President's Choice Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Lollipops: Finally, a cake-pop designed for me!

Maybe you saw the commercials already? Or maybe not, but you have passed them in the stores without really noticing them.  Or maybe you have never even heard of them before.  Whatever the case, I am talking about the newly launched President's Choice Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Lollipops and I recommend that you run out to your nearest Loblaws, Superstore, Valu-Mart or other grocer that carries PC products and buy a box right now! If you like rich, very chocolaty desserts like chocolate cheesecake, and anything covered in semi-sweet chocolate or chocolate chips, then this is the dessert for you to try.

I have avoided 'cake pops' for a while now.  I own a cake, pastry and chocolate business (Ultimately Chocolate on Manitoulin Island) and people are always asking me if I make cake pops.  But I am not the type to make anything that is too trendy. I like creating new products and setting my own trends.  I also do like working with trending flavours, like pink peppercorn, sea salt, hemp, and other interesting herbs, spices and health foods that are being paired with chocolate these days.  But cake pops?!?  Definitely not something that was on my radar.  Until now.

Being a crazy cheesecake lover (and lover of all super-rich, heavy and overly chocolaty desserts), I am only upset that I did not think to ever turn my chocolate cheesecake recipe into a cake pop.  But President's Choice has done it again. They have tackled a current trend and then brought it to a whole new level of coolness....and flavour.

Since buying the box last night, I have tasted the lollipops both thawed and frozen (I was being impatient when I brought the box home from the grocery store). Although they taste great both ways, it is better to let them thaw to a nice cool refrigerated level - just an hour on the counter will be enough. That is when they are yummiest.

It is funny - I bought these for the first time last night and I just saw the new President's Choice television commercial for them a few minutes ago.  So it is a very new product indeed.

The Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Lollipops come in a package of 10 (280 grams) and can be found in the freezer section, near other frozen President's Choice desserts. If you are not a chocolate-lover (what?!?), then you might like to try the Salted Caramel flavour instead. The cost was $6.99.  Happy Holiday entertaining everyone!

A Night of Indulgence: Chocolate in Toronto (Part 2)

Taste Canada - The Food Writing Awards


Christine Cushing
was the Awards Emcee!

On Monday night, I attended Taste Canada - The Food Writing Awards, which honoured the best Canadian food books published within the last year, as well as a Gala event with wonderful wine made by the Niagara College Teaching Winery and fantastic food provided by various chefs, pastry chefs, chocolatiers and other bakers. Celebrity chef Christine Cushing hosted the event, and another great Canadian celebrity chef, Michael Smith, won an award for his most recent book. Several other people were honoured for their fantastic work within the culinary industry this year.

Yup, that's me at the event!

This event was a great excuse to dress up and experience an evening of pure food pleasure. In addition to the unbelievable savoury dishes, I tasted pastries from Sucre Boutique, a Toronto-based pastry chef who makes artisinal pastry and custom cakes, Elm Hill Cookies from Oakville and handmade filled chocolates by the students of George Brown College.

Most importantly, the recently launched FoodiePages was sponsoring the event by giving away 50 different artisan food products from 50 Canadian producers who are signed up to sell products on the FoodiePages.ca website. At least ten gala attendees took home a large gift box of my signature product, the chocolate TOFFLE, a milk chocolate truffle surrounded by a rich, dark chocolate toffee. I was proud to be part of such a wonderful event!



To learn more about Taste Canada - The Food Writing Awards, visit: http://tastecanada.org/awards/ and for information on the 2012 Gala event, click here. Although there is no information about the 2013 event as of yet, check back on that website for ticket information. The fantastic food, drink and dessert selection was well worth the cost of the ticket.

For more information on chocolate in Toronto, read my article from June of this year on specialty fine chocolate that I have found in Toronto.  Also, check back tomorrow for an article on the Toronto Luxury Chocolate Show, which I also attended earlier this week.

A Simple Recipe for Chocolate Truffles with Sea Salt

Yesterday I was trying to come up with a ganache recipe to fill some tarts shells and what I came up with was a semi-sweet chocolate ganache with sea salt. It tasted so fantastic and it was thick enough to be easily rolled into truffles, so I thought I'd share the recipe here on my blog.

