Let's Talk Pro-Chocolate: Real Kinds We Like, How We Eat/Use Them
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I had a meeting with a nutritionist today to ensure that I am eating correctly to maintain bone density given my history with chemo/early menopause/shrinking and now being slightly underweight (she is working on that too —this sort of makes me feel ridiculous after weight loss that I can’t gain/sustain weight when I know full well how to do it…. But that is another issue).
She recommended a calcium and vitamin D supplement called Adora that comes in the form of individually wrapped dark or milk chocolates. It is made by a chocolatier and available at Whole Foods, Wegmans and other better grocery chains as well as online. I bought some of the dark chocolate and they are similar to the dove candies, Really pretty good. I am supposed to have 2-3 a day (ideally not all at once) to get 1200 mg of calcium.3 -
@Sinisterbarbie1 I can get behind Vitamin Chocolate. This product has my full endorsement. 😂2
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My friend gave me produce last week. Among the pile was some parsnips. One was just plain HUGE. Probably tough. But I thought it might be edible.
I cut the top thick part off, chopped it up, and added it to a pot of black beans I'm cooking. I've never used parsnip in a bean pot. I still added the regular savory ingredients, but this is new and just because I had it.
But that has nothing to do with chocolate.
I took the rest of the parsnip and decided to roast it. I usually toss with oil, salt, pepper, and whatever spices I like. Usually some hot chile, which I added. This time, and I have no idea why, I added a spoon of Dutch Process cocoa powder.
They are surprisingly delicious. I think the sweetness of the parsnips pairs well with the chocolate flavor of the cocoa powder. I have no idea why I did this, but it fits. I think it's @AnnPT77 who made me even consider it by writing about using it as a savory flavor additive. And so it is. And yum - it almost tastes like roasted banana or plantain. Tasty!6 -
One of my fav chocolate bars .. and now they do a set of their 3 darkest. I usually end up leaving Whole Foods with a few of these. 🤎
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Oh look, my new favorite thread! I LOVE chocolate in all forms..... my favorite chocolate bar is
I like the salty flavor best, but they're all good. It's expensive though, and hard to find locally, so it's an occasional splurge. Second favorite is Endangered Species brand.
Lately I've been buying dark chocolate covered almonds--I justify it by getting that tiny little source of protein, lol. DH likes dark chocolate covered coffee beans.
I'm pretty good at rationing my chocolate (most of the time) but DH on the other hand is a chocolate monster. Any chocolate in the house, including my chocolate chip stash for baking, is not safe....2 -
Omg yes, have you had the Forest Feast salted dark chocolate roasted almonds? They are so so good!
Dangerous though… too easy to scoff uncontrollably in a moment of weakness.2 -
Chocolate Truffles. Fun to make and eat- this is totally my jam. Just top with your favorite extras. I have a HARD time buying chocolates now.
Yield: About 1½ cups ganache, or 24 truffles
⅞cup heavy cream
8ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped
Unsweetened cocoa powder as needed
Be sure to chill for a least an hour
Step 1
Heat cream in a pot until it steams. Put chocolate in a bowl, pour hot cream on top, and stir until chocolate is melted and incorporated into cream.
Step 2
Chill until solid all the way through, 1 to 2 hours. Using a chilled melon baller or latex gloves to prevent the ganache from melting or sticking to your hands, scoop out about a tablespoonful and quickly roll it into a ball. Repeat, lining truffles on a plate or a baking sheet.
Step 3
If truffles become too soft to handle, place them in refrigerator or freezer for a few minutes. Roll them in cocoa powder, confectioners’ sugar or a mixture of sugar and ground cinnamon. Serve immediately or store, wrapped in plastic, in refrigerator for up to four days1 -
no1racefan2 wrote: »Oh look, my new favorite thread! I LOVE chocolate in all forms..... my favorite chocolate bar is
I like the salty flavor best, but they're all good. It's expensive though, and hard to find locally, so it's an occasional splurge. Second favorite is Endangered Species brand.
Lately I've been buying dark chocolate covered almonds--I justify it by getting that tiny little source of protein, lol. DH likes dark chocolate covered coffee beans.
I'm pretty good at rationing my chocolate (most of the time) but DH on the other hand is a chocolate monster. Any chocolate in the house, including my chocolate chip stash for baking, is not safe....
