Let's Talk Pro-Chocolate: Real Kinds We Like, How We Eat/Use Them

AnnPT77 · January 2023

We don't seem to have a chocolate thread - at least not a recent one - though many people seem to like chocolate, and continue to eat some while losing weight and/or maintaining. From reading, it seems like a common strategy is to go to higher-quality chocolate, in smaller portions.

This is a thread to talk about great, amazing, wonderful chocolate that we actually personally have eaten or now eat. (I don't want it to become a repeat of the "If it didn't have calories, right now I would eat" thread, so let's stay away from random drool-y aspirational photos of chocolate pulled from the web, OK? Stick with chocolates you consume or have consumed, would recommend to others.)

But this is a pro chocolate thread, about enjoyment of chocolate. Personal chocolate-based recipes are welcome - ones you've made, liked.

To be clear, this is also not a thread for people who think chocolate is the devil, sugar is the devil, think we should never eat those, want to argue about chocolate addiction, blah blah blah. There's nothing wrong with those opinions, but this is not the thread for them, and I will flag/report any posts of that nature as a derailment of the thread (against Community Guidelines (https://www.myfitnesspal.com/community-guidelines). Anti-chocolate views are valid, but not welcome here.

If the thread as a whole turns into a grump-magnet, I will request it be deleted. Play nice, K?

Post your personal chocolate favorites, with photos if you have them, and talk about why they're great. I'll add my current absolute fave real soon now.

quiksylver296 · January 2023

I save 200-300 calories for some chocolate every night. Because I learned a long time ago that if I try to completely cut chocolate out of my diet, I freak out and binge.

And it's not fancy chocolate. Just regular drug-store candy bars. I'm easy. :laugh:

claireychn074 · January 2023

OMG now I can’t decide if this or the cheese thread is my favourite!!

Okay - mahoosive chocolate fan here, in addition to being a cheese fan. Being in the UK I do like Hotel Chocolate stuff; if often had a higher cocoa content and you get some decent flavours. They do a tasting selection with single origin bars, and those are great to really get into smokey / smooth / snap comparisons. For supermarket choc I like Lindt or Green & Blacks, but I have been known to demolish Cadbury cheap and cheerful choc. In fact, Cadbury chocolate buttons are great on my morning porridge with strawberries. Just enough sugary chocolate flavour but without the strong tang of (my usually preferred) 70% cocoa. I’m also a fan of Green and Blacks organic cocoa power for my evening drink 😀.

I got a bit excited there 😳

cwolfman13 · January 2023

I'm a Ghirardelli guy...I like dark chocolate so usually I get the 72% bars or chocolate chips as my wife also enjoys those. Every once in awhile I pick up a 86% which I enjoy but it's too much "dark" for my wife. We usually have inventory of either bars or chips in the pantry.

We also have a local chocolate shop called Eldora Chocolate and it's pretty damn amazing...usually when we're wanting something more special and/or for gifting...it's fun to just pop in and sample though too.

Eldora-Chocolate-30-70c7a7d05056a36_70c7a898-5056-a36a-0949b515bb51a9c8.jpg

Eldora-Chocolate-30-70c7a7d05056a36_70c7a898-5056-a36a-0949b515bb51a9c8.jpg

AnnPT77 · January 2023

My personal favorite Oh MI chocolates, whose mothership is in St. Johns, Michigan, USA. They're sold in some local/regional shops, but not widely, because they need to be refrigerated.

Say what? Yes, refrigerated. They're made with coconut oil, whose feature is that it melts below body temperature. How lovely is that, the slowly melting chocolate goodness in your mouth? But they also melt in your car, on your counter, etc.

Yes, they're hypoallergenic (lack many common allergens, scrupulously). All are vegetarian, some vegan. Is that why I like them? No. I don't much care, TBH.

They're in the top two, at least, of any chocolates I've ever had, for pure deliciousness. (The other competitor was chocolate truffles from a shop on Jackson square in New Orleans, decades back, way before hurricane Katrina. And Oh Mi might be better, just not positive.)

Here's a photo of some from the mothership store, where they have many flavors, adding new ones frequently. In the photo, from lower left going clockwise, the ones in the trays are Santa's Cookie, Tiramisu, Pumpkin Seed, and Chocolate Chip Cookie. The smaller one balanced in the middle is a chocolate covered cherry made with a real, delicious, juicy cordial cherry (not one of those goopy sugar-syrup things.) I put in a regular table fork for scale.

Mostly, they're chocolates with various flavorings and toppings, but a few are filled.

Only 6-8 flavors are distributed to local stores willing to deal with the refrigeration issue. This is how they look in their store packaging.

I do eat regular grocery store chocolates regularly, but these are pinnacle stuff.

SuzySunshine99 · January 2023

Bouchard Dark Belgian Chocolate. I found these at Costco once. They are small, individually wrapped pieces of high-quality chocolate. Each one is less than 30 calories and very satisfying. They must have been a one-off at Costco, because I've never seen them there again, but Amazon has them.

You know it's pretentious chocolate when it comes with instructions to eat it properly, haha.

SuzySunshine99 · January 2023

My favorite chocolate-heavy recipe...Katherine Hepburn's Brownies. These are very moist and gooey, not cake-y since there's not a lot of flour. I replace the nuts with toffee pieces (sorry, Kate).

Katharine Hepburn’s Brownies

Yield: 12 brownies
Time: About 45 minutes

½ cup cocoa
½ cup butter (1 stick)
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
¼ cup flour
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch of salt

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Melt butter in saucepan with cocoa and stir until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes, then transfer to a large bowl. Whisk in eggs, one at a time. Stir in vanilla.

3. In a separate bowl, combine sugar, flour, nuts, and salt. Add to the cocoa butter mixture. Stir until just combined.

4. Pour into a greased 8x8 inch square pan. Bake 30-35 minutes. Do not overbake; the brownies should be gooey. Let cool, then cut into bars.

AnnPT77 · January 2023

SuzySunshine99 wrote: »

Bouchard Dark Belgian Chocolate. I found these at Costco once. They are small, individually wrapped pieces of high-quality chocolate. Each one is less than 30 calories and very satisfying. They must have been a one-off at Costco, because I've never seen them there again, but Amazon has them.

You know it's pretentious chocolate when it comes with instructions to eat it properly, haha.

I got a bag of those when they were at Costco, too. I wouldn't necessarily want them to be my only chocolates, but they're really good, and satisfying despite being small. They're a good thing for me to have around as an option.

littlegreenparrot1 · January 2023

I have just opened a box of Booja booja chocolate truffles that my mum gave me for Christmas.

They are my favourites, and if you see them I encourage you to try. They are vegan and sometimes people think they must be rubbish because of that, definitely not the case. If you didn't know that I don't think you'd notice. Here in the UK they sell them in the health food shop, so they must be good right?!

A couple of those for dessert these evening, then made sure to put the box away 😆

SuzySunshine99 · January 2023

littlegreenparrot1 wrote: »

I have just opened a box of Booja booja chocolate truffles that my mum gave me for Christmas.

They are my favourites, and if you see them I encourage you to try. They are vegan and sometimes people think they must be rubbish because of that, definitely not the case. If you didn't know that I don't think you'd notice. Here in the UK they sell them in the health food shop, so they must be good right?!

A couple of those for dessert these evening, then made sure to put the box away 😆

Almost all dark chocolate is vegan, it's just not specifically labeled and marketed as plant-based.

snowflake954 · January 2023

Oh---my favorite here in Italy is a brand called Novi. I have some of their 72% chocolate everyday. There are more expensive and famous brands (looking at you Lint), but this one is fantastic. I stick it in the refrigerator and break a piece off the bar.

glassyo · January 2023

God, you're good.

And it took off so fast!

No pics but, seriously, I'll eat any chocolate. Some quality is better than others, obviously, but I'll even eat the kind they sell at the "What's that? 99 cents???? It's a miracle!" store.

Well, I'm mostly not a fan of dark chocolate so I have to be desperate.

Even if I don't like the insides (clients who buy us See's candy...thank you for NOT sending us full on boxes of chocolate covered caramels

), I'll suck that chocolate right off.

VegjoyP · January 2023

I LOVE THIS THREAD. I will be posting soon.😁 I gave dad my bar I had...

claireychn074 · January 2023

I love baking and now that I’ve played with sourdough, I’m planning on making my own chocolate truffles soon. I’ll post the pics of my attempts!

nsk1951 · January 2023

For me, my big bang is using Hershey's unsweetened natural 100% cocao powder in my porridge and using it to make chocolate pudding. Actually, my chocolate porridge's satisfy me as much as the puddings do.

Once a week or so ... it doesn't matter if the porridge base is oatmeal or cream of wheat or rice or any other grain. I'll cook it on milk instead of water and add 2 Tbsp of that chocolate powder and 1 small to medium banana to the porridge as it starts to cook and stir, stir, stir as it cooks. Sometimes I'll even add a couple of tbsp of peanut butter, but mostly not. Sometimes I'll use some other fruit instead of banana; like frozen blueberries, or frozen cranberries instead. Sometimes I'll even toss in a teaspoon of sugar.

Any way I cook it up, it's always a hearty and tasty dish that satisfies my chocolate craving in a totally blissful way; for me.

