coke AND chocolate. One bar that I was given on such an occasion was a bar of Alter Eco Blackout Dark Chocolate bar.

I saw that this bar was 85% cocoa solids. Yowzers. I usually top out at around 75%, but I was game to try this. After unwrapping this carefully contained bit of chocolate.

The bar has an impressive texture for something with such a high cocoa content. The melt is very smooth, and it is clearly made with great cocoa butter.

The taste is exceptionally bitter and intense with a bit of an earthy undertone. The bitterness was just a little much for me, and there wasn’t quite enough sugar mixed in to cut through the bitterness, and it was almost like eating straight coffee beans.

So I’m a bit of a wimp on super-dark chocolate. Deal with it.

That aside, the ingredients used to make this bar were top notch, and I’ll probably look for another Alter Eco bar in the future. They did a good job in production, it’s just this particular bar is a bit strong for me.

Have you tried anything by Alter Eco? What did you think?

Monday, January 24, 2011

National Popcorn Day?

Supposedly the 18th was National Popcorn Day.  I don't know if that's true or not.  And I really don't care.  I just needed an excuse to write about popcorn.

I was considering a Black Swan tie-in.  I just saw it in the theaters and loved it, although I'm not entirely clear on what happened.  I just know I was on the edge of my seat the whole time; Natalie Portman did an amazing job; and the symbolism was fab.  Very cool.  I didn't actually eat any popcorn at the movie (I smuggled in Christmas candy), but I THOUGHT about popcorn.

And there you have it.  Popcorn.

I met the folks from Jody's Gourmet Popcorn at the Fancy Food Show and they were awesome enough to send me some samples afterward.

They sent three different types of their popcorn (they have other flavors as well).  This one was double cheddar:

Now I love cheese flavored popcorn.  When I buy those tins with the three flavors, this is the flavor that I always chow down first.  But I'm sad to say, this cheese popcorn was no good.  It had a weird flavor and I actually pitched it.  For me throwing away cheese popcorn is like Lindsey Lohan thowing out vodka.


Next up was Kettle Corn:



This was perfect.  I mean perfect.  Not overly sweet, just the right balance between sweet and salty.  Awesome!!

And look at those kernels - all their popcorn is like this - fully popped, nice and fluffy - no bits.  Some popcorn is filled with unpopped bits and hard pieces and is just crappy.  The last time I got popcorn from the Popcorn Factory it was like that - bleech.  This was great.



This is Jody's Recipe 53 Caramel Corn:



Also very cool - a nice light coating of caramel corn - very, very well done.  You can still taste the popcorn - it's not overwhelmed by the caramel.  A work of popcorn culinary art.


This is Great Scott's Peanut Butter Cup popcorn (I was sooooo excited to try this one!):


Boo!  No good.  Not very peanut buttery or chocolately; a weird flavor. There are so many better choices that I pitched this one too.  You know it's no good if I threw away something involving peanut butter.  That goes against everything I believe in.

Before we write Great Scott's off entirely, look at this flavor - bleu cheese (notice how not full the bag is):

I love the fact that the bleu cheese actually has a bit of a bleu tint to it!  Gotta tell you - this stuff was delicious!!  Love it!  As you can see, I ate half the bag before I could even get to a camera to take a picture of it:


Everybody is getting in on the popcorn act.  Harry & David just lauched a line of flavored popcorns.  Here's loaded baked potato:

and bacon ranch:

I'm sure you are wondering why I don't have pictures of these flavors.  Well, I now have like 5 open bags of popcorn in my house.  I have to eat some before I open any more!  I did sample both of these flavors in the Harry & David store and they were delish.  There's no room for crappy entries once Harry & David is in the house.  Popcorn makers of the world - step it up!

Harry & David also has their entire line of Moose Munches  (coated popcorn with chocolate and assorted nuts or other ingredients).  This stuff is over the top addictive.  I saw this flavor (Milk Chocolate Pumpkin) and was dying to try it:



As Tim (my sweetheart) observed, "Pumpkin has it's place and this isn't it."  I have to agree.  As much as I love pumpkin, somethings just don't lend themselves as well to that flavor.  Popcorn really shouldn't be pumpkin flavored.  This wasn't very good.  I was going to throw the bag away, but Tim said, "Don't get crazy, it's not that bad!"

So far, this is the best flavor of Moose Munch that I've tried - White Chocolate Macadamia Nut:

This is sooooooo good and is completely addictive.  If you open a bag, the next thing you know it will be empty and your jeans will be tight.  It's wicked good.

Harry & David also has a line of Moose Munch chocolate bars.  This one is caramel with cashews and almonds:


It looks pretty good and in theory is a good idea.  But I honestly think loose Moose Munch is better.  This is too much chocolate.  I know, I know - how can you have too much chocolate?  If you eat the Moose Munch with only a few chocolate covered kernels, it's perfect.  If you have all of it coated in chocolate, it's too much.

The takeaways?

Let's all be grateful for the awesomeness of popcorn.  It can be healthy as heck or decadent beyond belief.  It makes movies better and smells delicious. 

Contrary to what I have long believed, pumpkin really doesn't make everything better.  Neither does chocolate.  I'm soooo happy they are both out there, but they don't need to be everywhere.

Really great things usually do get the recognition they deserve - Black Swan, Cirque du Soleil, popcorn.  We all have different tastes and opinions, but we agree more than we disagree.  If given the chance, Orville Redenbacher could probably have gotten us world peace.