I just saw this in the store today - They only had Hazelnut Dark Chocolate and the Salty Dark. I was tempted, but it was $8...however, now with your indorsement....I just might have to get one☺️ (I'm easily persuaded when it comes to dark chocolate though lol!)1 -
Chocolate Truffles. Fun to make and eat- this is totally my jam. Just top with your favorite extras. I have a HARD time buying chocolates now.
Yield: About 1½ cups ganache, or 24 truffles
⅞cup heavy cream
8ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped
Unsweetened cocoa powder as needed
Be sure to chill for a least an hour
Step 1
Heat cream in a pot until it steams. Put chocolate in a bowl, pour hot cream on top, and stir until chocolate is melted and incorporated into cream.
Step 2
Chill until solid all the way through, 1 to 2 hours. Using a chilled melon baller or latex gloves to prevent the ganache from melting or sticking to your hands, scoop out about a tablespoonful and quickly roll it into a ball. Repeat, lining truffles on a plate or a baking sheet.
Step 3
If truffles become too soft to handle, place them in refrigerator or freezer for a few minutes. Roll them in cocoa powder, confectioners’ sugar or a mixture of sugar and ground cinnamon. Serve immediately or store, wrapped in plastic, in refrigerator for up to four days
I experimented with whipping my ganache (electric mixer) before chilling, enough to lighten up, not enough to turn the cream into butter (if that's even possible?). I liked the results a lot - made them that way every time, afterward. YMMV.2 -
Chocolate Truffles. Fun to make and eat- this is totally my jam. Just top with your favorite extras. I have a HARD time buying chocolates now.
Yield: About 1½ cups ganache, or 24 truffles
⅞cup heavy cream
8ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped
Unsweetened cocoa powder as needed
Be sure to chill for a least an hour
Step 1
Heat cream in a pot until it steams. Put chocolate in a bowl, pour hot cream on top, and stir until chocolate is melted and incorporated into cream.
Step 2
Chill until solid all the way through, 1 to 2 hours. Using a chilled melon baller or latex gloves to prevent the ganache from melting or sticking to your hands, scoop out about a tablespoonful and quickly roll it into a ball. Repeat, lining truffles on a plate or a baking sheet.
Step 3
If truffles become too soft to handle, place them in refrigerator or freezer for a few minutes. Roll them in cocoa powder, confectioners’ sugar or a mixture of sugar and ground cinnamon. Serve immediately or store, wrapped in plastic, in refrigerator for up to four days
I experimented with whipping my ganache (electric mixer) before chilling, enough to lighten up, not enough to turn the cream into butter (if that's even possible?). I liked the results a lot - made them that way every time, afterward. YMMV.
I’ll check back with pics when I try, can’t believe I never thought of this.0 -
It's only slightly chocolate, but hey, it's my thread
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I made a whole bunch of homemade banana chocolate chip cookies for a Spring clean/open house event at my rowing club yesterday. I gave some cookies to my 80 y/o neighbor Bob (who does lots of things for me, including snow-blowing my huge driveway often in Winter), dropped off some to another rowing buddy post-event (she couldn't be at the boathouse because movers coming). There were still a few left, even though I don't think they were terrible (to say the least, if I may be so bold).
So I made myself an ice cream sandwich, with some vanilla bean ice cream. 😋
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Probably I'm secretly bumping this thread out of a deeply-hidden impulse to make trouble at holiday time, but I'm not that great at self-psychoanalysis so . . . .
I'm here to report that I found the Bouchard dark chocolates at Costco again, presumably as part of their holiday festivities. We'd discussed them earlier in the thread. Only 28 calories per small individually-wrapped chocolate, very dark, rich-tasting, minimal sweetness.
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Thanks for bumping, @AnnPT77; this thread deserves pride of place. And since ‘tis the season, I’ll take this opportunity to promote my favourite chocolate provider, Peace By Chocolate, founded by a Syrian refugee family who made a new life in small-town Nova Scotia after losing everything, including their chocolate factory, in the war. The chocolate is amazing, and I believe they now ship globally.
https://peacebychocolate.ca/2 -
I just discovered there is a See’s holiday pop up store not five miles from me.
Heaven help me.2 -
Made a trip to the Oh MI mothership today. Calories ahead . . . . but so good.
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Funny I picked tonight to have a sweet chocolate decaf.
