Even though caramel has always been the default dip, chocolate is also an excellent option, and even better is chocolate with caramel!

Chocolate Caramel Apples
adapted from Food Network

12 Granny Smith apples
12 lollipop sticks
1 pound caramels
plastic wrap
melted dark, white or milk chocolate
1/2 cup nuts
1/2 cup M&M’s or favorite candy topping
waxed paper

~ Wash and dry apples and insert lollipop sticks into core of apples.

~ Heat caramel until it becomes liquid (stove top or microwave). Dip apples in caramel, coating all sides. Stand upright on waxed paper and let set for 15 to 20 minutes.

~ Melt dark, white and/or milk chocolate. Pour melted chocolate into a metal bowl. Dip apples into chocolate.

~ Sprinkle chocolate covered apple with nuts, M&M’s or your favorite topping. Place decorated apples onto wax paper, standing upright. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

[image: flickr]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

This video is from a news station in Wisconsin that featured a segment with pastry chef Lindsay Brooks. Her recipe is a silky chocolate mousse with chipotle caramel sauce, and as soon as I find some chipotle powder I’m making this for my husband!

Lindsay managed to come up with a chocolate mousse that is both sugar- and egg-free, but her version does contain dark rum and espresso.

Silky Chocolate Mousse

1 3/4 cups whipping cream
12 ounces dark chocolate pieces
3 ounces espresso
1 tablespoon dark rum
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon gelatin

~ Melt chocolate chips, coffee, rum and butter over barely simmering water, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, cool.

~ Sprinkle gelatin over 1/4 cup whipping cream. Allow gelatin to bloom for 10 minutes. Microwave cream mixture until warm and gelatin dissolved. Stir into cooled chocolate.

~ Beat remaining whipping cream to medium peaks. Carefully fold in the cream into chocolate mixture. Do not over work the mousse.

~ Spoon into bowls or martini glasses and chill for at least 1 hour.

Chipotle Caramel Sauce

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon chipotle powder

~ Bring sugar and water to a boil and allow to cook until sugar turns amber color. Remove from heat and stir in cream and chipotle powder. Serve at room temperature.

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The award competition was sponsored by Ghirardelli, so you know some good chocolate was going into these creations!

The method for the cake is actually pretty simple and looks amazingly delicious: two melted bars of Ghirardelli 100% cacao bars, butter, flour, salt, eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Once everything is mixed into a batter, she puts about half of it into a bundt pan, and then layers Ghirardelli caramel squares, toasted pecans, and then the rest of the batter on top.

Chocolate California Goldrush Cake
by Michele Cobarrubio

8 ounces (two 4-ounce bars) Ghirardelli 100 percent Cacao Unsweetened Chocolate Baking Bar, chopped
1 cup unsalted butter
3 cups granulated sugar
5 eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 bag (5.3 ounces) Ghirardelli Chocolate Squares, Milk Chocolate with Caramel Filling, unwrapped
1/2 cup toasted pecans, finely chopped
1/4 cup powdered sugar

~ Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray fluted two-quart bundt pan with baking style cooking spray. In a one-quart saucepan over low heat, melt butter and both baking bars. Remove from heat when chocolate is almost entirely melted. Continue stirring until chocolate is completely melted. Set aside.

~ In a small bowl, combine flour and salt. Set aside.

~ In a stand mixer on low speed, mix sugar, eggs and vanilla. When these are incorporated, gradually increase speed to medium-high. Beat on medium-high for approximately 10 minutes. Batter will be pale yellow and fluffy. Alternately add chocolate mixture and flour mixture to egg batter, beginning and ending with the chocolate. Mix until just incorporated.

~ Pour half of the batter into prepared pan. Place unwrapped Milk Chocolate Squares side by side around the center of the pan on top of the batter.

~ Sprinkle toasted pecans over the chocolate squares. Pour the rest of the batter in the pan, spreading it evenly over the candy and nuts. Bake cake at 350 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for about 15 to 20 minutes. Invert cake onto serving plate and cool completely.

~ Before serving, dust cake with powdered sugar.

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

It’s been soo many years since I’ve had a Caramello. I remember having my first one in high school and being hooked instantly. I’ve never been a huge caramel fan, which is why it took me so long to bother trying one, but Caramellos have the the perfect amount, and the chocolate was pretty darn good too!

That picture above… oh boy, I don’t have the time to run to the grocery store right now. But I’m thinking about it!

[image: flickr]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

I saw the commercial for Werther’s Original Caramel Chocolate several weeks ago and knew I had to give them a try. I love Werther’s caramels and was glad to see them expand their line with a non-hard candy caramel chocolate combo!

My first impression of the candies were how small they are – they look much bigger in the commercial, maybe about half the size of your palm, at least a couple of bites. I don’t know if they did that on purpose in the commercial or if they decided to make them smaller after the fact, but these are tiny! One bite and they’re gone.

Anyway, the bag is 5.2 oz of candy, which came to about 16 or so pieces (I forgot to count!). Each oblong piece is wrapped in the recognizable Werther’s gold foil.

Unwrapped, each piece is actually rather pretty with the swirled caramel and chocolate.

The chocolate is smooth but it’s obviously just the vehicle for a weird caramel flavor – it looks like chocolate but I don’t taste any, and by only the second piece the caramel flavor starts to taste kind of burnt. I’m not sure how that happens but the yummy Werther’s caramel flavor seems to be lost.

Have you tried these? What do you think?

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

I’ve been looking for these everywhere and finally found a box last week!

Snickers Charged is a limited edition 1.83oz bar that includes 60 milligrams of caffeine as well as taurine and B-vitamins in addition to the milk chocolate, peanuts, caramel and nougat of a regular bar.

The packaging, which I assume is supposed to portray power and energy, is silver with a charging rhino. My first impression was that it was leaning a little too much toward a power bar look, something I’m not interested in, so it didn’t appeal to me much at all. If it weren’t for the mention of caffeine on the box and wrapper I probably would have bypassed them altogether!

Anyway, I really enjoyed the bar itself! I’ve been disappointed with past limited edition chocolate and candy bars, but I liked the Snickers Charged. While I’ve never been a huge Snickers fan – if given a choice at the checkout or candy aisle I’ll usually go for some Reese’s – and it’s been a while since I’ve had a regular Snickers, it tasted pretty much what I remember Snickers tasting like in general – a, well, satisfying mix of smooth chocolate, peanuts, nougat and caramel.

I didn’t find it to have a metallic taste or bitter aftertaste and while caffeine doesn’t affect me to the point that I walk around wired I did notice a bit of a pick-me-up not longer after I was finished. In all, I really liked the Snickers Charged and think I might pick up another box next time I’m out before Mars yanks them from the shelves!

[images: personal collection; all rights reserved]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes