ChocolateBet: December 16, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:
2 pieces
Tootsie Roll Industries
Candy Cane Tootsie Pop Drops
Good - Good+
Weight: .3 oz. (8.5 g.)/ 3.5 oz. (99 g.) total box
Calories: 30 calories for 2 pieces
Cost: $1.00
Purchased from: Target, Mountain View, CA

There's nothing like the fresh taste of peppermint candy canes to usher in the Christmas holidays. Today was Day #1 of Chocolate and Peppermint Candy Cane Theme Week.

This year store shelves seemed to brim over with peppermint and chocolate candy options. Tootsie Roll Industries (Chicaco, IL) is famous for their individually wrapped chewy chocolates, and for Tootsie Pop suckers with the chewable chocolate center inside a hard, bite-able candy globe on a stick.

Today's Peppermint flavored, white and red-striped, Tootsie Pop Drops contained a "Chewie Tootsie Roll Center." These candy drops were more about the peppermint than the chocolate, but it was a fun to try a new variation on a traditional candy. And, as with the Tootsie Pop suckers, good luck trying to patiently suck down to the chocolate center, without wanting to bite them open right away. ("How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?" asked the cartoon wise owl on the old Tootsie TV commercials..."One...two...three...(crunch!)"

ChocolateBet: December 15, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:
1 oz.
Rick's Rather Rich Ice Cream and Fudge
Chocolate Walnut Fudge
Good +
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 grams)
Calories: 150 calories (estimate)
Cost: $5.95 for total box of fudge
Purchased from: Rick's Rather Rich Ice Cream and Fudge, Palo Alto, CA

Today was the last day (Day #7) of Chocolate and Rocky Road Theme Week. I started with some Rick's Rather Rich Chocolate Walnut Fudge -- packed in its own box, with small white plastic knife included. And thought I might build my own rocky road dish, with the fudge as a starting point. Chocolate. Walnuts. All I needed was a marshmallow.

I tried topping the fudge with a strawberry-filled (Hello Kitty) strawberry-filled marshmallow. This didn't work, although it might have, had the strawberry flavor been a bit more authentic. (I forgot I still had a few alpine strawberries in my yard.)

I'd read that rocky road desserts in other parts of the world incorporate chocolate, nuts and marshmallows -- and also cherries, or strawberry sauce. That information (correct or not) was enough to send me off into a creative frenzy of experimenting with variations on this theme.

My conclusion: Rick's Rather Rich Chocolate Walnut Fudge was good all by itself, but it can also be part of a larger dessert tray, or other combination.

I went about messing with left-over rocky road ice cream with strawberry jello and sweetened cherries and whipped cream. It seemed to cry out for a dash of cinnamon on top, and indeed it was better that way. The trick with these mad scientist experiments -- don't take it too far. So, I quit while I was ahead, and ate the whole mess.

ChocolateBet: December 14, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:

1 serving
Walgreen Co.
Rocky Road ice cream
Good +
Weight: 1/2 cup, 118 mL (66 g.) / 1 Pint total container
Calories: 150
Cost: $1.69
Purchased from: Walgreens, Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #6 of Chocolate and Rocky Road Theme Week, and the price was right for this pint of Walgreens Rocky Road Premium ice cream with mini marshmallows and almonds (similar to Dreyer's Rocky Road recipe I'm guessing). The cost of today's Rocky Road sundae was only about 42 cents -- a good value for rocky economic times, and much less than I have been spending lately on other entries. This reminds me of childhood days when we would ride bicycles to corner grocery stores for ice cream that cost ten cents a scoop. Gone are those days, but the chocolate memories live on. 

ChocolateBet: December 13, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:

1/2 cup serving
Clover-Stornetta Farms, Inc.
Rocky Road ice cream
Good + - Very Good
Weight: 1/2 cup (67 g.) (estimate)/ 48 oz. (1.42 L)
Calories: 170 calories in 1/2 cup
Cost: $5.99 total container
Purchased from: Piazzas Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #5 of Chocolate and Rocky Road Theme Week. The sun is out today, making ice cream a more desirable chocolate choice once again, given that it is fall/winter season.

Clover-Stornetta Farms (Petaluma, CA) is located in the open spaces north of San Francisco, where there are still some stands of trees, and large fields for dairy cows to roam and munch on green grass. I've always enjoyed driving through this area of rolling hills, pasturelands and farms. Maybe those fond memories make the ice cream taste better too.

ChocolateBet: December 12, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:

1 slice/piece
See's Candies
Rocky Road
Good +
Weight: 3 oz. (85 g.) (estimate)
Calories: 450 calories (estimate)
Cost: $3.80 for 1 large slice
Purchased from: See's Candies, Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #4 of Chocolate and Rocky Road Theme Week.

Before there was Rocky Road ice cream -- aptly named after the Stock Market crash and Great Depression of 1929 -- there was Rocky Road-like desserts. See's Candies (based in South San Francisco, CA) sells hearty slices of Rocky Road candy, loaded with large marshmallows, walnuts, and milk chocolate of course. While still quite sweet, it was a bit fresher and lighter tasting than fudge.

ChocolateBet: December 11, 2011

Chocolate of the Day: 

1 Small Cup
Rick's Rather Rich Ice Cream
Rocky Road ice cream
Very Good
Weight: 2/3 cup (estimate)
Calories: 350 calories (guess)
Cost: $3.85 for Small Cup
Purchased from: Rick's Rather Rich Ice Cream, Palo Alto, CA

It was Day #3 of Chocolate and Rocky Road Theme Week today.

I elected to pursue a theme week packed with cold ice cream entries during a week with somewhat frosty weather. But, evening temperatures rarely dip below 40 degrees (F) for too long where I live. And, I was looking forward to sampling the Rocky Road ice cream at the local ice cream shop -- Rick's Rather Rich Ice Cream (Palo Alto, CA).

I sat down at Rick's to enjoy a Small cup of their Rocky Road (made with toasted almonds instead of walnuts), and I wasn't disappointed. Play it again Sam.

ChocolateBet: December 10, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:

1/3 cup
Dreyer's
Rocky Road
Weight: 1/3 cup (44 g.) / 1.5 Quarts (1.41 Liters)
Calories: 80 calories (estim.)
Cost: $3.99 (sale)
Purchased from: CVS Pharmacy, in Mountain View, CA

To continue from yesterday's post, there were two companies who created Rocky Road ice cream about the same time during the Great Depression in the U.S. (1929 - post-Stock Market crash). Both companies (Fentons Creamery, and Dreyer's/Edy's*) were/are based in Oakland, CA -- across the Bay from San Francisco. Then, as now, chocolate and good food and drink help boost spirits during rocky financial times.

Dreyer's Rocky Road recipe includes chocolate ice cream, miniature marshmallows and toasted almonds. (Fenton's uses walnuts.) Dreyer's also offers soft lower fat/lower calorie versions of their ice cream -- such as today's Slow Churned Light Rocky Road ice cream -- with approximately "1/2 the fat, and 1/3 the calories as regular ice cream." I like chocolate and nut flavors, and thought the toasted almonds that I did taste worked very nicely.

Today was Day #2 of Chocolate and Rocky Road Theme Week.

*Note: Dreyer's is now owned by Nestle.