For the most part, I’m a fan of Ghirardelli.   I don’t care at all for their filled chocolate bars.  They are too sweet for me.  I really like their Intense Dark Chocolate line. For being mass produced, I think the quality and the taste is exceptionally good.  I recently saw more new Ghirardelli chocolate bars on the shelf and thought I’d give them a taste.  Believe it or not, I purchased them at my local Walgreen’s pharmacy.  The line is called Luxe Milk Chocolate.  As you know, I prefer to eat, bake, cook and breathe dark chocolate, but they did something very wonderful here.  I purchased the Luxe Milk Milk and the Luxe Milk Hazelnut.

Ghirardelli Luxe Milk Milk Chocolate Bar

Let me first start with the Luxe Milk Milk.  They got it right.  The chocolate bar is wrapped in foil and it has no preservatives or artificial stuff in it.  Surprisingly, the bar has a bit of snap for a milk chocolate bar.  The surface is smooth and their trademark is crisp and readable.  The milk chocolate is incredibly smooth and melts on your tongue quickly filling your mouth with a blanket of creaminess.  One sitting.  Don’t think I need to say more.  You need to have a few of these around the house to both eat and bake with.

Ghirardelli Luxe Milk Hazelnut Chocolate Bar

Now the Luxe Milk Hazelnut.  It too had a lovely surface.  The color of the chocolate was really a beautiful latte brown.  I usually don’t comment on color when it’s milk chocolate, but it is essential here.  I was expecting a few hazelnuts here and there, boy was I surprise!  It was wall to wall hazelnuts! Smooth milk chocolate with a hint of additional roasted flavor from the hazelnuts.  That said, could you really ask for more? I think not.  Try it.  I’m sorry to say that I didn’t take a photo of this bar to show you all of the hazelnuts.  Ate it on the way home!  Photo is from the company for their small squares.  You’ll get the idea though.  It’s really quite outstanding.

Ghirardelli Sublime White Vanilla Dream Chocolate Bar

The bad news?  I also purchase a new item from Ghirardelli called Sublime White Vanilla Dream, because I’m trying to give white chocolate a chance.  I don’t discriminate.  Yuck, yuck, yuck.  Ick, ick, ick.  Don’t even think that there’s a chance you might enjoy this bar.  I got it after lunch with my mom for us to share.  We both strongly disliked it.  We both literally took a bite, started to chew and both spit it out.  I’m not going to gloss it over. It was one of the nastiest things ever.  Way too sweet.  It had not only vanilla flavoring which is completely acceptable, but vanilla beans which intrigued me.  Too much.  Way too much.  The ingredients also listed natural flavor.  Not sure what that is, but I’m guessing that it’s vanillin.  Vanillin is a natural product which comes from the sap of a pine tree and is used to cut down on cost instead of using vanilla.  A lot of companies are starting to do it.  It’s cheaper.  You can tell though.  It gives a medicinal vanilla taste to the bar which this has and it completely puts it over the top in a bad way.  The horrendous taste stayed in my mouth through the rest of the evening.  I couldn’t get rid of it.  They also use mixed tocopherols, basically vitamin E, as a preservative. A very, very bad bar.  I can’t even recommend this under the candy category.  Gross.  Too bad, because it looks beautiful with all of the vanilla bean specks.

Two stories broke this week showing, once again, that dark chocolate is a super food.  It’s health benefits just keep growing!  Keep in mind…this is dark chocolate with a cocoa content of more than 70%.

Chocolate Assortment

A German study published in the European Heart Journal showed that people who consume 7.5 grams of chocolate a day (They actually say for this particular study that milk chocolate is included.) lowered their risk of heart attack or stroke by 39%.  That’s a big difference from the original report of 2 oz for heart benefits that was reported a few years back.  Keep in mind that overall daily diet and exercise was also taken into consideration but not reported.  The center’s lead authority Brian Buijsse states that “dark chocolate exhibits the greatest effects (on health), milk chocolate fewer, and white chocolate no (good) effects.”

