Black Hound Chocolate Truffles

An old college friend, who currently lives in NYC, came to visit last week and gave me a lovely wooden box of truffles from Black Hound.

Chocolatiers usually fall into two categories: those who leave their truffles naked and those who enrobe them.  Black Hound is in the former camp.

They make a delicious, silky, bittersweet version, with Belgian chocolate, that is everything a purist would love.  It’s bite-sized, has the perfect amount of give, texturally, in that it is almost chewy, but melts at body temperature.  The light dusting of cocoa, typical of a traditional French truffle reduces stickiness, and enhances the robust chocolate flavor.

According to the tag, you can also buy these flavored with: Grand Marnier, Framboise, Kahlua, Bourbon, Calvados, Rum,  and Orange Zest, all of which sound tantalizing.

I also tried the milk chocolate truffles.  They boasted the same textural appeal, but were much sweeter.

CocoaBerries: Strawberry & Blueberry

My sister and I were talking about blue food the other day.  She was telling me about a smoothie she makes with blueberries and how she adds them for eye appeal. I said that as much as I love blueberries I would leave them out because purple food isn’t appetizing.  That was until I had one of Rubicon Bakery’s CocoaBerries in Blueberry.  The flavor and fabulously light, crunchy texture  eclipsed my former reaction to purple hues.   The true blueberry taste comes from freeze dried berries and natural flavor. The chocolate is Guittard Dark.  I loved the strawberry rendition of this treat, and the pink color was very appealing.  The balance of flavor, texture, and just the right amount of chocolate all worked to produce a very satisfying little mouthful.  I was surprised because I generally do not gravitate towards “light” foods.   Light and satisfying seem mutually exclusive to me, but these were an exception.  A glass of champagne with a few CocoaBerries would make a great summer dessert, they would be a wonderful addition to a cookie tray, or on top of a sundae.

Here’s the real kicker: CocoaBerries are made by people overcoming economic and social hurdles, such as homelessness, and emotional problems.  Their motto is “Treat yourself! Transform lives!”  As if you needed more reasons to try such yummy morsels.  

Lucky us, the Rubicon Bakery has an on-line store (www.rubiconbakery.com) where $14.99 gets you three bags of CocoaBerries.

Earth’s Sweet Pleasures Dark Organic Fudge 65%

 

As a  self-diagnosed chocoholic I am smitten by chocolate in all its renditions, with a strong predilection for dark bars with nuts.   Imagine my delight at sampling Earth’s Sweet Pleasure’s Rich Rainforest Dark Fudge with Walnuts.  Usually, fudge is too mild for me.  Not this.  Their use of 65% organic, fair trade chocolate gives it an intensity lacking in most other fudge products. For that, alone, it deserves accolades. The texture is creamy and firm, but still sweet. As you know, the typical product is soft, cloyingly sweet, and bland. All their ingredients are organic, which is especially important when buying anything with dairy as the jury’s still out on the effects of antibiotics and bovine growth hormones (typically given to cows) on humans.  Actually, one reason I have avoided fudge in the past is I didn’t want those additives in my diet.

This comes with and without walnuts.  As I am partial to nuts, I enjoyed that one more.  My only quibble is I prefer an abundance of nuts rather than a sprinkling.  That said, I found it a nice departure from my steady diet of dark bars.  If you love fudge Earth’s Sweet Pleasures is an affordable treat at $11.95 for half a pound or $19.95 a pound.  You can find them at EarthsSweetPleasures.com

Cholive: Chocolate Covered Olive-Shaped Truffles for Martinis

What a whimsical product! A semi-sweet chocolate covered truffle in an olive shape, with its own little adorable skewer.  If I were a bartender I’d jump on these in a flash.

As for the truffle itself, it is perfectly good but not extraordinary.  It doesn’t have to be.  The whole idea is captivating. There are accompanying recipes for a cholivtini and a chocolate malt martini; both sound divine.  If you’re into making martinis at home this takes them up a notch, and your chocoholic friends will be blown away. 

If you’re bored with the traditional Valentine’s Day gift of chocolates in a heart-shaped box, surprise your Sweetie with a tin of Cholives. You’ll certainly get points for creativity, and the chocolate part makes them a safe bet. Find them at www.thecholive.com

Dove Origins Dominican Republic 61%

All Dove chocolate has a certain generic quality.  I thought this Dominican Republic bar might have a greater chance of being interesting, but it was in the same league as other Dove products: bland and incredibly smooth.  I love a silky texture as much as the next chocolate hedonist, but usually when it’s paired with complexity.  

The problem is they know their audience.  People who buy Dove chocolate want that creamy texture and no challenge.  Let’s face it: someone who loves a Pralus bar is not going to wax rhapsodic about Dove’s offerings.  Why did I try it?  I was pretty sure it would be blah, but hope springs eternal.  I thought there was a chance they could have pushed through the envelope of past recipes for success to introduce their customers to something different. Alas, that was not the case.  

