ChocolateBet: January 3, 2012

Chocolate of the Day: 

Dilettante Chocolates
Solid Chocolate Salmon
OK
Weight: .5 oz. (14.1 g.), 1 bite /12 oz. (340 g.) total fish
Calories: 75 calories (estimate)
Cost: N/A - Christmas gift
Purchased from: N/A - Christmas gift - thank you Megan!

All chocolate dinners? They're easier to put together than you think.

Take salmon, a milk chocolate one from Dilettante Chocolates (Kent, WA) for example. It's important to start with fresh fish, and to complement your main dish with a few good side dishes, like corn (popped and drizzled with chocolate), and salad (not pictured - with blood oranges and cocoa nibs). And dessert -- in the form of a chocolate gingerbread molasses cake (to be featured in the future).

May all your chocolate dinners be as fun as this one.

ChocolateBet: January 2, 2012

 

Chocolate of the Day: 

Dreyer's (Edy's East of the Rockies)
Touchdown Sundae frozen dessert
Good +
Weight: 1/2 cup (65 g.) / 1.5 Quarts (1.41 L) in total container
Calories: 140 calories
Cost: $5.29 total container
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, in Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #9 of Chocolate + Coconut + Caramel Theme Week. So many possibilities, so little time. Some chocolate and caramel ice creams also have coconut oil in small amounts. Today's Dreyer's Touchdown Sundae frozen dessert was such an offering. Little chocolate footballs filled with caramel in a vanilla ice cream base with a fudge swirl.

I don't follow football that closely, but it was bowl game season, and today was the Rose Bowl game (Oregon vs. Wisconsin). I was at work, but I caught the re-cap on the evening news (Oregon won). I did enjoy those little caramel-filled pigskins (footballs), and sipping a cup of "mutt mix" hot chocolate (made with chocolate leftovers + coconut creme).

ChocolateBet: January 1, 2012

Chocolate of the Day:

Mink Chocolates
"Of Course Siam"bar
Good+ - Very Good
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.)/1.76 oz. (50 g.) total bar
Calories: 132 calories
Cost: $7.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Mink Chocolates, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Happy New Year to all, and I hope you all enjoy pursuing your passion in 2012, whatever it may be.

I had plans to mix a coconut-themed bar and a caramelized pecan in maple syrup bar for Day #8 of Chocolate + Coconut + Caramel week. Both bars were from Mink Chocolates of Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada).

The first bar -- the cleverly named "Of Course Siam" dark (70% cacao), with a passion fruit puree and thai coconut milk ganache, tasted perfectly fine, even after a few months in the chocolate vault. The passion fruit was very subtle and blended well with a light coconut flavored filling.

Unfortunately, the second ("Greetings from Canada: Wish you were here" milk chocolate) bar was no longer fresh enough to evaluate. I should have refrigerated it for the last few months. I look forward to trying it in the future.

The Caramel portion of today's theme week was provided by a cup of hot Creme Caramel decaf tea from Stash Tea (Portland, OR), with milk and coconut cream.

ChocolateBet: December 31, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:

Talenti
1.) Caribbean Coconut Gelato
Good - Good +
Weight: 1/2 cup
Calories: 190 calories
Cost: $6.49 total container
Purchased: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

2.) 1/3 cup Belgian Milk Chocolate Gelato
Good + - Very Good
Weight: 1/2 cup
Calories: 220 calories
Cost: $6.49 total container
Purchased: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Stonewall Kitchen
Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel
Good
Weight: 2 Tb. (30 g.) / 12.5 oz. (354 g.) total glass jar
Calories: 120 calories
Cost: $n/a
Purchased: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Today I made an ice cream sundae worthy of Chocolate + Coconut + Caramel Theme Week.
It was easy to imagine I was on a sunny, tropical beach somewhere, getting ready to make a toast to the New Year.

I used two different kinds of Talenti Gelato for this dessert. The Talenti Caribbean Coconut Gelato was quite good, but lacked the incredibly smooth and creamy consistency of the Talenti Belgian Milk Chocolate Gelato, due to the very finely ground coconut, and slightly lower fat content. (Note: Talenti also makes a Sea Salt Caramel gelato, but I couldn't locate this one in time for today, Day #7 of Chocolate + Coconut + Caramel Theme Week.

This gelato was fine by itself. However, I decided to guild the lilly by topping these two flavors with some Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel Sauce from Stonewall Kitchen. I think a sprinkling of lightly browned toffee coconut and nut bits on the side might have been a better choice.

The Stonewall Kitchen chocolate caramel sauce would be good with vanilla ice cream with sliced fresh banana and chopped nuts.

Happy last day of the year (2011) to all.

