Pie in the Sky - Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake - Dec. 13, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Pie in the Sky, LLC
Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake
Good - Good +
Weight: 4.9 oz. (137 g.) in 1 package
Calories: 500 calories in 1 package
Cost: $1.99 (estimate) for 1 package
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Coconut Theme Week.

Today's Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake was from Pie in the Sky, LLC (Longmont, CO).

This chocolate cheesecake had an authentic (gluten free) graham cracker-style crust and had a satisfying smooth, creamy cheesecake texture and flavor.

I enjoyed this dessert with a coconut beverage.

Blue Diamond - Dark Chocolate flavored Almonds and Toasted Coconut - Dec. 12, 2019

Chocolate of the Day:

Blue Diamond Growers
Almonds and Fruit - Dark Chocolate flavored Almonds and Toasted Coconut
Good +
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 5 oz. (142 g.) in total package
Calories: 160 calories in 1 serving
Cost: $6.49 for 1 package
Purchased from: Country Sun Natural Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and Coconut Theme Week.

Today's Almonds and Fruit Dark Chocolate flavored Almonds and Toasted Coconut were distributed by Blue Diamond Growers (Sacramento, CA).

Blue Diamond Growers, founded in 1910, is half-owned by California almond growers who, collectively, produce over eighty percent of the world's almond supply. That's a lot of almonds—and potential opportunities to blend these tasty tree nuts with chocolate.

These pleasing nutty whole almonds were coated with a sweet, thin layer of dark chocolate,  complemented by natural tasting toasted coconut strips.

This was an appealing blend of "whole" almond and nut/fruit flavors, that could be enjoyed by itself, or added to trail mix, ice cream or other snack or dessert items.

Eating Evolved - Dark Chocolate Coconut Butter Cups - Dec. 11, 2019

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Eating Evolved LLC
Dark Chocolate Coconut Butter Cups
Good - Good +
Weight: 1.5 oz. (42 g.) in 1 package of 2 cups
Calories: 260 calories in 1 package of 2 cups
Cost: $3.29 for 1 package
Purchased from: Whole Foods Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Coconut Theme Week.

Today's Coconut Cups were from Eating Evolved LLC (Setauket, NY). One package contained two cups, that were smooth and creamy dark chocolate with a slightly lighter, coconut layer or filling in the middle.

These Organic, vegan and paleo confections had an easy, creamy melt and texture and authentic flavors.

There were only five ingredients in this product: Organic coconut, cacao, coconut sugar, cacao butter and Himalayan sea salt. (No dairy, no soy, no cane sugar.)

The content and images on this site belong to ChocolateBanquet.com.

Little Secrets - Toasted Coconut Dark Chocolate Pieces - Dec. 10, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Little Secrets
Toasted Coconut Dark Chocolate Pieces
Good - Good +
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 5 oz. (142 g.) in total package
Calories: 150 calories in 1 serving (18 pieces)
Cost: $5.99 for 1 package
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Coconut Theme Week.

Today's Toasted Coconut Dark Chocolate Pieces were from Little Secrets, LLC (Boulder, CO).

These candy-coated yellow and green pieces were crunchy and creamy, and had authentic dark chocolate and coconut flavor. They were sweet, with a bit less sweetness (thank you) than traditional hard-shelled chocolate candies.

These Toasted Coconut Little Secrets were made with no artificial colors or flavors. (The colors were from "natural sources.")

Jennies Gluten Free Bakery - Double Chocolate Sea Salt Mararoons - Dec. 9, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Jennies Gluten Free Bakery
(manufactured by Red Mill Farms)
Double Chocolate Sea Salt Macaroons
Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 10 oz. (283 g.) in total container
Calories: 145 calories in 1 macaroon
Cost: $2.99 (estimate) for 1 container
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate and Coconut Theme Week.

Today's Jennies Double Chocolate Sea Salt Macaroons were manufactured by Red Mill Farms (Moosic, PA) for Jennies Gluten Free Bakery (Moosic, PA).

These classic, slightly chewy coconut and chocolate macaroons were embellished with a friendly dose of sea salt. The recipe seemed to be updated to address changing tastes in the past few years. The chocolate had a slightly richer flavor, there were no sulfites,* and these were certified gluten free, Non GMO, and made in a peanut-free facility.

These were substantial, sweet, and natural coconut and chocolate macaroons. One was enough to satisfy.

*Shredded coconut is often treated with sulfites to preserve color and freshness. However, some people do not tolerate sulfites, have respiratory symptoms after ingesting sulfites, or can be allergic to them. And these people would likely be happy to compromise a bit on the original color if they could find a sulfite-free product. (Frankly, with chocolate macaroons, you might not notice if "white" coconut shaded down a bit to a duller ivory color.

Arete - Coco Powder; Coconut Drinking Chocolate - Dec. 8, 2019

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Arete
Expeller Pressed Cocoa Powder
Good - Good +
Weight: 4 oz. (113 g.) (estimate) in 1/2 cup hot chocolate / 8.8 oz. (250 g.) in total package of ("dry") cocoa powder
Calories: 200 calories in 1 small cup serving
Cost: $ Missing information
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #1 of Chocolate and Coconut Theme Week.

To make a good hot chocolate or drinking chocolate, you need to start with high-quality ingredients, like rich, flavorful, authentic Expeller Pressed Cocoa Powder from Arete Artisan Fine Chocolate (Spencer, TN).

To this cocoa powder I added (dairy) milk, homemade coconut milk, coconut oil and spices and a hint of monkfruit (sweetener)—resulting in a very rich hot drinking chocolate which was cooked and stirred and then run through a sieve into a cup.

"Zombie" Chocolates, Sticky Wilson's Candy Shop, Palo Alto

Chocolates have been available in the San Francisco Bay Area for more than 150 years. It's always interesting to research ghosts of chocolates past in one's own neighborhood.


A century ago Wilson's Candy, initially located on the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, CA, opened its downtown Palo Alto store. An article in the December 2017 issue of the Stanford Illustrated Review talked about the new candy shop on University Avenue. Wilson's chocolates were described as superior, "College Educated Chocolates."


This and related information surfaced when I attended a talk at a local Palo Alto Historical Association meeting this evening.

Chocolates served at this event re-created a recipe for "Zombie" chocolates—sold by "Sticky" Wilson at his Palo Alto Candy Shop—including a coconut flavor. The truffle-shaped rounds were soft and chocolatey and rolled in flaked coconut.

Thank you to Nicole (and mom Kristen) and grandparents for bringing these historic chocolates back to life, and for explaining how they were made. The Coconut Zombie chocolate I tasted was great!

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.