ChocolateBet: October 24, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:
2 cupcakes
General Mills
Betty Crocker Gluten Free Cake Mix - Devil's Food
Very Good
Weight: ~ 4.6 oz. (130 grams) 2 cupcakes/15 oz. (425 g.) in total box of dry mix
Calories: 433 calories for 2 cupcakes
Cost: $3.79 for 1 box of mix
Purchased from: Safeway, in Palo Alto, CA

Cupcakes have enjoyed a surge in popularity in recent years. However, not being able to eat wheat/gluten reduced me to a mere observer, my nose figuratively pressed against the glass at most cupcake outlets. One kind friend took me to Kara's Cupcakes recently, and scraped off some of her frosting for me to try. So, I was happy to discover that Betty Crocker (that sweet, fictional 88-year old year old*), began offering gluten free cake mixes this year.

Eating warm chocolate cake right out of the oven is lovely. I did that last night during a "test run," when I used this Betty Crocker gluten free mix to bake Devil's Food cupcakes. I cooked some in a conventional oven and some in a microwave oven. (They were both good.) Today, I had two of the latter, unfrosted, for breakfast. And while I did suffer from a few moments of temporary, dessert-induced brain fuzz a bit later, it was worth it.

*Better Crocker was invented in 1921 by home economist Marjorie Child Husted at Washburn, Crosby Co. (producer of Gold Medal flour), shortly before a merger that resulted in a new company, General Mills.

ChocolateBet: October 23, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

1 bar
Garden Island Chocolate Co.
Kauai Chocolate Coconut Milk bar
Good + - Very Good
Weight: 2 oz. (56.6 calories) in 1 bar
Calories: ~ 300 calories (estimate)
Cost: $0 (gift from Alec)
Purchased from: N/A

The coconut milk flavor in this bar was very authentic. I ate this bar with a handful of toasted almonds and the two paired nicely.

The tagline printed on this organic chocolate bar wrapper invites the customer to "Taste the Aloha." Yes, I would be happy to support local Kauai local agriculture and community, thank you. Garden Island Chocolate Co. is fortunate to be able to work with a cooperative of farmers, involved in raising and propagating their own cacao trees. And "all processing of the chocolate (including stone-grinding of cacao in a melanger) from the bean to the finished bar is done on Kauai."

Thank you to Alec who brought a few of these Kauai Chocolate bars back from a recent trip to Hawaii. 

ChocolateBet: October 22, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

1 package, 2 cups
Reese's (H.B. Reese Candy Co./The Hershey Company)
Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
Very Good
Weight: 1.5 oz. (42 grams) in package of 2 cups
Calories: 210 calories
Cost: $0.69 (sale price)
Purchased from: Walgreens, in midtown Palo Alto, CA

Hershey's has gone over to the dark side with these new Reese's peanut butter cups. I have always liked the regular milk chocolate variety. I figured: I like dark chocolate better than milk chocolate, so it stands to reason that I would like the dark version of these peanut butter cups better than the originals. However, I think I liked these equally well. Odd to think how much of the taste of something can come from nostalgia.

ChocolateBet: October 21, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

1 bar
Garden Island Chocolate Co.
Kauai Chocolate Macadamia Nut and Coconut bar
Very Good
Weight: 2 oz. (57 grams)
Calories: ~ 300 calories (estimate)
Cost: $0 (gift - Thank you Alec!)
Purchased from: N/A

Well, I couldn't make it to Kauai this year, but Alec made a quick trip there and brought back two Garden Island chocolate bars.

Today's (organic) dark chocolate (80% cacao) bar was made with local, organic Hawaiian cacao, macadamia nuts, sugar and vanilla beans. How great to live in the one U.S. state where it's possible to grow cacao fruit.

ChocolateBet: October 20, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

2 small squares
TCHO
Dark Chocolate "Citrus" squares
Weight: 2 squares = .36 oz. (10 g.)
Calories: ~ 54 cals. for 2 squares (estim.)
Cost: $0
Purchased from: N/A

To help clarify complex language used to describe high-end (mostly dark) chocolate products, TCHO began affixing simpler descriptions to their chocolate: e.g. fruity, nutty, chocolatey, and citrus.

Today I tried two small "Citrus" squares with dark chocolate (70%) made from (organic) beans from Madagascar. I detected a very mild citrus flavor after slowly eating the second square. I didn't do a side-by-side tasting of all four TCHO flavors, but perhaps I will in the future.

ChocolateBet: October 19, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

2 small squares
TCHO
Dark Chocolate "Chocolatey" squares
Very Good - Very Good +
Weight: 2 squares = .36 oz. (10 g.)
Calories: 54 calories (estimate) for 2 small squares
Cost: $0
Purchased from: N/A, from gallery opening last weekend in San Francisco, CA

TCHO dark chocolate squares are made with cacao beans from Ghana (70% cacao). And, as advertised, they had a nice, rich (earthy, almost mocha) chocolatey taste. TCHO is a Bay Area-based chocolate manufacturing company, located on the waterfront (Pier 17) in San Francisco, CA.

ChocolateBet: October 18, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:
1 truffle
Chubby Chipmunk Hand-Dipped Chocolates
Moose - Milk Truffle
Very Good
Weight: 1.48 oz. (42 g)/~9.9 oz. (290 g.) in total 7-pc. tin
Calories: ~222 calories in 1.48 oz. truffle
Cost: ~$5.14 for 1 truffle (includes shipping, etc.)/~$36.00 for total order
Purchased from: Chubby Chipmunk Hand-Dipped Chocolates, in Deadwood, South Dakota

Five dollars sounds like a lot for one truffle; however, that included shipping and handling and all costs. And it was a heck of a lot cheaper than flying there to pick one up. I'd still like to see North and South Dakota one day. But, for now, I'm happy to enjoy a large Chubby Chipmunk Moose truffle, topped with chocolate sprinkles, from Deadwood, South Dakota.