ChocolateBet: December 30, 2011

Chocolates of the Day:

2 pieces
Russell Stover Candies, Inc.
1.) Coconut - Dark Chocolate - Good - Good +
2.) Caramel - Milk Chocolate - Good
Weight: .5 oz. + .434 oz. = .934 oz. (26.6 g.) for 2 pieces
Calories: 126.6 calories in 2 pieces
Cost: $9.99 total bag/package for 4 different chocolates
Purchased from: Walgreens, in Palo Alto, CA

Are you all sick of reading about chocolates yet? I hope not, because this past week, I passed the "I've-eaten-more-than-1,900 different-chocolates" mark (over a period of more than five years). When I started this chocolate adventure, I thought I'd run out of chocolates to try. However, there is almost no chance of that happening. So, join me as I carry on this daily practice into 2012.

On to today's chocolates: two, individually wrapped pieces from a large, Russell Stover (based in Kansas City, Missouri) assortment bag that contained four different flavors. I chose the Coconut and Caramel pieces -- because this is Day #6 of Chocolate + Coconut + Caramel Theme Week. Of the two, I preferred the Coconut covered in dark chocolate; however, eating both pieces together seemed to improve the flavor of both.

Russell Stover is (according to their website) the largest manufacturer of boxed chocolates in North America. Russell Stover and his wife Clara first cooked up small batches of chocolates in their Denver, CO, bungalow in the 1920s; the company has evolved significantly since then. I've found the quality of Russell Stover chocolates to be fairly consistent over time. This may or may not be because of preservatives, or rapid turn-over on store shelves (resulting in fresher chocolates). As companies grow this big, I'm guessing they have all their production and delivery processes down to a science. According to a Funding Universe article (from more than 10 years ago), Russell Stover maintained their own line of refrigerated delivery trucks, to help ensure freshness.

ChocolateBet: December 29, 2011

Chocolates of the Day:

1.) 1 serving
Trader Joe's
Golden Caramel Swirl in French Vanilla & Chocolate Ice Cream (Super Premium)
Good + - Very Good
Weight: 1/2 cup (100 g.) / 1 Quart (946 mL)

Calories: 260 calories
Cost: $4.49 total container
Purchased from: Trader Joe's, Mountain View, CA

I'll kick off today's entry with a random observation: It's impossible to do a Chocolate + Coconut + Caramel Theme Week without thinking about German chocolate cake frosting. If it didn't already exist as a wonderful complement to chocolate cake, then someone would have to invent it.

What do you call chocolate + vanilla + caramel + ice cream? I'd call it a great start. Now, to make this Trader Joe's  Golden Caramel Swirl ice cream an official entry for Day #5 of Chocolate + Coconut + Caramel Theme Week, I sauteed some chopped pecans with coconut shreds in a tiny pan. The result: a great German chocolate topping for ice cream. Unfortunately, my sloppy pan-to-dish presentation and this photo don't do this dessert justice.

2.) 1 piece
Russell Stover
Coconut Wreath
Good +
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.)
Calories: 140 calories
Cost: $0.50 for 1 wreath
Purchased from: Walgreens, Palo Alto, CA

To amp up the crunchy coconut quotient today, I also enjoyed this Russell Stover Coconut Wreath. Russell Stover has been cranking out chocolates since the early 1920s; and the company's chocolatiers have been experimenting with chocolate, coconut and caramel for quite some time. For a brief moment I felt like I was eating a round, upscale coconut version of a Nestle Crunch bar. This wreath also went well with the above Trader Joe's caramel ice cream.

ChocolateBet: December 28, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:

1 ice cream bar
Magnum
Double Caramel Ice Cream Bar
Good+
Weight: 3.38 fl. oz. (100 mL) in 1 bar / 10.14 fl. oz. (300 mL) package of 3 bars
Calories: 320 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $5.49 total box of 3
Purchased from: Walgreens, Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #4 of Chocolate, Coconut and Caramel Theme Week.

Magnum Double Caramel bars (from Unilever) looked good. I'd seen the ads. They also fulfilled all the requirements for this week's theme week; they contained chocolate, caramel and coconut (oil). The description on the box read: "Vanilla Bean Ice Cream Dipped in a Chocolatey Coating, Caramel Sauce and Belgian Milk Chocolate."

I hesitated when I saw the word "chocolatey," but these bars were a hearty, well balanced blend of creamy vanilla ice cream, sweet caramel sauce, a Belgian milk chocolate layer, and a thick, smooth chocolatey shell (that contained the coconut oil). So, there was more than enough cacao in this bar to be satisfying. You may, however, want to eat this over a plate/sink as you take bites and the shell fractures.