A Dark and Delicious Gift for a Chocolate-Loving Mom

What is the BEST EVER gift that a chocolate-lover can receive on Mother's Day?  SOMA chocolate!  Last week, I received a surprise shipment of very fine chocolate from Toronto-based Soma Chocolatemaker.  I was delighted to find three dark chocolate bars and a box of truffles from one of Canada's finest chocolate makers.

I was excited about Soma's Green Tangerine chocolate bar - one of the best flavoured bars that I've tasted.  Also, Soma's 'Black Science' Trinidad chocolate bar and Madagascar chocolate bars were a perfect gift for me because I love to taste and compare the two origin chocolates. And Soma's 8 year Aged Balsamic Vinegar truffle and their Olive Oil truffle were also included in the box of filled chocolates, which are two of my favourites.

But mostly, I was excited to find a new chocolate bar that I have not yet tried of Soma's, a new blended bean bar called 'Abstract Chocolate Science'.  It has 82% cacao solids and a blend of beans sourced from four countries, plus large pieces of cacao beans from Madagascar were thrown in for some added crunch and cacao flavour.

This chocolate bar is intense, woody, smoky and also full of that disctinct flavour of Madagascar cacao. What's more, it does not have the bitterness that often comes with an 80-something percent chocolate - even a seventy-percent chocolate lover like me can appreciate it. I absolutely love it.

So next time you need a gift for that chocolate connoisseur in your life, check out Soma (www.somachocolate.com).  Their selection is vast and their flavours are excellent.  What's more, they make the chocolate directly from the bean in Canada!

Great Canadian Maple and Chocolate Combinations

We Canadians know our maple.  We have the maple leaf on our flag, our largest city has an NHL hockey team by the name, and Wikipedia calls it the "national symbol of Canada", claiming the maple tree was once called "the king of our forest" (ref).  So naturally, we consider the maple tree's syrup to be our national (and natural) sweetener. 

And since I am a chocolate lover who also happens to be Canadian, I feel it is my job to share information on all great chocolate bars with real Canadian maple. Today I have two kinds that I recently discovered, and of course they both come from the province of Quebec, which some may consider the maple capital our country.

Theobroma Chocolat makes organic chocolate in uniquely packaged 35 gram chocolate bars. I have tasted nearly every one of their fantastic flavours (raspberry - yum! banana, pineapple and more), but just a few days ago, I came across their 'Sweet Maple Butter' chocolate bar.  This bar offers about five or six breakable pieces of 60% dark chocolate with a small dollop of maple butter in the centre of each piece.  The shell is thick with dark chocolate and the sweetness of the maple butter comes as a surprise.  However, the amount of maple butter is just small enough to not be overpowering.  In fact, I think it is just the right amount to provide the full maple flavour without it being too sweet.

What I like about this chocolate is that there are only five ingredients (cocoa mass, cocoa butter, sugar cane, maple butter, and soy lecithin) which are natural and all organic, except for the soya lecithin.  There is no added vanilla and there are no artificial flavours or colours.

The other maple chocolate bar is made by Olivia Chocolat.  This bean-to-bar artisan chocolate maker has a selection of fine chocolate bars with maple, including "a touch of maple" chocolate bar and a touch of maple "with maple sugar flakes" chocolate bar.  Also, they recently launched a raw chocolate bar line which includes a very bitter 92% chocolate bar that is partially sweetened with maple sugar. I have tasted this one; it is thin and delicate, and offers a nice hint of maple flavour.  So if you can handle a very dark chocolate in the 90% range, I highly recommend Olivia's 92% Maple Raw chocolate bar (order here).

Both chocolate bars are Gluten-free.  Check out their websites for more information on these products:
www.theobromachocolat.com/
www.oliviachocolatiers.com

If you know of any great Canadian maple and chocolate combinations, feel free to add them to the Comments below!

Gluten-Free Crepe Recipe (with Chocolate!)

I love to experiment with grains.  The reason?  Well, when I look into my daughter's lunch box, all I see is wheat, wheat and more wheat, and I think, "no wonder there are so many gluten and wheat intolerance's". I truly think we have overdone it. 

