Chocolate Recipes
Welcome to my chocolate recipes page, friends. Unsurprisingly, this is one of the largest categories on the blog, because everyone loves chocolate.
If you'd like to learn more about chocolate and get some recommendations for some of my favorite chocolate recipes on the site, read on.
If you'd just like to browse the offerings, simply click the link below.
GO STRAIGHT TO POSTS
About Chocolate
Chocolate, my friends, is an amazing ingredient.
It’s one of those food items that undergoes such an exhaustive processing that it makes me wonder who thought to actually eat it in the first place!
I mean, the stuff has to ferment and then get roasted before it even starts to taste like chocolate.
Maybe there was a random jungle fire at just the right time? Who knows.
First Uses of Chocolate
Chocolate, which originated in Mexico, does have a fascinating history, and was first put in savory/spicy dishes.
Which is why you should always add a bit of chocolate or cocoa powder to your chili, as a nod to Quetzalcoatl and his lot. But that’s another story.
Chocolate Under the Microscope
I want to focus on what chocolate, as it is used in the pastry kitchen, is.
If you could look at a piece of chocolate under the microscope, you would see that it is comprised of extremely wee particles of cocoa and sugar distributed evenly and suspended in fat.
The fat portion of chocolate should be cocoa butter. No palm kernel oil. No coconut oil. Just cocoa butter. The reason for this is mainly mouthfeel.
Cocoa butter melts at exactly body temperature, 98.6 degrees, F. That’s why, when you bite into a piece of chocolate it changes smoothly from a solid to a rich, unctuous liquid. It makes us sigh with pleasure.
Chocolate products made with other fats just make our mouths feel waxy. Which do you prefer?
Dark Chocolate
Let’s focus on dark chocolate for a minute.
Unsweetened chocolate is just that. It contains cocoa solids, cocoa butter, maybe an emulsifier to hold it all together and some vanilla.
Other dark chocolates, such as semi-sweet or bittersweet contain those ingredients, plus varying amounts of sugar.
One ounce of unsweetened chocolate can be twice as chocolaty as one ounce of semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate because it contains more cocoa solids–the “room” in the ounce isn’t full of sugar.
While “semi-sweet” and “bittersweet” chocolate are more or less interchangeable, be careful when substituting either for unsweetened chocolate.
To get the same amount of chocolate flavor, you’ll probably have to use a bunch more, or supplement with cocoa powder.
What's Your Pleasure?
Now that you know a bit about chocolate, what recipes can I help you find?
I have some delicious chocolate cake, like my chocolate Halloween cake and my mint chocolate sheetcake. Both are quite easy to make and both are rich and delicious.
One of my favorite chocolate cake recipes on the site is my chocolate stout cake. I used to make it at the restaurant, and I was honored to once serve it to Anthony Bourdain. He liked it.
If you're into chocolate cookies, I have chocolate peppermint crinkle cookies for you as well as chocolate chunk bourbon honeycomb cookies, among others.
Chocolate ice cream lovers, let me introduce you to Chocolate Cherry Gelato and Toblerone Gelato, to name two. If you're all about the ice cream, please check out my ice cream category.
And please do not miss my double chocolate cheesecake or chocolate cheesecake pie. Both are so very, very rich and delicious!
If you still can't find what you're looking for, or if you have any questions, please shoot me an email. I'm happy to help!