I’m not sure how long the Vosges brand Mo’s Bacon Bar has been available, but when I first heard about it last year I knew I had to keep an eye out. The bar is said to have been an inspiration of chocolatier Katrina Markoff, who drew on her childhood experience of chocolate chip pancakes and bacon.
I was really interested to see how this would be pulled off. Bacon is yummy, chocolate is yummy, but together?
I found a bar at Cost Plus not too long ago and picked it up for about $6. A hefty price tag for …read more

Another trip down the candy aisle at Sam’s Club recently turned up this large bag of Limited Edition Neapolitan Hershey Kisses. I love neapolitan ice cream so I had high hopes for these!

The bag I found is 24 oz and I picked it up for about $7. Each candy is wrapped in the standard Kisses foil, and like all the other Limited Editions these have their own special design of silver, brown and fuchsia with a little flag that says “Neapolitan.”

Neapolitan consists of three layers containing chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. Hershey’s pulled this off with chocolate on the bottom, a …read more

There are few chocolate combinations I like as much as chocolate with almonds – probably second only to chocolate with walnuts (and not even counting chocolate by itself!).
Tomorrow is yet another chocolate “holiday” – National Chocolate with Almonds Day! If you’re not able to get your hands on a delicious chocolate bar or bag of chocolate-covered almonds, you can always make some yourself!
And as always, don’t forget the e-cards!
Chocolate Almond Bark
1 (12 oz) package chocolate chips (milk or semi, your preference!)
1 tbsp vegetable shortening
1/2 c chopped toasted almonds
Optional:
1/2 c raisins
or 1/2 c crispy rice cereal
Combine the chocolate and …read more

My husband recently discovered that one of his co-workers is a distributor for Xocai Healthy Gourmet Chocolate. I hadn’t heard of the company before but when his co-worker offered to let me try some of course I was more than happy to!
Overall I really liked the chocolate and would love to get my daily fill of vitamins and fiber from it! Though I did get some reading material included with the samples I still don’t know much about the company itself – I didn’t want marketing to interfere with my reviews, so I only referred to the pamphlet that …read more

I love playing around with my ice cream maker lately. I only wish we’d gotten one sooner! Last night I made chocolate chip malted ice cream. It tastes just like a malt – delicious!
You can chop the chocolate chips up a little bit finer but I don’t mind them frozen at their regular size.
Chocolate Chip Malted Ice Cream
2 large eggs (or 1/2 cup Egg Beaters)
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy or whipping cream
1 cup milk
1/3 cup malt powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips (milk or semi-sweet, your pick)
Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl for about one minute until …read more

Yay, it’s National Chocolate Pudding Day! You can even send an e-card.
I’ll admit that I have yet to make pudding from scratch. I’ve always used a packet for either the cooked type or instant, and of course they’ve always turned out great. But here is a recipe for making your own instant pudding mix!
Instant Chocolate Pudding Mix
3 ounces Dutch-processed cocoa, approximately 1 cup
2 ounces cornstarch, approximately 1/2 cup
6 ounces confectioners’ sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups
1 1/2 ounces instant non-fat dry milk, approximately 1/2 cup
1 teaspoon salt
In a large bowl or plastic container with a lid, combine the cocoa, cornstarch, sugar, …read more

We took a trip to Cost Plus World Market last week to stock up on some more good chocolate (they finally have Tim Tams! And Aero Bars!).
I got a nice little pile of chocolate I’ve been wanting to try and my husband went right for this one, which is saying a lot because he’s not really into sweets. I think it was the packaging that got him, though – all those almonds and chocolate, really? We had to give it a try and see!
First off, this bar is huge! I took a shot of it with my hand to show …read more

While at the store the other day I realized it had been a while since I’d bought any peanut butter chips. I grabbed a bag thinking I could add them to some homemade ice cream. That is, until I saw the recipe on the bag for cookies!

Chewy Chocolate Cookies
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cups (2-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) Reese’s peanut butter chips
Heat oven to 350°F. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; set aside.

Beat butter and sugar in large bowl …read more

What better way to celebrate the first day of summer than with some adorable little peanut butter chocolate bumblebees? And what’s even better is that they’re no-bake and easy for kids to help with!
Peanut Butter Chocolate Bumblebees
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 square semi-sweet baking chocolate, or 1/4 semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup toasted sliced almonds
Beat butter, peanut butter and powdered sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add cracker crumbs and mix well. Shape tablespoonful of butter mixture into 1-inch oval to …read more

Yesterday was National Chocolate Fudge Day, and oddly enough I came in a day late last month with Nutty Fudge Day too!
Below is another recipe from Alton Brown. Alton rarely lets me down and this is one of only two fudge recipes that have worked for me and comes out consistently good every time I make it.
Chocolate Fudge
2 3/4 cups sugar
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3 tablespoons butter, plus more for greasing pan
1 cup half-and-half
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped, roasted nuts, optional
Grease an 8 by 8-inch pan with butter. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the sugar, chocolate, …read more