Most people that I know who are in their 30s can compare and recall eating all the same snacks and lunches: Ritz crackers, cheese and crackers, peanut butter and jam sandwiches.  But nowadays, there are so many different kinds of snacks on the ever-expanding grocery store shelves, that our children will likely not be able to agree on which snack item was the most popular.  Even all the main brands of cookies and crackers now come in "minis" and are pre-packaged for lunches. 

In addition, our choices are now limited because we can no longer send anything with nuts in it to school (nor anything that "May contain" nuts); so wheat-based products are the easiest option. Also, no one is baking Rice Krispie squares anymore because nearly all the moms are working and have limited time to bake. I work from home and seem to constantly be cleaning, child-rearing or working and I have no time for baking wheat-free snacks except on the weekends.

So I like to change things up on the weekend, and give my kids a breakfast or lunch with non-wheat foods, just to ensure that they are not overdoing it with any one type of grain.

As a result, I have been converting a lot of crepe recipes to 'gluten-free'. Crepes can be made quickly and easily, and the lack of wheat is not noticed by my kids. The best one I found that converted easily to gluten-free was the Homemade Crepes recipe, which was in the Chatelaine Magazine this month (May 2013, Page 109).  The recipe called for all-purpose flour, so I modified the recipe and used a gluten-free flour mix. The results were perfect! The best part about this recipe, was that you could not taste the grittiness that often occurs with gluten-free flour blends because the recipe was rich with eggs and milk (so rich in protein, which is great for the kids!).

RECIPE: Gluten-Free Crepes - All Natural and Delicious!
(adapted from Chatelaine Magazine, May 2013 issue, www.chatelaine.com)

You need:

• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup milk (any percentage - I used skim once and homogenized another time)
• 1/2 cup Gluten-Free Flour Mix (I used a brand called "Purely Bulk", which also has Chia and Sprouted Flaxseed in it or you can use rice flour or spelt flour, which is non-gluten free but still non-wheat)
• 1 tbsp Grapeseed Oil, Canola Oil, or melted butter
• 1 tsp granulated sugar or agave syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla

Instructions:

1. Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat.

2. Whisk eggs in a medium or large bowl.  Add in the milk, gluten-free flour, oil, sugar and vanilla and whisk or blend with hand mixer until there are no lumps.

3. Pour 1/2 cup batter into the centre of the hot pan.  Immediately spread around into a circle with a spatula or lift the pan and tilt in a circle until you have the shape that you want.

4. Cook only about 30 seconds until edges are lifting from pan and flip.  Cook only another 30 seconds or so until crepe is golden. Transfer to a plate.

5. Once the crepes are all on the plate and somewhat cooled, spread a large circle of chocolate spread (see below for the kind I used) and add a strip of all-natural peanut butter down the centre.  Roll up.  Alternately, use a hazelnut spread like Nutella or PC brand (see below again for comparison of the two brands).

For the chocolate spread, I used President's Choice Dark Chocolate spread - they come in 400 gram jars and the ingredients are pretty natural with no 'modified' or 'hydrogenated' oils and real vanilla extract (no artificial flavour or colours!).  On top of the dark chocolate spread on some of the crepes, I added some MaraNatha No Stir Peanut Butter (this is not a paid plug for them, it is just my FAVOURITE peanut butter EVER and I eat it every day because it is all natural and partially organic and SO smooth). But another choice is the President's Choice Chocolate Hazelnut Spread.  Compared to Nutella, I prefer PC's product because it does not contain any 'modified' oils and it has real Bourbon vanilla. Nutella's ingredients include Modified Palm Oil and Vanillin, which is artificial flavouring. Again, this is not a paid endorsement for PC, my kids liked Nutella so I searched for a healthier solution and PC's Hazenut Spread came out on top with their ingredients.

And of coure, you can always just make this recipe with wheat (just replace the gluten-free flour above with all-purpose flour), and you can also make this a meal by filling the crepes with chicken, lettuce and veggies or an egg and cheese, or whatever you like!

You can contact me at ultimatechocolateblog@gmail.com if you have any questions about the recipe above or feel free to leave a comment below.

Using Cacao Nibs to Make Chocolate at Home

Whole cacao beans are not always easy for the average consumer to find.  And when you do find them, the beans need to be shelled, which is a messy process that may leave you vacuuming your kitchen for a week. So one way to make chocolate 'from the bean' in your own kitchen is to use cacao nibs.  These are considerably easy to find compared to whole beans, and the shells have been removed, so you will have less of a mess to clean up after you have made your home-made chocolate.

