Gelato Fiasco - Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Gelato - Sept. 25, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Gelato Fiasco
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Gelato
Good +
Weight: 1/4 cup (50 g.) / 1 Pint container
Calories: 160 calories in 1/4 cup serving
Cost: $2.99 for 1 container
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and Ice Cream Theme Week.

Today's Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup ice cream from Gelato Fiasco (Brunswick, ME) was constructed with chopped peanut butter cups, and a swirl of peanut butter in chocolate gelato.

Gelato Fiasco founders, Josh and Bruno, set out to create a better, Italian-inspired gelato in the U.S., and they've succeeded.

My only quibble, I wish I could find more ice creams and gelatos without emulsifiers or vegetable gums; but they are very hard to find.

Enlightened - Triple Chocolate Ice Cream - Sept. 24, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Beyond Better Foods, Inc.

Triple Chocolate Ice cream

Good

Weight: 1/4 cup (36.5 g.) / 1 Pint oz. (473 mL) in total container

Calories: 45 calories in 1/4 cup serving

Cost: $2.99 for 1 container of ice cream

Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Ice Cream Theme Week.

This Enlightened higher protein, lower sugar, Triple Chocolate ice cream (Better Beyond Foods, Inc., Bronx, NY) was threaded with dark chocolate sauce. It was both light and full of rich chocolate flavor. And not too sweet. 

I'm not sure how this would fare in a side-by-side tasting with a full-fat ice cream (hard to beat the mouthfeel of real dairy milk and cream); but it's also hard to beat a frozen dessert with only 45 calories for 1/4 cup serving.

Enlightened - Frozen Hot Cocoa Ice Cream - Sept. 23, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Produced for Beyond Better Foods, Inc.
Enlightened - Frozen Hot Cocoa Ice cream
Weight: 1/2 cup (73 g.) / 1 Pint (473 g.) in total container
Calories: 90 calories in 1/2 cup serving
Cost: $2.99 for 1 container
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Ice Cream Theme Week.

Today's Enlightened Frozen Hot Cocoa ice cream was produced for Beyond Better Foods, Inc. (Bronx, NY).

What made it different? It was lower in calories and carbs (lower sugar) and higher in protein than most other popular frozen dessert treats.

In keeping with the hot cocoa concept, this relatively light and naturally sweet-tasting, chocolate ice cream was larded (sugared?) with a bit of white marshmallow ripple.

Celebrating 12 Yrs. of Chocolate - Magnum Milk Chocolate Hazelnut ice cream - Sept. 22, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Unilever
Magnum Milk Chocolate Hazelnut ice cream
Good - Good +
Weight: 1/3 cup (55 g.) / 14.8 fl. oz. (440 mL) in total container
Calories: 185 calories in 1/3 cup
Cost: $4.99 (estimate) for 1 container
Purchased from: Safeway (missing location information)

Welcome to Day #12 of Celebrating 12-Years of Chocolate Series, and Day #2 of Chocolate and Ice Cream Theme Week.

Today's Magnum Milk Chocolate Hazelnut ice cream was from Unilever (Englewood Cliffs, NJ).

The unique feature about this relatively new offering was: "Squeeze to Crack" packaging—a hybrid of a large, chocolate-coated ice cream bar and a container of ice cream.

When you squeeze the plastic container, the chocolate "lining" or coating breaks with a crunch. Then you can enjoy bites of hazelnut ice cream mixed with milk chocolate shards. Fun concept.

Celebrating 12 Yrs. of Chocolate - Magnum Double Chocolate Hazelnut ice cream bars - Sept. 21, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Unilever
Magnum Double Chocolate Hazelnut ice cream bars
Good
Weight: 3.04 oz. (90 g.) / 9.12 oz. (270 mL) in total package of 3 bars
Calories: 280 calories in 1 ice cream bar
Cost: $4.99 (estimate) for 1 package of 3 ice cream bars
Purchased from: Safeway (missing location information)

Welcome to Day #11 of Celebrating 12 Years of Chocolate Series, and Day #1 of Chocolate and Ice Cream Theme Week.

Continuing the chocolate and hazelnut ice cream thread started with yesterday's Turkish Choco Hazelnut ice cream, and in response to a last blast of hot summer weather, today's chocolate came fresh from the freezer: Magnum Double Chocolate Hazelnut ice cream bars from Unilever (Englewood Cliffs, NJ).

Each ice cream bar was composed of chocolate hazelnut ice cream dipped in a "chocolatey coating," hazelnut sauce and milk chocolate.

Constructed with satisfying layers of cool, rich sweetness, ice cream and chocolate, the hazelnut flavor in this bar was very subtle.

*"Magnum cocoa comes from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms." This bar was "made with Belgian chocolate."

Celebrating 12 Yrs. of Chocolate - Marash Turkish Ice Cream - Choco Hazelnut - Sept. 20, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Marash Ice Cream
Choco Hazelnut - Turkish Ice Cream
Good+ - Good ++
Weight: 4 oz. (96 g.) / 8 fl. oz. (236 mL) in total container
Calories: 220 calories in 1/2 container
Cost: $5.45 for 1 container
Purchased from: Tuts Bakery and Cafe, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #10 of Celebrating 12 Years of Chocolate Series.

I began this month's 12-year celebration line-up with chocolate and hazelnut offerings, and am ending this baker's dozen series with three more, starting with today's ice cream.

Today's Choco Hazelnut (Turkish Ice Cream) from Marash Ice Cream (Santa Ana, CA) had a creamy texture, and natural tasting roasted hazelnut chocolate flavor more commonly found in Europe than in the U.S.

The Turkish-style ice cream was made with sahlep (a substance made from a starchy orchid tuber). I was told this ice cream contained mastic (tree sap), which is found in some Turkish ice creams. But, if this was so, it did not appear on the ingredients list. (This ice cream did contain vegetable gums (locust bean, guar) and carrageenan.)

Celebrating 12 Yrs. of Chocolate Series - Chocolate Banquet - Sept. 19, 2018

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Seattle Chocolate Company
San Juan Sea Salt Milk Chocolate Truffle Bar
Good+
Weight: 1.25 oz. (35 g.) / 2.5 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 190 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: N/A - gift
Purchased from: N/A - gift

Wild Sweets Chocolate Factory
Black Onyx Truffles
European Black Cream Truffles
Good
Weight: unknown
Calories: 130 calories (estimate) in 2 pieces
Cost: $N/A - gift
Purchased from: N/A - gift

Greetings and Welcome to Day #9 of Chocolate and Celebrating 12 Years of Chocolate Series. Seattle, WA and Portland, OR, are both high chocolate IQ cities.

Today was a true Chocolate Banquet day, with a spread of different birthday chocolates from these two Pacific Northwest hot spots (thank you all). Chocolate is always sweeter when shared with others.

The first course was a San Juan Sea Salt Milk Chocolate Truffle Bar with crunchy coffee from Seattle Chocolate Company (Seattle, WA). (Thank you Michelle and Hali!)

The second course involved two dark chocolate creams from Wild Sweets Chocolate Factory (Portland, OR): a Dark Chocolate truffle and a Black Onyx Dark Chocolate bittersweet truffle. Both filled chocolates had smooth, creamy dark chocolate ganache fillings and dark chocolate shells. (Thank you Kaitlin!)

Other chocolates included a 72% Bacon Caramel bar (made with cacao grown in Ecuador) from Xocolatl de David (Portland, OR), and a Salt dark chocolate bar from Woodblock Chocolate (Portland, OR)—made with cacao from Peru and Ecuador.