Semi-Sweet Ganache Torte Recipe
July 4, 2009
Here's one of my favorite chocolate dessert recipes. Bryn is making it today for the independence day party.
Semi-Sweet Ganache Torte
15 chocolate graham crackers
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup butter (not margarine), melted
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup fat-free half & half
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pint your favorite berries (raspberries wonderful, frozen are OK)
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Caffe Chocolat in Titusville, Florida
June 29, 2009
Last Tuesday we stopped at Caffe' Chocolat in Titusville, Florida. We noticed it in the historic downtown part of Titusville a couple days earlier as we drove out to Playa Linda beach. When we drove by a second time, on another adventure, we took the opportunity to stop.
The cafe portion is truly a restaurant with a complete menu including sandwiches, wraps, pizzas, and salads. They also serve specialty coffees, hot and iced. Of course they have fine chocolates and other desserts.
Our interest was in their Chocolate Salon. Here they had a wide assortment of chocolates made right in the store. Pam, owner and chocolatier, has been making the chocolates for more than six and a half years now.
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Chocolate In Space
June 24, 2009
We spent the day enjoying our time at the Kennedy Space Center. What does that have to do with chocolate?
Apparently the astronauts need their chocolate fix too. Or, at least, the marketing department is quite active in its desire to have us think so.
First of all, our kids had to get some freeze-dried ice cream. You know that's official "space food," originally developed for early Apollo missions.
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Rice Crispy Bars with Chocolate and Wine
June 18, 2009
For dessert tonight Bryn's mother made Rice Crispy bars. She melted some Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chips, spread it on the bars, and then put another layer of bar on top. So it was kind of a layer cake, the layers being rice crispy bars and the frosting being semisweet chocolate.
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Mo’s Bacon Bar
June 11, 2009
When I first laid eyes on the Mo's Bacon Bar by Vosges, Ltd. I was in shock. My mind raced. Who would put bacon in a chocolate bar? Isn't that some kind of violation? Serious penalties should follow. 
Then another thought crept up, "I wonder what it would taste like?" Did I really think that? Could I try something that sounded so strange? My resistance fell and I walked out of the store with a new-found creation.
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Chocolate Milk for Exercise Recovery
June 5, 2009
Research shows that chocolate milk might be just as good as sports drinks to help athletes recover from intense exercise. This information comes out of a small study from James Madison University in Virginia as presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine.
I like to ride my bicycle for hours at a time and have often enjoyed a glass of chocolate milk upon my return. My logic was that the milk contained some protein so it's probably a good thing for muscles. Milk also contains fluid for rehydration, as well as minerals like calcium and magnesium, electrolytes such as sodium and potassium, and carbohydrates including lactose. These are all good for recovery after exercise and occur naturally in milk.
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Allô Chocolat’s Chocolate Covered Bacon
June 4, 2009
Wow! What else can I say? This afternoon Bryn and I visited an independent chocolate shop called Allô! Chocolat in Waukesha, Wisconsin. We met with the owners, Roger and Carrie, who have been in the chocolate business for about 3 years.
It's a nice shop on Main Street. They've got a plentiful selection of chocolates available to suit any taste. They'll even customize formulas on request for special clientele!
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Chocolate Summer School?
June 2, 2009
The school year is done. Nothing new is on TV. It's too hot to be outside. You don't want to spend another day at the mall. And just sitting around doing nothing in the air conditioning one more day doesn't sound very appealing either.
Is this how your summer goes? While the school year might be September to June (roughly speaking anyway), there's nothing that says you can't start studying something fun this summer. You can get started right now by enrolling yourself in chocolate school!
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Calories vs. Flavor
May 31, 2009
Cruising around the internet looking for interesting news I ran into a headline of an article written by etiquette expert Jodi R.R. Smith. It read, "Diet no excuse for spitting out chewed chocolate."
Yikes! Who would spit out chocolate? I read on to discover that upon taking a piece of chocolate into her mouth, the woman in question chewed once and then spit out the chocolate into her napkin, apparently deciding in that moment that the chocolate, if fully consumed, would not be worth the calories.
Jodi, the Mannersmith, went on to explain, "For treats and sweets, you should taste them first and decide if they are worthy..." Then if they pass your taste test, go ahead and eat it, but if they do not, you can kindly refuse and not gross anyone out!
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Basic Chocolate Tasting
May 28, 2009
Today we're going to quickly explore a method for tasting chocolate. I'd like you to have two chocolate bars ready. These should both be milk chocolate bars or both dark chocolate bars. You can pick different brands or pick the same brand with different percentages of chocolate content. We want to make sure you'll taste sufficient differences.
Now that you have your chocolate ready, you'll need to pick an appropriate time and place to do the tasting. Well, I'm not really sure there's a bad time or place to eat chocolate, but some times and places are better than others to experience the best results.
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