I have recently used three brands of cacao nibs that are readily available in stores (and online). Giddy Yoyo (Toronto), Camino and Organic Traditions.

Giddy Yoyo sells Wild Ecuadorian Heirloom Cacao in 454 gram (1 lb) bags, which is the largest package size that I have found in stores (at HomeSense). The flavour was mild and not too acidic. Giddy Yoyo also makes and sells raw chocolate and promotes a raw food lifestyle. I made chocolate from these raw cacao nibs once, then I roasted them to taste the flavour difference.  Truthfully, I preferred the roasted flavour of my homemade chocolate best (see below for roasting instructions).

Camino sells 100 gram bags of organic and Fair Trade cacao nibs that come from Peru. Also raw, these nibs were tangy and acidic and offered a lot of bold flavour to my homemade chocolate. Once roasted, they also made for a great snack 'as is', if you can get used to the flavour of unsweetened nibs. Camino is available in many stores across Canada, like Loblaws and Superstore and these nibs can also be purchased online. I bought three cases!

Organic Traditions offers nibs in 227 gram (1/2 lb) bags. Also a little acidic, these are probably the most widely available in Ontario; I have found them at both Independent Grocer and HomeSense.  With an unspecified origin, the packaging lists these nibs as organic. They are also raw.

I have seen nibs at American grocery stores in the health food section and I am sure that a health food store in your area would carry them.  Or you can purchase nibs in both small and large quantities from Nuts.com (1 lb, 5 lb and 20 lb bags).  They also sell peeled cacao beans, although they are more expensive and basically the same thing.  Also, Nuts.com sells a Criollo variety of unpeeled cacao beans.  While you are on their website, check out the cacao butter selection.  Cacao butter is not easy to find, but you may want to add some while making chocolate to 'grease' your mixing equipment.

Where else you can buy cacao nibs online? Navitas Naturals Online sells 4 oz, 8 oz and 16 oz bags. In Canada, Upaya Naturals sells a Sunfood brand online. For people on the other side of the world, Life Foods - a New Zealand website also sells cacao nibs.

Roasting Instructions for Cacao Nibs
To roast cacao nibs, pre-heat your oven to 300 F.  Spread the nibs out on a cookie sheet and bake for 12 to 15 minutes (check them at 12 minutes and stir to ensure that the smallest pieces are not burning).  Take them out of the oven when they start to smell like baked brownies.

Quick Recipe for Making Chocolate at Home from Cacao Nibs (62% dark chocolate):

1. Grind 4 oz of roasted (or raw if you prefer) cacao nibs in a small, single blade coffee grinder.  Pour into a bowl and set aside.
2. Grind 2 ounces of dry sugar crystals (coconut or cane sugar) in the same coffee grinder.  Add the scraping of one vanilla bean if you like and grind with the sugar. Add to the bowl with the cacao beans.
3. Pour the ground cacao beans, sugar and vanilla bean into a dry blender. Start to blend on high.  Let mix for a few minutes. 
4. Meanwhile, melt about a 1/2 ounce of cacao butter over a double boiler or in the microwave (for 2 minutes on half power).  Add to the blender.  You will notice your chocolate becoming liquid as your blender warms up and the warm cocoa butter also begins to melt your chocolate.
5. Ensure that your blender is not overheating.  Turn on and off if it is and try to blend for about 10 minutes in total. 

If you have a thermometer and your chocolate is about 90 degrees F, then pour it into a chocolate mold (or a small square pan or plastic container if you do not have molds) - you may get lucky and it will be in temper! If your chocolate is a bit white-ish or streaky once cooled, you will need to temper it. Since you are making your own chocolate from scratch, you will not be able to use the 'seed' method to temper it. Here is a website that has excellent instructions to temper chocolate over an ice bath: http://www.healthyseasonalrecipes.com/cherry-almond-chocolate-bark/.

For choosing molds, I find the thinner the pieces, the better the taste since your chocolate will be a little gritty still (you need some fancy and expensive equipment if you want to make smooth chocolate at home).

Contact me at ultimatechocolateblog@gmail.com if you have any concerns with your homemade chocolate project or this recipe. Good luck!

