Chocolate Filled Raspberries; Cheesecake Cups; Raspberry Almond Yogurt; small desserts - Dec. 7, 2019

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Raspberry Theme Week.

Greetings busy people. Here is a trio of small, easy to make chocolate and raspberry desserts 1.) Dark Chocolate Filled Fresh Raspberries, 2.) chocolate and raspberry Cheesecake Cups and 3.) Raspberry Almond Milk Yogurt with chocolate shavings.

Dark Chocolate Filled Raspberries

Dark Chocolate Filled Raspberries
Good +++
Weight: unknown - less than 1 oz. (28.3 g.)
Calories: 35 calories (estimate) in 5 berries
Cost: $5.00 (estimate) for organic, fresh raspberries and dark chocolate

Simple is better. A shout out to Robyn Stone's recipe for chocolate filled fresh raspberries (found on her Add A Pinch website).

This is an easy, fresh way to combine berries and chocolate. Even though finding fresh berries in December required a fairly extensive search, it was worth the drive to be able to create these flavorful little beauties.

Melt a little dark chocolate with a bit of coconut oil and either carefully spoon the melted chocolate* into individual berries, or put this chocolate a plastic bag and cut off a small corner to pipe warm chocolate into each berry. Chilling these for even a few minutes firms up the chocolate.

Philadelphia Cheesecake Cups

Kraft Heinz
Philadelphia Cheesecake Cups
(chocolate and raspberry)
Good
Weight: 3.25 oz. (92 g.) / 6.5 oz. (184 g.) in 1 package of 2 servings
Calories: 240 calories in 1 serving
Cost: $3.99 (estimate) for 1 package of 2 servings
Purchased from: Missing information

This off-the-shelf snack dessert package of Philadelphia "cheesecake cups" (contained two serving containers and) was made with a pocket of chocolate cream cheese and a pocket of raspberry sauce, and no artificial flavors or colors (thank you!).

A consumer can mix the chocolate and raspberry pockets or sides together as they wish. Just grab a spoon and eat.

Raspberry Yogurt with Dark Chocolate Shavings

Kite Hill 
Raspberry Artisan Almond Milk Yogurt (dairy free)
Weight: 5.3 oz. (150 g.) in 1 container + dark chocolate shavings
Calories: 150 calories in 1 container + dark chocolate shavings
Cost: $0.89 for 1 serving
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Kite Hill Raspberry Artisan Almond Milk Yogurt—distributed by Lyrical Foods, Inc. (Hayward, CA)—with dark chocolate shavings was the third small dessert for the day.

It's nice to have a non-dairy yogurt alternative that can be eaten plain or incorporated into some dessert like this. The texture was smooth and velvety. The raspberry flavor was authentic and the yogurt had a very faint plant/nut taste at the end.

And dark chocolate shavings seem to be right at home with any yogurt, or ice cream.

*Note: An 80% cocoa dark chocolate single origin bar, and a Tart Raspberries + Dark Chocolate 72% Cocoa bar (featured earlier version of this site) from Endangered Species (Indianapolis, IN) were also used to make these desserts.

Moondarra - Chocolate and Hazelnut Cream Cheese - March 19, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Moondarra Cheese Pty Ltd
Chocolate and Hazelnut - Australian Cream Cheese
Good ++
Weight: 4.2 oz. (120 g.) in total package
Calories: 440 calories in 1 package
Cost: $4.99 for 1 package
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #5 of Chocolate Surprise Week.

Sometimes chocolate and cheese can pair surprisingly well.
Today's Chocolate and Hazelnut Australian Cream Cheese offering from Moondarra Cheese Pty Ltd (Dandenong, Australia) was deliciously unique. (Moondarra produces a variety of flavored cream cheeses.)

This creamy and well balanced cream cheese was spreadable -- just sweet enough, not too sweet -- making it suitable for a variety of uses: dessert plate fare, tea sandwiches, as a toast spread, or just for eating by itself. The incorporation of small bits of chocolate and hazelnut yielded subtle chocolate flavor highlights and nut texture and flavor.

*Moondarra is an indigenous Koori word for a region in Gippsland, Australia, known for dairy products. 