SafariGalNYC · January 2023

I love chocolate everything. There are so many brands and varieties to like. I could name at least 10.

I recently bought cacao nibs and food such as yogurt serve as a vector just for them.

In recipes for cocoa powder, savory or sweet.. I love Valrhona cocoa.
I have an old Italian recipe for oxtails from my grandmother - in - law that I use it in! I must now make it soon.

Chocolate from Modica, Italy is a fav of mine… but I have sooo many chocolate favs!

neanderthin · January 2023

Chocolate Mousse

Ingredient list

340g dark chocolate
170g unsalted butter
120ml espresso
8 large eggs, seperated
200+30g sugar
60ml dark rum
30ml water
10ml vanilla extract or 1 bean
pinch salt, 3 finger pinch

Method

Over a double boiler melt the chocolate, butter and add the espresso, water and rum and mix until well combined. Right now I'm using a 70% callebaut.

In a stand mixer or by hand whisk the 8 yolks with the 200g's of sugar until thick and pale and holds a ribbon for a few seconds. Add this to the melted chocolate and allow to cool or use an ice bath.

In a stand mixer or by hand whisk the egg whites, salt, vanilla and the other 30g's of sugar until thick and shiny. Between a medium and stiff peak. Should hold relatively steady in the whisk.

Mix a third of the whites into the chocolate mixture until well incorporated and no need to fold or be delicate here, just make sure it's well incorporated. In two applications fold and be gentle here, the remaining whites.

Either divide into serving dishes or not, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hr's or over night. Cheers

If you decide to use the vanilla bean, which would be the seeds, add to the espresso and continue with the recipe.

kshama2001 · January 2023

Thanks Ann!

I have some chocolate every day. I'm not a fan of milk chocolate, but I don't like super dark chocolate either. My sweet spot is in the 5X%, which is where Nestle dark chocolate chips falls. I like chocolate chips because I can eat them very, very slowly. Less convenient is Icelandic Chocolate bitter sweet, which is 56%, and last I knew, only available at Whole Foods, but I see they now sell on Amazon as well, for much more than at the store.

kshama2001 · January 2023

I used to belong to a food coop that bought from Equal Exchange a few times per year. Here are a few recipes using at least cocoa powder:

Stovetop Chocolate Coconut Macaroons https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/228563/stovetop-chocolate-coconut-macaroons/ (I double the cocoa)

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cake https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/218622/zucchini-chocolate-chip-cake/ (also double the cocoa)

Chocolate cookies "chocolatey to the point of madness" https://www.nigella.com/recipes/totally-chocolate-chocolate-chip-cookies

nossmf · January 2023

I typically enjoy chocolate in small amounts. For right before bed, my freezer keeps a stock of Hershey bar miniatures, which only require 1-2 (~50 calories) to enjoy the taste. As a mid-afternoon snack, I sometimes will take semi-sweet chocolate chips, measure out 1/4 cup into a sandwich bag, and eat them (here's the key part) one...chip...at...a...time. The semi-sweet nature means they get progressively less tasty as you eat more, if you take your time.

But some nights just require a large chocolate dessert. For these occasions, I cannot proclaim loudly enough how much I love Haagen-Dazs chocolate-chocolate chip ice cream:

AnnPT77 · January 2023

Speaking of truffle recipes, this is my favorite, but with two changes, one of which is IMO very important.

(Speckled recipes are the best, right?)

Changes:

1. Optional: Don't worry about enrobing the finished truffles in chocolate. Easier to simply roll in cocoa, fine dessicated coconut, finely chopped nuts, or something like that. If you do this, be sure to use half the chocolate from the ingredients list, or the texture will be wrong - the other half would've been for the coating. Also, dipping them in heated chocolate to coat will interfere with item #2 below, the important change.

2. Very important: After the cream, chocolate and butter are whisked together, beat them with a mixer until the volume increases and the mixture is light and fluffy, then chill. It will be very melty when you form the balls, so use a spoon or small scoop, work quickly, and drop them onto the coating and roll to coat. Your fingers will be coated with chocolate. Too bad you'll have to lick them off, wash your hands for the sake of truffle hygiene, then resume. When they're done, chill again, and keep chilled until ready to serve.

Observation: Kirsch can be varied to liqueur or extract of your choice in a reasonable quantity for its flavor-strength.

Recipe is from the book Chocolate Cooking, edited by Judy Ridgeway, copyright 1978, 1984 edition, purchased on remainder a zillion years ago not long after the edition came out.

No, this is not the only chocolate cookbook I own, why do you ask?

glassyo wrote: »

God, you're good.

And it took off so fast!

(snip)

Almost as if there were a hunger for such a thread, eh?

Let's Talk Pro-Chocolate: Real Kinds We Like, How We Eat/Use Them

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