I don’t need a pedigree on my chocolate, but it does have to be delicious.  Delicious may mean many things (like novel, assertive, or complex), but banal isn’t one of them.

Knipschildt Chocopologie Bar with Burnt Caramel and Hawaiian Sea Salt

This great little bar from Knipschildt is made of 71% Ecuadorian single bean chocolate, with a thin layer of caramel (I couldn’t discern any “burnt” taste), and a random sprinkling of Hawaiian sea salt on the bottom.  It’s a tad salty for my taste, and there’s a dearth of caramel, but, in spite of those criticisms, I enjoyed it, and found it very satisfying.  I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but the better the chocolate the less it takes to sate my cravings. This is a high quality bar, and pretty, as they marble a small amount of burnt-caramel-colored white chocolate across the top of the 12 squares.  The packaging isn’t particularly remarkable, with its small photograph of what I can only assume is a pile of sea salt, but don’t let that deter you.  

I found it at JFK airport for $10.00 for four ounces, but you can get it from their website for $9.00.  There are three other flavors in this “Chocopologie” line (mint leaves, “mocha coffee,” and rose water, each with a different  single bean chocolate). It was a bit of a splurge, but worth it for the experience. No chocopology needed.

Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Roasted Pistachio Toffee

There are only a few ingredients here: bittersweet chocolate, pistachios, sugar and butter, but they all come together in a rapturous experience of crunch, sweetness and nuttiness.  The plethora of pistachios adds visual enjoyment, the price ($3.99 for almost half a pound) makes them an affordable indulgence.

As with all toffees I have ever sampled, the predominant taste is the buttery, crisp toffee.  Perhaps, one day, someone will make this with a thick coating of Valrhona dark chocolate, and loads of pistachios in the toffee itself. Until that fantasy is realized I will be happy to eat Trader Joe’s rendition.

Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Almonds with Sea Salt and Turbinado Sugar

The thought of those four ingredients: dark chocolate, roasted almonds, sea salt and turbinado sugar got my attention, but Trader Joe’s didn’t deliver on this one.

Dark chocolate does lend itself to harmonize with sea salt, however, the sea salt here is applied with a heavy hand and overpowers the almonds and chocolate. The turbinado sugar was scarce, and the almonds not as crunchy as I like them.  Definitely not a winner.

Kallari Organic Chocolate: 85%, 75%, and 70%

Kallari Chocolate is grown and harvested by a cooperative of 850 Kichwa farmers in Ecuador.  All profits support sustainable health, education, and development programs, and aid the preservation of the Amazon rain forest. While I am certainly in favor of those practices, if the chocolate doesn’t taste good I ‘d rather make a charitable donation and buy other bars.  Luckily, that is not the case, as all three are delicious.

The cacao beans are a blend of several varietals, with the main flavor coming from rare Cacao Nacional de Arriba beans, a Praesidia heirloom varietal.  It’s really quite amazing how the same beans yield such different gustatory experiences.  (The sugar content per 35 grams of chocolate is 5 grams for the 85%, 9 grams for the 75%, and 11 grams for the 70%.)  If you were hosting a chocolate tasting your guests would be surprised to note the real difference a few grams of sugar makes.

The texture of the 85% bar is pretty remarkable: smooth, delicately silky, and meltingly delicious.  This is one of the easiest-to-eat super-dark bars I have ever tasted.  What it may lack in complexity it more than makes up for in mouth feel. The 75% bar is a tad sweeter, and the 70% rendition is even more sweet, though none of these is sugary.  If I wanted a very high cacao content bar, like the 85%, but had found other brands simply too bitter to eat, I would buy Kallari’s.

The packaging is lovely with a brightly colored cacao leaf in either cobalt, green, or red on each dark brown box, and every perfectly-sized small section has a pretty indented leaf design.

Available at Whole Foods stores and through kallari.com. They retail for $4.99 for 2.46 ounces.

L.A. Burdick’s White, Milk, and Dark Bars with Nuts

The dark bar with almond was my favorite.  Slightly bitter chocolate studded with a plethora of crunchy chopped almonds .  A thoroughly satisfying experience.  I kept wanting more. 

The milk with hazelnuts reminded me of Swiss chocolate as the Europeans seem to just adore their hazelnuts.  It was a bit sweet for me, but if you love this combination you won’t be disappointed. 

Let me confess, once again, I am not a fan of white chocolate.  So, it was with trepidation I approached this bar.  Somehow, the addition of pistachios changed the experience so much that I actually liked it.  I never expected to enjoy the white bar more than the milk, but I did.  If you are a white chocolate lover this is a great combination.

All three come in a rugged wood and corrugated cardboard box with a brown silk ribbon.  Attractive, re-closable, and perfect for your private stash.