My first batch was made with Camino's 56% Semi-Sweet Organic & Fair Trade Couverture and it was incredibly good. I then made a batch with a Lindt Swiss Dark Chocolate bar and that had similar results, but with a slight vanilla flavour (Camino's chocolate has no vanilla in it, but Lindt's does).  You can buy the 300 gram Lindt bar at most grocery stores in the U.S. or Canada or, if you are in Canada and looking for Fair Trade and Organic chocolate, you can substitute the Camino professional line of couverture chocolate with Camino's 56% baking chocolate or Camino's 55% Dark chocolate bar, which is available at many Canadian grocery and health food stores, or online.

Here is my recipe:

Salted Dark Chocolate Truffles:

You need:

President's Choice was my
 choice of fine sea salt for this recipe.

• 8 oz semi-sweet dark chocolate with 50% to 60% cacao solids (see above for chocolate brand suggestions or see below for truffle recipe using the Lindt Excellence Sea Salt chocolate bar)
• 3/4 cup whipping cream
• 1 tsp fine sea salt (if you just want a hint of salt, use 1/2 - 3/4 tsp sea salt, for a bold, salty flavour use the full 1 teaspoon)
• 1 tsp coarse sea salt (for decorating only)
• For finishing: 8 ounces of semi-sweet (50%-60%) or bittersweet (70%) dark chocolate for rolling OR cocoa powder

Instructions:

Step 1: If chocolate is not already in pellets or drops, chop it into 1/2-inch to 1-inch sized pieces and place in a heatproof bowl (preferable if the bowl is also microwavable in case you have trouble melting the chocolate).

Step 2: Heat the cream in a small saucepan on the stove until it reaches the boiling point.

Step 3: Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir slowly with a wooden spoon until smooth (if it does not melt fully, microwave for 5 second intervals if it is in a microwave-safe bowl. If you are using a stainless steel bowl rather than glass or plastic, place over a double boiler and stir until melted. Add the 1 tsp of fine seat salt and stir until it is fully mixed in.

Step 4: Let set on counter overnight or for 8 hours. Then refrigerate for 1 hour in order to make it stiff enough to roll into balls.

Step 5: Once set, take a small spoon and scoop out small spoonfuls of truffle mix.  Roll between the palm of your hands to make balls.  Place each truffle ball on a piece of wax paper.

Step 6: Roll in cocoa powder or melt & temper another 8 oz of semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate and dip truffles using a fork.  Place on a new sheet of wax paper. Place a few pieces of the coarse sea salt on top while still liquid. Let cool and harden.  Then eat!


Alternate Recipe using a Lindt Excellence Sea Salt chocolate bar:
1. Break up three (3) Lindt Excellence Sea Salt dark chocolate bars into 1-inch pieces.  Place in a bowl. 
2. Heat 3/4 cup cream on stove until it reaches boiling point.
3. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir slowly with a wooden spoon until smooth (if it does not melt fully, microwave for 5 second intervals if it is in a microwave-safe bowl).
4. Let set on counter overnight or for 8 hours.  Refrigerate for 1 hour in order to make it stiff enough to roll into balls.
5. Follow remaining steps listed above.

A Rare Find: Chocolate-Covered Cacao Beans

These days, chocolate-covered food products can be seen at every market, grocery store, pharmacy or health food store. And it seems that nearly everything can be covered in chocolate: almonds and other nuts are the most common, along with raisins and espresso beans, apricots, pretzels and all sort of other fruit and crunchy snacks.  I have even eaten chocolate-covered kale. But chocolate-covered cacao beans?  That is just plain rare. 

However Camino, a Canadian brand of organic and Fair Trade chocolate products, has just launched a small line of 'treats', which includes Dark Chocolate-Covered Cacao Beans. Since I have only ever tried chocolate-covered cacao nibs, but never the whole bean covered in chocolate, I immediately ordered some.

Although these are called 'treats', it does not mean you should go crazy and give them as gifts to every chocoholic in your life.  First know that your friends and family can handle the extra bitterness of this snack.  The cacao beans are covered in a 70% dark chocolate and rolled in cocoa powder, so they are very bitter. But they have a nice crunch to them, so it is like eating a savoury, crunchy treat, like chips, rather than eating a sweet treat, like a Mars bar. So if your chocoholic friend is often seen eating a Hershey's milk chocolate bar, they probably will not like this snack.  But if they are always buying 70% or higher dark chocolate, or are trying to reduce their sugar intake, they may be the perfect candidate.