Dark Chocolate Bar Squares

A Spanish study presented this week at the International Liver Conference (didn’t know there was one) say that dark chocolate can help to lower blood pressure in the liver and reduce blood vessel damage.  The researchers made a point of saying that this study used chocolate with 85% cocoa content.  Dr. Heiner Wedemeyer stated that “Sugar is not good for the liver.  You have to get the good-quality chocolate.”

Divine White Chocolate Bar

Now in other news…Divine Chocolate was on Oprah!  I’m sure that spiked their sales.  That’s one of everyone’s dreams.  You do Oprah or Martha and you’re in baby!  Chris Rock’s wife Malaak was talking about giving back to the community – something she feels so strongly about that she wrote a book.  Malaak and Oprah were raving about Divine’s White Chocolate bar.  I told you.  I don’t really eat white chocolate, but Divine’s and El Rey’s  are the best I’ve ever had.  Divine Chocolate is also the first company to export an organic and fair trade cocoa from Ghana.  The company was so happy that they were mentioned on the show, they are giving away coupons!  I’ve put one here for you to give them a try or if you are familiar with them, to go buy your favorite and support the cause.

Recchiuti Confections Green Box

Recchiuti Confections in San Francisco is ushering spring in with the Festa di Primavera event on Sunday, April 18 from 4-7 pm in the Grand Hall of the Ferry Building.  That’s one beautiful place.  Don’t miss it. Tickets are $35 in advance and $40 at the door.  Everyone receives a 15% discount card to use at Rechiutti Confections.  How cool is that?  For more info 415-826-2862 or click on the  Rechiutti Confections link.

Charles Chocolates is so on the ball they’re already promoting Mother’s Day!  And why not?  You can never plan too far ahead.  Click on the link to see their Mother’s Day newsletter with suggestions.  Personallly, I always go for the edible box.  People go wild for it, it’s beautiful, tastes exceptionally good and it’s better for the environment!

Well, that’s all in the world of chocolate so far this week.  Things to look forward to: a review and lengthy discussion of Laurent Vals Chocolates and Truffle Truffle,  Stay tuned!

Willy Wonka Chocolate Waterfall

I couldn’t resist.  I was in Walgreen’s the other day and I saw Willy Wonka chocolate bars – something I had never tried before – with the enticement of a Golden Ticket contest.  Golden Ticket?  Could I meet Mr. Wonka?  Mr. Gene Wilder or Mr. Johnny Depp. It makes no difference to me.  Both fabulous actors.  Unfortunately, I did not win.

What bar did I decide to try?  The Willy Wonka Waterfall Chocolate bar.  I have to say it was decadent.  The bar is a combination of white and milk chocolate that are lightly swirled together.  The chocolate was smooth and melted in my mouth.  And yes, I would definitely buy one again.  Willy Wonka is made in Switzerland and well, the Swiss know their milk chocolate.  I don’t think I need to say more.  Try one.  Maybe you’ll get the Golden Ticket and win a trip around the world!

Recchiuti Giant Chocolate Easter Eggs

Look at these giant chocolate Easter eggs in Recchiuti Confections shop on Ferry Street in San Francisco!  I have to email him to see if he’ll send them…will let you know.

I spoke to Michael Recchiuti and he says that the eggs are only for decoration!

There’s something about spring arriving and Easter being just around the corner that makes me even more excited about chocolate!  I loved seeing what I would get in my Easter basket when I was little.  I have to say though that I was quite disappointed on three occasions:

Foiled Covered Chocolate Easter Eggs

Once I received a Fruit Nut Egg (gross at age 6) instead of my beloved Peanut Butter Egg.  It was something like 5 pounds, but I could polish that peanut butter goodness off in a week.  Pretty impressive, huh?  Needless to say, my dad ate the Fruit Nut Egg…it was his favorite.

Chocolate Easter Bunnies

Second, my mom had read something about chocolate being bad for asthma and allergies.  Oh, how far we have come!  We now know that unless you are allergic to something in the chocolate that dark chocolate is really good for both!  Imagine my face when everything in my basket was white chocolate which isn’t even really chocolate at all!  Again,  when you’re little, white chocolate doesn’t do it for you.

