ChocolateBet: March 6, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:
2 cookies
Lemon Poppy Seed Chocolate Chip Cookies (gluten free, homemade)
Very Good
Calories: 300 calories (estimate) in 2 cookies

1.) General Mills - Betty Crocker Yellow Gluten-Free Cake Mix
Very Good
Weight: 15 oz. (425 g.) total package
Cost: $4.79 total box of Cake Mix
Purchased from: Draeger's in San Mateo, CA

2.) Safeway - Real Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Very Good
Weight: 12 oz. (340 g.) total package
Cost: $2.99 in total package (sale price)
Purchased from: Safeway The Market, in downtown San Jose, CA

Today (Sunday, and also Day #6 of Chocolate and Gluten Free Cookie Theme Week), I improvised a recipe for some gluten-free Lemon/Limoncello Poppy Seed Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I started with General Mills Betty Crocker Yellow Gluten Free Cake Mix. Instead of eggs*, I added lemon curd, Limoncello, poppy seeds, Safeway semi-sweet chocolate chips, and lemon infused olive oil. After experimenting with four different batches, I found a thin, crisp, browned version that worked. Not too dark, and not too light. (I'm no fool; I'm not showing you the quasi-burned ones.) It was hard to take a close-up shot of a fresh, hot cookie on a spatula without fogging up the camera lens; my best cookie cam shot is pictured at right.

I like lemon mixed with dark chocolate. So, I added three lemon-y ingredients to these cookies. However, much of the lemon flavor dissipated in the cooking process. I'll try adding finely ground lemon peel next time.

*General Mills also makes a Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie mix. No egg improv necessary.

ChocolateBet: March 5, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:
several cookie sandwiches made with...
Cherrybrook Kitchen
Chocolate Frosting Mix
Very Good
Weight: 4 oz. (guess) cookies /10.5 oz. (298 g.) total box of dry mix
Calories: no idea (400 maybe?)
Cost: $5.00 (estimate)
Purchased from: Safeway (The Market), downtown San Jose, CA

Today's new chocolate came in the form of a chocolate frosting mix. I added lots of butter to this gluten-free (and peanut free, dairy free, egg-free and nut free) mix, and voila! chocolate filling for cookie sandwiches.

Several minutes later, I looked down at the thundering herd of chocolate filled Midel gluten free animal cookie sandwiches that I had made; and it was good. I decided to eat one of each animal. Lion, bear, goat, buffalo, elephant, camel, fox, hippo. One by one, they were culled from the herd.

There was plenty of frosting left over from this evening's animal cookie assemblage, plenty to enjoy with other cookie items. Do chocolate rice cake sandwiches with chocolate filling count as cookies?

Today was Day #5 of Chocolate and Gluten-Free Cookie Theme Week.

ChocolateBet: March 4, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:

3 cookies
Andean Dream, LLC
Quinoa Cookies - Chocolate Chip
Very Good - Very Good +
Weight: 1.59 oz. (45 g.) / 7 oz. (198 g.) total package of cookies
Calories: 210 calories in 3 cookies
Cost: $ (lost info)
Purchased from: (lost info)

Today was Day #4 of Chocolate and Gluten-free Cookie Theme Week. I loved these relatively small, individually-wrapped Quinoa Cookies. Nice packaging for snacks on the go. These gluten-free, vegan cookies weren't overly sweet, and they were pleasantly crunchy and healthy-tasting.

ChocolateBet: March 3, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:
1 cookie
Give and Go Prepared Foods Corp.
Original Two-Bite Red Velvet Macaroons
Good + - Very Good
Weight: .53 oz. (15 g.) in 1 cookie/ 10.5 oz. (300 g.) total container
Calories: 65 calories (estimate)
Cost: $4.99 total container
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, in Palo Alto, CA


Not just coconut and chocolate macaroons, but red velvet macaroons. What does that mean exactly? Well, it means a cake (or in this case cookie) that is reddish brown in color, generally with some kind of white icing. (Red food coloring or beets are often used to amp up the red color.)

Today was Day #3 of Chocolate and Gluten-Free Cookie Theme Week. The cookies this week may or may not be 100% technically gluten-free, but they are pretty darn close. That is, I've looked for cookies with are no obvious wheat/gluten ingredients.

ChocolateBet: March 2, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:
1 cookie
Edna's
Fudge Cookies!
Very Good - Very Good +
Weight: 1.33 oz. (37.7 g.) (estimate) in 1 cookie/ 8 oz. (226 g.) total package
Calories: 150 calories (guesstimate)
Cost: $6.99 for approximately 6 cookies
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, in Palo Alto, CA

Rich, sweet chocolate fudge cookies. Nice texture...Wait a minute. I had to double check the label to make sure these were gluten-free. Hurray, yes they were. Even better, since I can't have wheat or gluten. And, perfect chocolate choice for today -- Day #2 of Chocolate and Gluten-Free Cookie Theme Week.

Postscript:
I'm adding Edna's Pecan Crisps Cookies to this post. 
Technically these shortbread-style, gluten free cookies don't have chocolate in them, but they're great with blueberries or peaches (or both), and the lack of chocolate problem is easily remedied -- with the addition of a little chocolate ice cream or chocolate shavings and whipped cream.

ChocolateBet: March 1, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:
3 macarons
Cookie Momster
Mint with chocolate filling
Very Good
Weight: 2 oz. (56 g.) total package of 3
Calories: 150 calories
Cost: $3.49
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, in Palo Alto, CA

Wheee! Sugar rush. Maybe I shouldn't have eaten all three Paris Wheel French Macarons from Cookie Momster. But, they were good. I enjoyed the mint macarons with fudgey chocolate filling down to the last pink and green crumbs.

Oh yes, there was also an orange macaron with vanilla filling -- poor thing; no chocolate, no respect.

These macarons were airy but sweetly substantial creations made from almonds, sugar, egg whites, dark chocolate, cream, butter, orange peel, mint and other natural flavorings. The bright, festive colors were achieved with a little help from artificial coloring.

There was no evil wheat/gluten in these. I say "evil" because I can't have wheat, and this limits my chocolate universe by several thousand items. However, I would like to make the point that, after eating 1,600+ different (almost all wheat-free) chocolates in the past 4 1/2 years, this gluten prohibition has not exactly left me deprived.

And to prove this point, today was Day #1 of Chocolate and Gluten-Free Cookie Theme Week.

ChocolateBet: February 28, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:
2 pieces
Tropical Chocolate Company
1.) Zinfandel - Good + - Very Good
2.) Paradise Pear - Good
Weight: .89 oz. (25 g.) (estimate for 2 pieces)
Calories: 133 calories (estimate)
Cost: $N/A - gift (thank you to Ardis, Alec)
Purchased from: N/A (from Tropical Chocolate, San Luis Obispo, CA)

No goofy theme weeks today. Tropical Chocolate's Zinfandel chocolate -- made from Paso Robles Zinfandel wine in a 65% dark chocolate ganache -- was flavorful and interesting. I was looking forward to trying the teardrop-shaped Paradise Pear chocolate (pear and goat cheese in dark chocolate), but I think I waited too long. Instead of pear, this second chocolate tasted a bit more like banana. The next time I visit San Luis Obispo in the Central California Coast region, I look forward to trying other Tropical Chocolate flavors.