how to make the perfect smore in a woodfire beehive oven

here is my divine recipe for the perfect smore using chocovic maragda chocolate. enjoy!

if you cannot see the video, please click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJTY7J6WZNE

q &bull bel: dark chocolate crispie rice wafer bar

post one of six.

the dark chocolate wafer bar is wonderfully crispy and it is coated in belgian dark chocolate. there are two bars to a pack and it is just impossible to save one for later. this is a perfect dark, crispy, flaky bar.

the founder created the chocolate bar company, promoting no chemicals and artificial ingredients, for his children. the founder is also a romantic and named it after his wife isabel.

there is no doubt that the quality is top notch and you can taste the love put into this product.

american heritage chocolate: chocolate stick

you are an observer at the american philosophical society and become startled by a touch to the shoulder. ben franklin whispers in your ear... who knew the man could be so naughty? you excuse his behavior... after all, he worked hard on getting rid of the stamp act (the british tried to solve their national debt by taxing the u.s. on all printed matter).

ben kindly invites you for a constitutional after the meeting - - - he somehow is too intriguing to deny. as you stroll the cobbled streets, he reaches into his pockets and offers a chocolate stick. you raise one eyebrow, nod to him, and then gently glide it into your mouth. aromas of cinnamon, anise, nutmeg, pepper, and orange mystify you. this is the chocolate of colonial america. he winks and states, "you know, i managed to secure six pounds of chocolate for every officer for the french and indian war". this is a man after your own heart. you fall in love.

please visit www.americanheritagechocolate.com for colonial chocolate history.

surfas: chocolate tempering 101

if you are in LA, here is an excellent way to get your tempering skills down for free...

chocolate tempering 101: the perfect introduction to the world of chocolateering! learn chocolate basics from tasting, percentages and tempering to infusing ganaches and making truffles and nut clusters. during the demo chef tina martinez will be prepare delicious mint truffles, cappucino filled truffles and pecan nut clusters while sharing chocolate history and mystery.

march 14, 2009 3pm - 4pm

surfas inc
www.surfasonline.com
8777 washington blvd
culver city, ca 90232
(310) 287-2375

little britain: lou and andy review chocolate

if you are not following little britain on bbc america, you are definitely missing out... especially with classic lines such as,
"dark chocolate has a bitter edge to it and lacks the oral ecstacy of its milky cousin".

mast brothers chocolate: dark milk chocolate 60% + almonds + sea salt

mast brothers chocolate: dark milk chocolate 60% + almonds + sea salt
brooklyn, ny

you are in florence and strolling along the ponte vecchio. on the medieval bridge, you gaze over the arno river. the souvenir shops are teetery and depressing. however, out of the rough, a gorgeous paper and pen shop emerges. apparently, they have been making hand made florentine papers for centuries.

you proceed to the fenced statue of benvenuto cellini with your padlock in hand. carlos santana is there and nods - - - peculiar.
after you hear the faint click of the key securing the lock placed on the fence, you release a sigh knowing that you and your love will be eternally bonded. you hold the key for a slight second then toss it over the bridge.... it soars until it gently kisses the river.

avoiding the 50€ penalty, for those caught locking something to the fence, you discreetly walk back across the bridge. carlos catches up to you and hands you a bar wrapped in what seems to be florentine paper. after a second nod, he disappears. you gently open the fleur de lis wrapping and discover a deep, rich, and salty chocolate - - - you taste adventure, you taste history, you taste love.

happy valentine's day: metromint giveaway

in honor of the metromint giveaway, i have written my review of the chocolatemint water in the form of a haiku:

peppermint patty
more fun than a dentist chair*
kisses to my mouth

and now for the giveaway details... metromint is giving away a free case of chocolatemint and cherrymint water! so, for chocolate snob's enjoyment, there will be a haiku contest. for the uninitiated, a haiku is a japanese poem divided into 3 lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables. see my example above.

your challenge is to write a haiku that is inspired by valentine's day and it does not need to mention metromint. you are more than welcome to suck up to chocolate snob though.... you have until the 22nd of february to compose your winning haiku.

please email your response to rachelrifat@yahoo.com

*i love going to the dentist!

tortona chocolate cookies

here is something you may want to make for your sweetheart...
photo spencer weiner, article noelle carter - la times

Total time: 35 minutes, plus chilling and cooling time for the dough
Servings: 2 dozen cookies

Note: Adapted from chef Elena Guerrero-Berman of Massimo's Delectables. Be careful not to grind the nuts to a fine powder or flour; the nuts should have some texture (you will see small bits in the cookies when they are baked). A food processor will work best for grinding the nuts.