I can't drink coffee after about noon or 13:00 or it affects my sleep, but I really wanted one after dinner. That doesn't happen often. I decided I might as well also make it dessert.
This time of year I always pre-heat my mug. Then I put in some brown sugar and a very large spoon of unsweetened cocoa powder, mixed it up with a tiny bit of boiling water, and made a pour-over decaf on top of that.
It was really really delicious. Hit the spot.
Yes I know chocolate has some caffeine. I hope I still can sleep.1 -
Funny I picked tonight to have a sweet chocolate decaf.
I can't drink coffee after about noon or 13:00 or it affects my sleep, but I really wanted one after dinner. That doesn't happen often. I decided I might as well also make it dessert.
This time of year I always pre-heat my mug. Then I put in some brown sugar and a very large spoon of unsweetened cocoa powder, mixed it up with a tiny bit of boiling water, and made a pour-over decaf on top of that.
It was really really delicious. Hit the spot.
Yes I know chocolate has some caffeine. I hope I still can sleep.
The Oh MI shop I just posted about has a thing they call "Choffee". I had one today. It's brewed coffee (they made a new pot fresh for me!), and the customer chooses one of their coconut-oil based chocolates to have melted into the cup of coffee. Today, I went classic and chose a mint chocolate: The shop is in a big mint-growing area, and those chocolates have local mint oil. Yum.0 -
Funny I picked tonight to have a sweet chocolate decaf.
I can't drink coffee after about noon or 13:00 or it affects my sleep, but I really wanted one after dinner. That doesn't happen often. I decided I might as well also make it dessert.
This time of year I always pre-heat my mug. Then I put in some brown sugar and a very large spoon of unsweetened cocoa powder, mixed it up with a tiny bit of boiling water, and made a pour-over decaf on top of that.
It was really really delicious. Hit the spot.
Yes I know chocolate has some caffeine. I hope I still can sleep.
The Oh MI shop I just posted about has a thing they call "Choffee". I had one today. It's brewed coffee (they made a new pot fresh for me!), and the customer chooses one of their coconut-oil based chocolates to have melted into the cup of coffee. Today, I went classic and chose a mint chocolate: The shop is in a big mint-growing area, and those chocolates have local mint oil. Yum.
That sounds tasty too.
The only thing I don't like about using cocoa powder is that I have to keep stirring it or it settles back out on the bottom. I don't mind, but I have to remember to do it before I take another sip. Our food co-op sells buttons of chocolate liquor. I have bought them before, and I should get some more. I bet they would stay in suspension better. Plus, they still have the cocoa butter. Cocoa powder is just the solids without the cocoa butter. But I ~have~ the cocoa powder in the house!
I think the chocolate liquor buttons are tasty on their own even though they aren't sweetened. I have a low tolerance for sweet anymore. Another thing that you can do with them to make a tasty snack is crush them up a little and mix them with some dried fruit (cranberries or cherries are great) and maybe some nuts (slightly busted-up Oregon hazelnuts and walnuts). Leave it in the sun or some warm place for them to sort of melt together, then let solidify again. You can even just spread them on a tray and put them in a warm oven. Bust it back up and they are pretty tasty. As a bonus, chocolate liquor has protein, calcium, iron, and fiber.2 -
Sooo lately I’ve been eating total garbage milk chocolate Hersey Kisses and loving every single one.
Hard for a former chocolate snob to admit!
i love junk chocolate!
i've just discovered that if you make a serving of jello cook and serve chocolate pudding and add 1 hershey's zero sugar piece it's really really good! i like york zero sugar peppermint patties, but i didn't like 'em in pudding.1 -
My son-in-law is from Ann Arbor, MI and shares with us a chocolate chunk sourdough loaf from Zingerman's Bakery that his parents send him. Yum. Since I make all my own sourdough bread, I tried to replicate it using Trader Joe's 72% bittersweet chocolate as an inclusion to the standard Tartine Bakery loaf. Yummm. Not sure how it compares directly since I didn't have both on hand at the same time. Nice dessert with a spread of kerry gold butter on it.1
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Y'know, I posted this on the cheese thread, but I think I should post it here, too. It is soooo good: I went back and bought more, have been eating an ounce (+/-) most every day since.
The word "decadent" on the label is IMO not an oversell. It's not super-sweet, but it is very rich. Other so-called chocolate cheese I've had is like dense fudge. This has a texture like other goat cheese, but a lovely chocolate cherry flavor.
