Chocolate Poppers & Chocolate Popcorn: My recipes for extra bitter chocolate snacks!

As I mentioned in my last post, I have been experimenting all week long with recipes made from 80% to 90% dark chocolate. So today I am highlighting several chocolate bars in the 85% range that I tasted, compared, then used to make some extra bitter chocolate snacks.

To begin, here is the list of extra-bitter chocolate bars that I used (with a few tasting notes):

·         Heidi Dark Extreme 85% cocoa, 80g bar - a lot (maybe too much) vanilla but wonderfully smooth.  All that vanilla makes it taste sweet and not like the 85% that it is.

·         President's Choice Extra Dark Chocolate, 85% cocoa solids, 100g - chunky, slightly gritty (sugar is slightly crunchy, maybe this has something to do with not having soy lecithin?) and tangy.

·         Godiva  85% Tasting squares - super smooth, if you like smooth chocolate, this is it. Because it is so smooth and so full of vanilla, it hardly tastes like an 85%.

·         President's Choice Organics(tm) European Extra Dark chocolate, 85% cocoa solids, 100g

·         Côte D'Or Sensations 86% NOIR BRUT, 100 grams – the tastiest of them all! Super smooth and wonderful.

·         Cemoi Chocolatier Desir Noir 85% cocoa Dark Chocolate, 100 grams – tastes like artificial flavour, but smooth texture.

·         Godiva(r) Chocolatier 85% Extra Dark Chocolate, Santo Domingo, 100 grams

For tasting notes on the last three chocolate bars above, see my previous post on these chocolate bars:

http://ultimatechocolateblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/cote-dor-86-vs-godiva-85-vs-cemoi-desir.html

Recipes:

Extra Dark Chocolate Poppers

You need:
-3.5 oz chocolate (100g) - I used President's Choice Extra Dark which tasted great on these, I also made a batch with Heidi, and I also used a flavoured 71% chili spice chocolate that tasted awesome. You could also use a sweeter one, like the Lindt Chili bar if you do not want to go as dark as I have
-2/3 cup to 1 cup Rice Krispies

Optional Ingredients:  1/4 tsp chunky sea salt, 2 tbsp cinnamon & sugar mixture, or 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Eat 0.5 oz (about 15 grams) of one 85% dark chocolate bar, then chop or break up the remaining 3 oz (85 grams).  Place in a microwavable safe bowl and microwave on HALF POWER (50%) for 2 minutes.  Take out of microwave, stir until smooth.  Check temperature with the back of your baby finger.  If it is about the same temperature as your finger, it is ready.  If too warm, continue stirring, lift spoon out of mixture to let the air cool the chocolate as you stir. When it cools to the same temperature as your skin, it is ready.  If it is too cool, microwave for 5 second intervals until the correct temperature is reached.

Place Rice Krispies in a medium-sized bowl.  Pour melted chocolate over and stir until Rice Krispies are completely coated. 

Place a one-foot long piece of wax paper on the counter. If adding sea salt, a spice or cinnamon sugar, sprinkle over mixture now and stir. Scoop spoonfuls of the Chocolate-Rice Krispie mixture onto the paper. Place in little clumps and space out so they can cool.  Once cool and chocolate is set place in bowl with an airtight lid or in treat baggies so you can pack snacks to throw in your work lunchbag or to give out as gifts to your dark-chocolate loving friends!

Extra Dark Chocolate Popcorn

You need:
-3.5 oz chocolate (100g)
-Mini bag  (32g or a 100 cal bag) of microwave popcorn - I used the PC Blue Menu Mini with Natural Flavour because the ingredients were the healthiest with no hydrogenated oils, or artificial colours or flavours.  If you cannot find this brand, just use 3 cups of popped popcorn, lightly salted and slight butter flavour. The salt with the chocolate is the best part!
 
Step 1: Pop popcorn in microwave (or in automatic popcorn popper, on stovetop or however you like!). Pour popped popcorn in a medium-sized bowl and set aside to cool.

Step 2: Eat 0.5 oz (about 15 grams) of one 85% dark chocolate bar, then chop or break up the remaining 3 oz (85 grams).  Place in a microwavable safe bowl and microwave on HALF POWER (50%) for 2 minutes.  Take out of microwave, stir until smooth.  Check temperature with the back of your baby finger.  If it is about the same temperature as your finger, it is ready.  If too warm, continue stirring, lift spoon out of mixture to let air cool chocolate as you stir. When it cools to the same temperature as your skin, it is ready.  If too cool, microwave for 5 second intervals until the correct temperature is reached.

Step 3: Pour chocolate slowly over popcorn and stir as you pour until popcorn is coated (it may not be completely coated, but that is okay, it is interesting to look at that way!).

Step 4: Place a 1-foot long piece of wax paper on counter.  Pour popcorn onto wax paper and separate pieces as much as possible. Let cool. Once chocolate is cool and set, place in bowl and put out as a snack for movie night!



Below are the package details from the chocolate bars that I tasted and worked with today:

Heidi Dark Extreme 85% cocoa, 80g bar
S.C. Heidi Chocolat S.A. (Romania)
www.heidi-chocolate.com
Ingredients: Cocoa mass, cocoa butter, cocoa powder, sugar, soya lecithin, vanilla extract.  Cocoa solids 85% minimum.

President's Choice Extra Dark Chocolate, 85% cocoa solids, 100g
Loblaws Inc. (Toronto, Canada)
Made in France.
Ingredients: Unsweetened chocolate, sugar, cocoa butter, natural vanilla extract.  May contain tree nuts, milk, egg. soy and/or wheat.

Godiva

President's Choice Organics(tm) European Extra Dark chocolate, 85% cocoa solids, 100 grams
Loblaws Inc., Toronto, Ontario, Canada (product of Italy)
www.pc.ca
Ingredients: organic unsweetened chocolate, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter, soy lecithin, organic vanilla extract.  May contain peanuts, tree nuts and milk.

Cemoi Chocolatier Desir Noir 85% cocoa Dark Chocolate, 100 grams
France - www.cemoi.fr
Ingredients: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, low fat cocoa powder, soya lecithin, vanilla flavouring.

Côte D'Or Sensations 86% NOIR BRUT, 100 grams
Kraft Foods Belgium
www.cotedor.com
Ingredients (sorry there is no English on this package!): Pâte de cacao, beurre de cacao, cacao fortement dégraissé, sucre, arôme, émulsifant (lécithine de soja). (rainforest alliance certified - whatever that means)

Godiva(r) Chocolatier 85% Extra Dark Chocolate, Santo Domingo, 100 grams
Godiva Chocolatier, Inc., New York, NY USA (Product of Germany)
www.godiva.com
Ingredients: bittersweet chocolate (chocolate liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin (emulsifier), natural flavouring).  May contain tree nuts, peanuts, milk and wheat.