Bite-Sized Delights

When you need a little pick-me up, where do you turn?  I turn to chocolate, of course.  But opening up a 100-gram chocolate bar is not necessarily the best thing to do when our energy levels are at their lowest, because we are most likely to eat the entire bar in one sitting (precisely what the manufacturers want from us, despite their marks in the bars to make it 'easier' to break off small pieces!) and then we feel worse both mentally and physically because we've overdone it. So I love it when chocolate comes pre-packaged in bite-sized portions.

Apparently this is the time of year to cut out unnecessary indulgences, if you believe the numerous ads on television telling us that we have X-number of weeks left to drop five pounds in order to be beach-body ready for summer. But I say do not cut out, but rather, cut back! To me, this is the time of year to turn our attention to portion-controlled pieces of chocolate deliciousness.

Conveniently, I came across three different bite-sized portions of chocolate that would satisfy any chocolate lover's cravings during that 2:00 p.m. energy drop on a business day. The first were Saxon's 10 g bars of chocolate that came in two flavours: 70% Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt and Milk Chocolate Hazelnut. I liked both of those for different reasons. With the Hazelnut, I got that milk chocolate sweetness but with a boost of hazelnut protein and flavour. The 70% dark chocolate satisfied that side of me that says "stick with the dark stuff because it's healthier", but the salt added an extra flavour to make it stand out from the plain-Jane usual 70% chocolate that I eat. The other bite-sized chocolate was Ghirardelli's 10.6 gram 'Squares', which was nice because it covered my cravings for both sweet and bitter.

I found all three of these at Loco Beanz Coffee House in Little Current, Ontario. But Ghirardelli can be found all across the U.S. and you can buy it online: build a bag of 54 mini 'Squares' on their website with any mix of flavours that you choose. If you have these on hand, you can pack a square or two in your lunch bag every day. Smaller bags are also available. Saxon is available across Canada and in the U.S.; check their store locator for more information.

If you are trying to get your 'beach-body' back in time for summer, or just like your chocolate to be in portion-controlled packages, here are some other kinds of portion-controlled chocolate that I've found in the past:

• Lunch-bag friendly milk chocolate (Green & Blacks and Ritter Sport)
• Portion-controlled milk chocolate (Starbucks and Valor)
• Camino Snack Bars

The Ultimate Chocolate Recipes

I've experimented a lot with chocolate in my little commercial kitchen and the results?  New chocolate recipes! And over the last few years, I have shared many (not all...yet) of these recipes right here on this blog.  But I know that searching for recipes online can be time consuming, particularly on a blog site, so I created this page to consolidate all my recipes into one easy-to-navigate page.

Chocolate Truffles

• The Best Chocolate Truffles I Ever Made!  Made with Valrhona's Caramelia chocolate, these truffles are milk-chocolate-caramel deliciousness that will stop you from wondering what heaven is like.
• Super Simple Espresso Truffles
• Bittersweet Truffles
• Extra-Dark Chocolate Truffles (Made with 80% Chocolate)
• Chocolate Truffles with Sea Salt
• Red Wine Truffles

Chocolate-covered stuff

• Extra-Dark Chocolate Poppers (with Rice Krispies) and Chocolate-Covered Popcorn

Chocolate Cookies

• Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies - this recipe is yummy as is, and it also discusses how to make organic cookies and how to make a gluten-free shortbread cookie! 

Chocolate Brownies and Cakes

• Mint Obsession Brownies
• Extreme Bitter Chocolate Banana Cake
• A chocolate-chip covered cake recipe (well, not so much recipe, as instructions on how to make a cake extra-chocolaty!)

Making Chocolate from the Bean:

• My first experience with making chocolate (from the bean) in my home kitchen
• Not so much a recipe, but hints and tips

Hot Chocolate/Hot Cacao Beverages:

• Easy Mint Hot Chocolate (with Soy Milk)
• Brewed Cacao Drink (like coffee, but chocolate!)
• Not so much a recipe, but a different way to taste chocolate!

Chocolate Mousses, Creams, Ganaches and Custards:

• Accidental Bailey's Milk Chocolate Mousse Recipe
• Simple Pot de Creme with Creme Fraiche or 18% all-natural sour cream
• Dairy-Free Pot de Creme (extra bitter)
• Easy Ganache recipe....scroll down in the post for this one!