What I like about these 'treats' compared to similar ones, is that cacao beans have minimal caffeine content compared to chocolate-covered coffee beans.  And although coffee beans have no fat, the fat in cocoa beans is not unhealthy. Also, with so little sugar in this product and a huge boost of antioxidants, I do not feel guilt about tucking in for a chocolaty snack.

Camino brand can be found in health food stores and grocery stores across Canada.  But you can also buy these online.

Looking for other chocolate covered cacao bean products? Through Google, I found an American brand, Kakawa Cocoa Beans, who make cacao beans that are covered in milk, white and dark chocolate (that's right, all three on one bean!).  These look pretty tasty and probably a little sweeter than Camino's.  Check them out at: http://www.cocoapuro.com/

Also, CRIO BRÜ sells chocolate covered Criollo cacao beans. And from what I can tell, they are not rolled in cocoa powder, which will create a slightly less bitter flavour experience.  Check these out at:

http://www.criobru.com/products/4-oz.-Crio-Beans.html.

I have a feeling that we will see more chocolate covered cacao bean products pop up at our local food retailers in the near future.  It is a product that just makes sense to me. It is healthier than eating fully processed chocolate, it has less sugar content and provides both antioxidants and a boost of energy without over-caffeinating us.

As always, here are the full package details of the chocolate product that I tasted this week:

Camino Fair Trade/Organic Dark Chocolate-Covered Cacao Beans, 70% cacao, 100g
La-Siembra Co-Opertive (Ottawa, ON, Canada)
www.tasteofcamino.com
Organic Ingredients: whole cacao beans*, dark chocolate* (cacao mass*, cane sugar*, cacao butter*, cacao powder*).
*Fair Trade Certified.
Contains 100% Fair trade Certified ingredients by dry weight (info.fairtrade.net).

What is not on the package: The cacao beans and dark chocolate are single-origin sourced from Peru. The sugar in the chocolate comes from Paraguay.

Red Wine Truffles: The Perfect Chocolate and Wine Pairing Recipe

When I  open a new bottle of wine, my first thought is always: "What chocolate shall I pair with this wine?"  And when I find one that tastes really good with it, I wonder: "What would happen if I melted this wine and chocolate together to make a wine-infused chocolate truffle?" So this week, I finally did it. I opened a 2008 vintage bottle of Shiraz Voignier, then found just the perfect chocolate to pair with it and made some rich, red wine-infused dark chocolate truffles.

My chocolate of choice was a mix of Camino's organic and fair trade couverture.  I found Camino's 70% Bittersweet chocolate drops a little too bitter to pair with the Shiraz, and their 56% Semi-Sweet couverture a little too sweet for the full-bodied wine, but they both had the right flavour profile.  So what did I do? I mixed the two chocolates together to create a...hmmm...I guess a 60-something percent dark chocolate.

As it turned out, the chocolate was a perfect match for the Oscar's Estate Shiraz Voignier, because the truffles turned out smooth, rich and delectable, with low acidity and a subtle red wine flavour. The best part is that I created a chocolate that pairs very well to other Shiraz wines, which is a nice finish to any dinner party.

I recommend trying this at home. Since it might be difficult to find the same brands of chocolate and wine that I used, be sure that you taste the chocolate and the wine together in your mouth before you go ahead and melt them together! If it is too strong, acidic, or just plain bad tasting, try a different wine or different chocolate.

Recipe for Red Wine-Infused Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients:
-1/2 cup red wine (Shiraz)
-8 ounces 60-70% dark chocolate
-Additional 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate (anywhere between 50-70% - I used a 56%) for coating the truffles and/or 1/2 cup cocoa powder

Step 1: Place the chocolate in a stainless steel or a microwave-safe bowl. If the chocolate is in a large slab or bars, chop it into 1/2-inch pieces.

Step 2: Heat the wine in a small saucepan on medium-high heat. Bring it just to the boiling point, then pour half of it over the chocolate and stir until it becomes somewhat melted. Reheat the remaining wine (if it has cooled) and pour over the chocolate mixture. Stir until it is smooth.  If you are using a stainless steel bowl, you may need to have a double boiler on hand to finish melting the chocolate, if it won't fully melt.  If you are using a microwavable bowl and the chocolate is not fully melted after you have stirred for a few minutes, you can place in the microwave for just five seconds, take it out, stir and repeat until you have a smooth mixture.  