Easter Baskets

The third scenario was when I was delighted that the Easter bunny knew I secretly wanted to grow my own vegetable garden.  I still haven’t done it, but I still want to.  I received a lovely selection of vegetable seeds.  I was so proud when I should my parents that the Easter bunny even knew what you wanted without telling him!  My parents insisted that they were not in my basket.  They said they think the Easter bunny meant to put them in my brother’s basket (He hated vegetables and they thought this would help I suppose.)  I was terribly upset that my seeds were taken away from me.  No one seemed to care.  The seeds were never planted.  My brother is still very picky about food.  To this day my mother still thinks that a relative staying with us changed the baskets.  Unfortunately, we had no one staying with us that year.  I would have remembered as I would have had to have shared my chocolate stash, something I have to say I am still a bit stingy about doing.  Advice…parents, if you make a mistake in the basket/gift distribution…leave it and don’t say a word.

You can still buy yourself all of this exquisite Easter candy that I enjoyed as child through Anderson’s Candies in Baden, PA.  They have been around forever.  Looking at their website, I see the egg only weighs one pound.  Either they got smaller or one pound egg weighs a lot to a little person.  I’m going to go order myself one as soon as I’m done writing!  The Coconut Egg is outstanding as well, as is the Whipped Chocolate Nut Egg.  I haven’t tried any of the other ones.  Anderson’s Candies Website

Three Layer Hazelnut Torte from The Truffle Shop

The Truffle Shop has fantastic truffles, but I think I need to give this a try sometime soon…Three Layer Hazelnut Torte for $27.00 with alternating layers of rich chocolate cake and Hazel liquor and white chocolate truffle filling. http://thetruffleshop.com/zencart/

I used to get white chocolate bunnies for Easter when my mom read that chocolate is bad for asthma and allergies. I hated white chocolate! Funny thing is…dark chocolate is now found to be good for asthma and allergies and I really like high quality white chocolate. Mind you it’s not that great for you, but it is quite tasty when done right. Try Divine’s white chocolate bar. It’s to die for! So here’s some little tidbits about white chocolate.

White chocolate originates from the cocoa (cacao) plant, but it is not ‘chocolate.’ According to the FDA, to be called ‘chocolate’ a product must contain chocolate liquor, which is what gives it the biter intense chocolate flavor (and color) to dark and milk chocolates.

White chocolate contains cocoa butter, milk solids, sugar, lecithin and flavorings (usually including vanilla). Cocoa butter is the fat from cocoa beans, extracted from the cocoa beans during the process of making chocolate and cocoa powder. Cocoa butter has very little ‘chocolate’ flavor.

Cocoa butter is one of the ingredients used to make real chocolate, it is gives chocolate the ability to remain solid at room temperature, yet melt easily in the mouth.

Cocoa butter is one of the most stable fats known, containing natural antioxidants that prevent rancidity and give it a storage life of 2 to 5 years. It is used for its smooth texture in foods (including chocolate) and in cosmetics and soaps.

WHITE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

8 to 10 servings

6 eggs, separated
1 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar
1/3 cup grand Marnier or pear brandy
10 ounces high-quality white chocolate, chopped (please use a bar chocolate)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups heavy cream
Mint sprigs, shredded chocolate and/or fresh berries for garnish

1) Combine the egg yolks, sugar, and pear brandy in a small mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on high speed until the eggs become light yellow, about 5 minutes (the mixture should fall in ribbons when beaters are lifted). Transfer to the top of a double boiler over simmering water or place the mixing bowl in a saucepan of simmering water. Heat, whisking constantly, until quite thick, 4 – 5 minutes. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and set aside.

2) Melt the chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth. Remove from heat and add the chocolate to the egg mixture, stirring until smooth. Let cool to room temperature.

3) Meanwhile, in a chilled bowl beat the cream until quite stiff. Wash and dry beaters. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form but mixture is not dry. Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then gently fold in the whipped cream.

4) Spoon the mousse into 8 large wine goblets or other dessert glasses. Place in refrigerator and chill until set, at least 2 – 3 hours. Garnish before serving.