2 cups (4 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups sugar1 cup ground hazelnuts
1 cup ground almonds
1 tablespoon vanilla
4 cups pastry flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer using a paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using a hand mixer, cream the butter with sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl periodically.
2. Gently fold the ground hazelnuts into the butter mixture until evenly combined, then fold in the ground almonds thoroughly.
3. Stir in the vanilla. Gently add the flour, 1 cup at a time, until thoroughly mixed. Slowly add the cocoa until combined. The dough will be very thick at this point, and you should easily be able to roll a small amount into a ball.
4. Shape the dough into a flat disc and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate dough at least two hours, but preferably overnight.
5. Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Roll the dough to one-half-inch thickness between 2 sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap (this keeps the dough from sticking to the rolling pin and alleviates the need for flouring). Cut hearts or other-shaped cookies approximately 2 1/2 inches in diameter, and place the cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake the cookies until puffed slightly and set on top, about 15 minutes. Rotate the cookies halfway through for even heating and coloring.
6. Remove the cookies, still on their sheets, to a rack to cool completely before serving (they're fragile just out of the oven and will crumble if moved while still warm).

Each cookie: 317 calories; 4 grams protein; 35 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams fiber; 20 grams fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 40 mg. cholesterol; 3 mg. sodium.

jade chocolates: promotional code

jade is a fabulous chocolate manufacturer based out of san francisco. you should definitely try their creations... your taste buds will definitely be taken to new adventures.

click here to read past reviews - the dried mango dipped in chocolate is pictured above

use the code 'redhearts' for a 15% discount until february 17th.
www.jadechocolates.com

cholive: the cholive

brewing, manufacturing, frommage... who knew milwaukee would throw us a curve with chocolate? with a ganache center covered by a hard chocolate barrel, the chocolate olive is to accompany your favorite libation. a skewer easily pokes through the cholive for the perfect garnish - - - i like the way this drinking town thinks.

no olives were harmed in the making of the cholive.

i created a black russian with grills for my cholive… the recipe follows...


2 parts vodka
1 part kahlua
put into an ice filled shaker
shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, pour
dust with gold leaf and add a cholive

first sign of chocolate in ancient U.S. found

attention all snobs... add this to your noesis!

Cylinder jars excavated from Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon suggest residents were drinking chocolate as part of a ritual. Twelve jars, shown here, are housed in the Smithsonian Institution Department of Anthropology. Photo courtesy of American Antiquity.


By Jeanna Bryner, Senior Writer

Chocolate residues left on ancient jars mark cacao's earliest known presence north of what is now the U.S.-Mexico border.

The residues, found on pottery shards excavated from a large pueblo (called Pueblo Bonito) in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico, suggest the practice of drinking chocolate had traveled from what is now Mexico to the American Southwest by about 1,000 years ago.

Scientists have known about the early uses of chocolate in Mesoamerica, with evidence for rituals involving liquid drinks made from cacao beans dating back more than 1,000 years. (Mesoamerica extends from central Mexico to Honduras and Nicaragua.)

Chocolate debut

Now, researchers think a similar ritual may have taken place in villages in Chaco Canyon. Patricia Crown of the University of New Mexico and Jeffrey Hurst of the Hershey Center for Health and Nutrition found traces of theobromine, which is in the Theobroma cacao plant that bears beans from which chocolate is made, on the shards. (The Hershey Center was established by the Hershey Company in 2006.)

And Crown and Hurst suspect the shards came from cylinder jars, which measure an average of 10 inches tall (25 cm) and 4 inches (10 cm) wide. Only 200 such cylinder jars are known in the Southwest United States, almost all of which come from Pueblo Bonito.

Scientists have put forth various explanations for how the jars were used, including as containers to hold exotic items like turquoise and as drums (with a skin cover).

"If it was the form specifically used for drinking cacao, that would explain why it's such a specialized form," Crown said, referring to the jars.

In Mesoamerica, residents would make the drinks by grinding up roasted cacao beans and adding hot or cool water. Sometimes other ingredients, such as honey for sweetening, cornmeal and even chili peppers, were added. The researchers are not sure if any other ingredients were mixed in with the Chaco Canyon drinks.

Chocolate trade

Since the cacao plant is tropical and can't be grown in New Mexico and other places in the United States, the researchers think the chocolate beans came from Mesoamerica, with the closest source being about 1,240 miles (2,000 km) away from the Chaco site.

Next, Crown and Hurst hope to test wooden sticks found at the site for chocolate residues. The sticks have loops at the bottom, and Crown says perhaps they were used to stir and froth the chocolate drinks.

"An important thing in Mesoamerica was stirring it up so it had a froth in it," Crown told LiveScience. "The froth was considered the most delicious part of the drink."

The research pair also wants to analyze other material from different time periods and areas in the Southwest.

"It is the first known cacao north of the Mexican border in the United States, and as far as I know the only known cacao in the United States before contact," Crown said, referring to the time before European settlement of the area. "Unfortunately it's also the only cacao residue study that anyone has done using U.S. materials, so we need to find out how widespread chocolate was prior to contact in the American Southwest."

The new research is detailed this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, National Geographic Society, University of New Mexico and Hershey's Technical Center, among others.

surfas inc.: catánies

surfas is probably the best commercial kitchen supply and goods store in LA.  at checkout, they had a very simple clear plastic box containing roughly ten chocolate nuggets.  along with the herbes du provence dried olives and belgium pearl sugar, the nuggets got in my shopping basket.

there really was no information on the chocolate package except for the ingredients, the name of the product, and the name of the store.  despite the packaging, after one bite you are taken to paraiso! the little chocolate complex treasure has a soft chocolate exterior that envelopes hazelnut marzipan around a caramel coated marcona almond. delicioso!  

get them.

trader joe's: swiss milk chocolate with 30% whole hazelnuts

delicious! trader von liesl claims that the bar has "incomparable flavor" yet, somehow it tastes just like villars chocolate with hazelnuts. do tell... the bar even has the matching edelweiss imprint on the chocolate. if you are going to repackage and call it your own, demonstrate a tad bit more contrast, give credit, or get a new copywriter.