Step 3: Seal with an airtight lid or plastic wrap.  Let set on the counter for 8 hours or overnight.

Step 4: Scoop out spoonfuls of the truffle mix and roll between the palm of your hand to make balls.
Place on wax paper until ready to roll in chocolate. Tip: Use gloves to prevent your hands from melting the chocolate.

Step 5: Melt and temper 50-70% dark chocolate.

Step 6: With a spoon, pick up each truffle and roll in the chocolate mixture.  Lift out on a fork and let chocolate drip off a little.  Now you can do one of two things: 1. Turn over onto a fresh piece of waxed paper and dab fork lightly on top to create a swirl. 2. Immediately toss coated truffle into a bowl of cocoa powder.  Sprinkle some on top and let rest for a minute to harden slightly before lifting out.

Freeze as is in an airtight container or eat immediately (once the chocolate shell hardens). For good presentation and easy handling, place each truffle in a candy paper or mini cupcake paper.

***

The wine was Oscar's Estate Vineyard, Shiraz Voignier 2008 Barossa Valley with a 96% Shiraz and 4% Viognier mix.  Produced by B&B Wines, Roennfeldt Road, Marananga South Australia and imported by Kylix Wines in Toronto, Canada. 15.9%alc./vol., 750ml.

The chocolate, as mentioned above, was Camino brand of couverture chocolate: 56% Semi-Sweet drops and 70% Bittersweet drops, both organic and Fair Trade certified. Go to www.tasteofcamino.com for more information on their chocolate.

How NAKED do you like your chocolate?

Stripping it down to just three ingredients is naked enough for me...

The term 'Naked Chocolate' is definitely not a new one.  A book, several articles, businesses and even websites have been given this name. And simply typing 'Naked Chocolate' into a Google search engine will pop up all sorts of results, the most prominent being a book by David Wolfe and Shazzie published in 2005, which discusses the idea that cacao, the bean used to make chocolate, is a 'superfood' and how we can benefit from eating chocolate made from unroasted or raw cacao beans.

There is also the Naked Chocolate Cafe in Philadelphia and the Canadian NaKeD Chocolate shop in Peterborough, Ontario who use the name to define that they work with pure chocolate and ingredients. And b naked chocolates from Arizona make chocolate truffles with "the purest chocolate, organic raw cacao" and no dairy, no refined products, vegan and gluten free, thus making it 'naked'. 

A California woman, Margaret Floyd, wrote in 2011 about a very tasty raw chocolate called Sweet Nuit, that she considered it to be 'naked chocolate' because it was 100% raw and sweetened with coconut sugar and Jerusalem artichoke. This is similar to the concepts that David Wolfe and Shazzie offer in their book. She also believes in the food being organic, homemade and unrefined to prevent nutrient depletion.

There are others who consider chocolate that is 'naked' to simply be solid milk, white or dark chocolate that has no added fruits, nuts, coffee or other flavours and additives (other than perhaps vanilla and an emulsifier like lecithin).

My idea of 'naked chocolate' is a little different than the viewpoints mentioned above.  I believe that chocolate can be considered 'naked' when it has only three ingredients: cacao beans, cacao butter and cane sugar.  And naked milk chocolate, in my world, would have only four ingredients: the above plus milk. With only those ingredients, you can taste the true cacao flavour without masking it with flavourings, such as vanilla or artificial vanilla, or with additives like soy lecithin or hydrogenated oils. 

To me it is still 'naked' even if made from raw or roasted cacao beans, as long as it is mildly processed, smooth or relatively smooth, and contains minimal natural sugar. Because what we know by the name 'chocolate' today is processed in some way, it is usually smooth and it does contain some sugars. But stripped of all additives that are only meant to enhance, change or manipulate its flavour, that is what I call NAKED CHOCOLATE.

People are the same as chocolate. You can dress them up, change their flavour and flair, add perfumes, brush their hair or add jewelry to them, but take all that away and what are they? Naked.