(Apologies for the fuzzy photos; you get the idea.)
The ingredients are non-fake-y: Goat cheese (goat's milk, salt, enzymes), semi sweet chocolate chips (cane sugar, unsweetened chocolate, cocoa butter), honey, dried cherries (cherries, cane sugar, rice flower, sunflower oil), cocoa (processed with alkali), natural flavor (which I'd bet includes cherry, because there's a noticeable but not overwhelming flavor of cherry). It's 5g added sugar per ounce of cheese, as if I cared, and 90 very worthwhile calories.[/quote]
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I had chocolate on my grocery list the last couple weeks. I kept looking at the aisle, but being the thrifty shopper I am, I knew I could wait until it went on sale. Today I stopped by a store for the last day a "ten bucks off if you spend forty" coupon was going to expire. I got coffee and beets and some staples that will last on the shelf and some yogurt and... some chocolate was half off. It's that season ya know. I got one of the Chocolove bars. Because someone reminded me that if I buy the kind with salted almonds or whatever, every gram of almond is a gram of NOT CHOCOLATE. So I just got the "Extra Strong" 77% cocoa bar. They make an "Extreme" bar with 88% cocoa. I figured maybe there's less arsenic in the 77% bar. I've had them. They are quite tasty. I wonder when I'll bust into it.
I also "had" to buy chocolate flavored protein powder (whey isolate). They have been out of the "natural" flavor of the brand I buy. It's still flavored but just a little vanilla. This stuff I bought has some sugar and chocolate flavor. I bet it will be quite tasty, and a little extra sugar probably won't hurt me since I really don't eat much at all. Well except this chocolate bar I just bought. And that really good coffee I had yesterday. One small bonus is that it has more minerals, presumably from the cocoa.2 -
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.
Aldi's Dark Chocolate Dessert Hummus tastes like frosting and has protein.
I like the CarbMaster Chocolate Milk. Lactose free, with protein, low carb--and it tastes wonderful
Hot Chocolate.
And to be honest, I like just a plain Hershey's bar, tootsie rolls, and a brownie right from the oven.
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Well...
I didn't open the chocolate bar, but I did make another "Choffee Decaf" to enjoy while I read a couple chapters before bed.
Mmmmm.1 -
Ooooh yes... Chocolove is my go-to. Ironically I get it from H & W Produce. They also stock a small selection of local things, hard to find things, and specialty things in one corner of the store, and there it is. I usually have a bar of the almond/toffee/sea salt in dark chocolate one in my lunch bag for work. 3 squares of that is enough to keep me away from the cheap bars in the vending machine.1
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[/quote]Y'know, I posted this on the cheese thread, but I think I should post it here, too. It is soooo good: I went back and bought more, have been eating an ounce (+/-) most every day since.
The word "decadent" on the label is IMO not an oversell. It's not super-sweet, but it is very rich. Other so-called chocolate cheese I've had is like dense fudge. This has a texture like other goat cheese, but a lovely chocolate cherry flavor.
(Apologies for the fuzzy photos; you get the idea.)
The ingredients are non-fake-y: Goat cheese (goat's milk, salt, enzymes), semi sweet chocolate chips (cane sugar, unsweetened chocolate, cocoa butter), honey, dried cherries (cherries, cane sugar, rice flower, sunflower oil), cocoa (processed with alkali), natural flavor (which I'd bet includes cherry, because there's a noticeable but not overwhelming flavor of cherry). It's 5g added sugar per ounce of cheese, as if I cared, and 90 very worthwhile calories.
Wow! I bet that tastes awesome.. just had a blueberry goat cheese from Trader Joe’s and now I’m into all the creative goat cheese!
My latest go to for dark chocolate emergencies:
Any other super dark chocolate lovers out there?
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The looks so good!
https://youtu.be/iIC-ihUrCro?si=r-KaqZtxcDHIvOv8
I looked hot cocoa and love dates! I use coco powder and dates in recipes.
I would love a thick, solid piece of dark chocolate right now... lol. At home I have mini sugar free dark chocola5e chips I got from Sprouts bulk section. I keep them in fridge and pop a few when I want to have something.chocolatey2 -
I keep a stash of these handy for the post-dinner sweet tooth moment… they’re surprisingly good for 77 calories!
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For me the perfect balance of dark and sweet:
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