365 organic: 54% cacaoswiss dark chocolate with mint crisps

pulverized tic-tac's blended into mediocre chocolate with borderline bloom is not my idea of delectation. i must not forget to mention that there is a kind of creepy aftertaste as well. if you do bother to try it, you might want to go better than bad and pick up a box of after eights instead.

i keep telling myself not to buy organic...

love is in the air: free cookie with suffrage

i am pleased to announce the union of eric of fresh & easy to melissa of essential chocolate desserts.

if you pop on over to the westside of los angeles (brandishing your "i voted" sticker) to essential chocolate desserts, you will be rewarded with a free cookie. this offer is good on tuesday or wednesday.

Essential Chocolate Desserts, Inc.
10868 Washington Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232
310-287-0699

happy day of the dead: vosges promo code

the origins of day of the dead (where spirits of the dead return to earth to be with their families and loved ones) date back thousands of years to an aztecan festival celebrating the "lady of the dead". revelry at cemeteries is spent creating memorial altars and imbibing with interred relatives and friends.

might i recommend spending this month with vosges aztecan inspired chocolates?

vosges has extended a 10% discount to all chocolate snob readers for the month of november. website purchases from nov 1st to nov 30th will receive a discount as long as you remember to enter the promo code 2810WB1 at checkout. vosgeschocolate.com

chocolate snob is now a mrs.

i just got back from my honeymoon after a fabulous wedding (to my mr. charming) on october 25th.

in preparing for the big day, i was a tad bit absent from chocolate snob - - - the months of nuptial prep (planning, decorating, watercoloring, arranging, designing, filene's basement running, fittings, and carousing) did not go by without major guilt for not posting. regular chocolate snob updates, articles, and reviews will start to post immediately.

many kisses to all.

congratulations to our dove winners....

congratulations to our lucky 20 who will be receiving limited edition bags of dove chocolate!

the winners are:
nicole k
tvgemini
lois r
michelle a
christina
rafal s
cm d
billie m
susan a
heather s
bronwyn h
true west home
daniella p
dean l
w senkus
karen i
denise y
alex w
john b
taryn f

for those of who did not send me your address (you know who you are) please do so.

again, congrats!

dove chocolate - GIVEAWAY

the dove chocolate center of excellence is having a great unveiling and i have 20 limited edition bags of dove chocolate to give away to the first 20 entries.

hurry...

please email chocolate-snob by october 6th.



on a personal note, please check out dove's parent information on cocoa sustainability - fascinating...



fine print...
each prize is a limited edition and worth $40.
the contest ends on october 6th.
eligibility can be 21+ and residents of the 50 us and dc.
the winner’s names will be posted on chocolate-snob and can also be received through correspondence with chocolate-snob.
the longer version of the official rules...

cadbury recalls 11 products from sale in china as tainted milk scandal grows

your chocolate should only list a few ingredients on the back (cacao beans, sugar, cocoa butter, pure cane sugar, and vanilla) and it definitely should not include melamine. read your labels very carefully and buy your chocolate from artisans and countries that have a history of producing quality products.

ben steele and agencies guardian.co.uk, monday september 29 2008 11:14 bst article history


the british chocolate maker cadbury today said it was recalling 11 product ranges from sale in china as the country's tainted milk scandal continued to grow.

the withdrawals come over fears that the products could contain the chemical melamine, which can cause kidney stones and lead to kidney failure.

contaminated milk products have killed four chinese babies and made tens of thousands of others ill. melamine can be added to milk to hide the fact that it has been watered down.

in a statement, cadbury said tests carried out on the chocolates had "cast doubt on the integrity of a range of our products manufactured in china".

it is not yet clear whether the tests revealed melamine, and the company said products on sale in the uk were not affected.

the recalled products – which include eclairs and dairy milk – were manufactured in the chinese capital beijing and sold in mainland china, hong kong and taiwan. one product was also exported to australia.

"we believe it is appropriate to take a precautionary step to withdraw from the market all of our cadbury chocolate products that have been manufactured in beijing, pending further supply of fresh products," the cadbury statement said.

hong kong's centre for food safety appealed to people to "stop consuming the chocolate products concerned", adding: "we would alert the trade to stop selling the affected products."

two us manufacturers are already investigating indonesian claims that high traces of melamine were found in oreo wafers, m&ms and snickers imported from china.

the indonesian food and drug monitoring agency said a dozen allegedly tainted products distributed nationwide, including those brands, had repeatedly tested positive last week.

kraft foods and mars said they were adhering to a recall order, but stressed that the same products had been cleared of melamine in other asian countries. the eu has banned all imported baby food from china.