Here are some of my favourite naked chocolate bars:

Raaka Virgin Chocolate (Brooklyn, NY)
85% dark Dominican Republic
Ingredients: Organic cacao beans, organic turbinado sugar, organic cacao butter

Hummingbird Chocolate Maker (Ottawa, Ontario)
70% Venezuela bar, 70% Peru bar and 70% Hispaniola bar
Ingredients: Organic Cocoa Beans, Sugar & Cocoa Butter

Soma chocolatemaker (Toronto, Ontario)
Soma makes a whole series of bars, including their Chuao 70%, their entire 'exploration box' and their Arcana 100% bar is as naked as chocolate can get.
Chuao 70% Ingredients: cacao beans, organic cane sugar, cocoa butter.

Potomac Chocolate (Woodbridge, VA)
Upala 70% bar and Upala 82% bar
Ingredients: cacao, sugar

Original Beans (Amsterdam)
Piura Porcelana 75% chocolate bar
Ingredients: Direct-trade cacao beans*, cacao butter*, cane sugar*. *Certified organic.
May contain traces of nuts, lactose and soy. Vegan. Gluten Free.

Chocolat Bonnat (Voiron, France)
Puerto Cabello (Venezuela) (75%) chocolate bar
Ingredients: cacao, sugar. May contain tree nuts, milk, eggs and or derivatives.

***

Important Notes (well, not really):

If you arrived at this article because you were searching the term "naked chocolate" for reasons other than eating chocolate, sorry to disappoint! But there is a link on the second page of Google Search Results on 'Naked Chocolate' that may just be for you.

There is also a funny article on page 4 of the Google Search results dated February 3rd of this year about a naked burglar who was covered in chocolate and peanut butter when they were caught and arrested....too funny not to check out.

And have you seen the recent M&Ms commercial?  Now even our cute little chocolaty friends are getting naked on t.v. What's up with that?

What Kind of Cookies Do Dark Chocolate Lover’s Like? Chocolate-Covered Cookies, Of Course!

Do you like a little cookie crunch in your chocolate?  I do sometimes.  Every now and then when I find a half hour to myself in the afternoon (which does not happen often these days) I like to relax with a cup of tea and a cookie for dipping.  But being the dark chocolate lover that I am, I do not like the average run-of-the-mill-grocery-store cookies.  I like cookies that are not very sweet and are, of course, coated in high quality dark chocolate.  But given the rural location of where I live in Northern Ontario, it is not easy to find such delicacies.

However, I have found a few dark chocolate covered cookies in recent years that are both accessible and tasty.  In fact, just last week I bought the Bahlsen ‘Afrika’ Dark wafer at an Independent Grocer.  There are no artificial flavours in this cookie (which is a rare find for a packaged wafer!) and the first ingredient is “chocolate liquor’, which means this is not an overly sugared affair. Bahlsen’s package also says that these wafers are called ‘Afrika’ because they are made from the finest cocoa beans from West Africa.

What I love about these wafers is how little wafer there actually is.  Mostly, it is a dark chocolate with a really thin layer of wafer in the middle, so you just have a nice tiny crunch.  They are fun to eat and great for dipping in your tea or coffee. The best part is that there are only 160 calories for 8 cookies and just 11 grams of sugar!  If you are careful about not eating high-carb foods but still love that crunch of a wafer-cookie, be sure to add Afrika to your shopping list.

Another dark chocolate cookie that I like (and that is easy to find in rural Canadian locations) is the PC Dark Concerto Biscuits. Like the Bahlsen wafers, these have no unnatural flavours and ingredients, so you can feel good about what you are eating, even if it is a sweet treat. What's more, there are only 150 calories in 2 cookies and only 8 grams of sugar – not a bad way to satisfy your afternoon chocolate and cookie craving. These too are available at the Independent Grocer, as well as Valumart, Loblaws, Superstore and anywhere that President’s Choice products are sold.

Probably my most favourite chocolate-covered cookies of all time are the Pierre Biscuiterie ‘Butter Cookies Coated in (Milk & Dark) Chocolate’, which I found at Costco last Christmas.  These were absolutely the best; in fact, I liked them so much that did not share with anyone.

I am pretty sure they were made from single origin chocolate because they had that distinct flavour to the chocolate (but do not ask me what that flavour profile was though...it was last Christmas and my memory is sketchy!).  I wish I could tell you more about where to buy these in Canada now, but I have not found them since. I have looked online and a few websites sell them, like Snazzy Gourmet and surprisingly a few other websites tell us the calorie content (just 140 calories for 2 cookies!). Personally I am hoping that they show up at Costco again this Christmas season. If so, maybe this time I will share them...or maybe not.