Snack Delights - August 23, 2013

Chocolate of the Day: 

Philadelphia (Kraft)
Snack Delights
Milk Chocolate - Good
Weight: 2 Tablespoon serving / 8 oz. (226 g.) total container
Calories: 110 calories in 2 Tablespoon serving
Cost: $3.29 for total container
Purchased from: Safeway, Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #2 of Chocolate and Cheese Theme Week. Several of the chocolates selected for this theme week were related to cream cheese. Of all the cheeses, this one may blend the most naturally with chocolate -- whether in cheesecakes, cheesecake brownies, refrigerated pies, parfaits, spreads or other desserts.

Philadelphia is a well-known cream cheese brand in the U.S. Part of Kraft Foods (Northfield, IL), the Philadelphia brand has been extended to include several flavored cream cheese spreads over the years. Today's "Snack Delights" cream cheese spreads were packaged in small recloseable plastic tubs and could be used as dips as well.

Today's two flavors I sampled, Milk Chocolate and Cinnamon*, were also sweet enough to serve as cream cheese frosting for cakes, banana bread, or cupcakes. This could be wonderful news, or not, depending on your preference for sugar.

I assembled a fruit, nut and snack plate (strawberries, blueberries, almonds, gluten free pretzels and gingerbread cookies) to eat with these spreads. I enjoyed the white chocolate cinnamon spread as much as the milk chocolate cream cheese with these snack items.

*Note: I do not normally "count" or feature white chocolate items on ChocolateBanquet.com; however, the cinnamon white chocolate cream cheese did pair nicely with the snacks and with its milk chocolate sibling.

ChocolateBet: February 27, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:
1 serving
Vermeer Dutch Chocolate Cream
(+ Rum + Milk + Coffee Liqueur)
Good +
Weight: 3 oz. (estimate)
Calories: 180 calories
Cost: $3.00 (estimated cost for all ingredients)
Purchased from: BevMo, in Mountain View, CA + Safeway, Palo Alto

A famous Dutch girl from a Vermeer painting escapes and vacations in the Caribbean. That is the story behind today's chocolate (drink) of the day. Well, I imagined she won the lottery in Holland and sailed for the New World. And if she did so, she might have invented a drink with milk or cream, chocolate, coffee and rum.

Today was Day #7 of Chocolate and Rum/Spirits Theme Week.

ChocolateBet: February 3, 2011

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

1 cupcake
Pamela's Products Inc.
Chocolate Cake Mix (gluten-free)
(plus cream cheese, eggs, other ingredients for Chocolate Surprise Cupcakes)
Good +
Weight: 4 oz. (113 g.) (estimate) for 1 cupcake
Calories: 300 calories (estimate)
Cost: $N/A - used mostly pre-existing ingredients
Purchased from: N/A

I found a recipe for Chocolate Surprise Cupcakes -- also known as Black Bottom Cupcakes. I say I found this recipe...I tried to follow this recipe to the best of my ability. However, I am unable to follow recipes without veering off-course, or making adds or changes.

Since baking is a science that requires rigor and precision, I started with Pamela's (wheat-free, gluten-free and dairy-free) Chocolate Cake Mix as a base for these Chocolate Surprise cupcakes. This was a wise move. I then proceeded to un-non-dairy this mix, by swirling a cream cheese-based ribbon of ingredients through it.

And, guilding the lilly, I carefully pressed a Sweet Earth Chocolates Classic Truffle into the top of the still warm cupcake before eating it. Double surprise.

Today was Day #6 of Chocolate (and) Surprise Theme Week. 

ChocolateBet: April 9, 2008

Chocolate of the Day:

1 serving
Kraft Philadelphia
Ready-to-eat Cheesecake Filling (Chocolate Dream)
OK+ - Good; very convenient - just spoon into a crust and eat; however, it doesn't quite have the flavor of a home-baked from scratch version. Trade-offs.
Wt: 86 grams in 1 srvg; 24.3 oz. (1 lb. 8.3 oz. (688 g) total container
Calories: 270 calories in 1 serving
Cost: $5.49 for a whole container
Purchased from: Safeway, in Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate Cheese week on my blog. Today, I had a few spoonfuls of chocolate cheesecake - the filling and not the crust (as I can't have wheat).