Not really recipes....but fun suggestions!:

• Help! My chocolate bar has melted!  Ever wonder what you should do about those chocolate bars that melt in your grocery bags on the way home?
• A quick chocolate & peanut butter breakfast.

Are you awake?

Sleepy?  Eat some milk chocolate. That will give you a sugar rush and a minuscule caffeine boost which will last for, oh, five minutes or so. The truth is, there is just not enough caffeine in your average milk chocolate bar to keep you energetic for hours. So why not try the new, caffeinated 'Awake' chocolate bar that just hit store shelves all across Canada?

Awake's website makes it clear that the target market is the average Canadian student. A video overview on the product shows students in the library sleeping, students going on a road trip and students just doing those fun things that students like to do (ahhh...I miss those days). Basically, 'Awake' is promoted as a caffeinated product that will help you wake up during the 3:00 p.m. lull, study alertly, party for longer and basically have fun for as much time as possible.

Since being showcased on Dragon's Den (yes, that's right, that hit Canadian business idea show that paved the way for the American show Shark's Tank....that show) the Awake chocolate bar has quickly moved into retail stores across Canada, including Loblaws, Shopper's Drug Mart, Shell, PetroCanada, BulkBarn and more. I purchased a bar at Valu-Mart on Manitoulin Island, in Northern Ontario, which clearly shows the reach of their distribution network.

With 230 calories per bar, this chocolate is very comparable nutritionally to the average chocolate candy bar sold in major retail chains.  The difference?  The price is higher.  I believe I paid over $2 for mine.  But I suppose that is about the average price for a standard cup of coffee these days. So if you prefer chocolate to coffee, I suppose that is a good deal.  Personally, I prefer to eat my chocolate while drinking a hot, dark roast coffee. So I think that "Awake" would just be an over-buzz for me. But looking back at my university days, I think I probably would have purchased a handful of Awake bars to bring to my study mates during those crazy 'weekend special' projects that tested our ability to stay awake for 48 hours.

The taste?  Well, to me it was very sweet. In my younger days, before I discovered bitter chocolate and high percentage milk chocolate, I might have liked this flavour. It compared to the flavour of those inexpensive foil-wrapped milk chocolate Easter eggs or perhaps a Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar (I haven't had one in many years, but Awake tasted the way that I remember Hershey's taste). In fact, the nutritional information is fairly comparable to a Hershey's bar of about the same size.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

When I saw the episode of Dragon's Den, I thought: "Why do we need a caffeinated chocolate bar, certainly there are many brands out there with espresso ground up in the bar?" Instantly, I thought of Ferrero's branded chocolate called Pocket Coffee from Italy, but available in Europe.  It was all over France when I lived there in 2004 and 2005. Pocket Coffee is a chocolate shell with a shot of sweetened espresso in the centre, which bursts into your mouth when you bite into the chocolate. That is the closest thing to having a coffee and a chocolate at the same time - without the need for buying coffee and carrying around a hot cup. The locals did not much like the concept of 'carry away' coffee in France when I was there (I'm not sure if things have changed since or if Starbucks has influenced habits as they have in other areas of the world). I got many, many strange looks whenever I carried a coffee around on the few occasions where I could find one for sale in a take-away cup. So if I wanted a caffeine fix but had no time to sit down and drink the coffee 'properly', Pocket Coffee was my best bet.

Since coming back in 2005, I've often thought of Pocket Coffee and wondered why we do not have such a thing here in North America.  But then, we are not ostracized when we carry a coffee onto the subway or a bus in North America.  We are free to buy a coffee and eat a chocolate bar on the run!

So I wondered why on earth we would need a chocolate bar with caffeine in it....but with no actual coffee? I suppose, unlike me, there are many people out there who do not like the flavour of coffee and who do not drink it.  But they like chocolate. So the makers of Awake wanted a  chocolate to taste like chocolate, but have the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee. Okay, so I get it. I may not be a repeat customer, but I get it.

So if you are one of those non-coffee drinking students, age 18 to twenty-something who needs a caffeine boost every now and then (Awake recommends eating one every 3-to-4 hours, up to 2 bars daily), check out the Awake chocolate bar currently at a Canadian retailer near you. And non-Canadians need not worry, I suspect the whole world will soon be 'Awake' with this chocolate brand.