Blog Chocolate

Chocolate Funnies

Butterfinger Buzz

It was with genuine interest that I recently opened a parcel of fantastic new samples sent to me by Nestle's PR firm.  They are launching their new limited edition Butterfinger Buzz with a frenzy.

The bar purports to have as much caffeine as the leading energy drink. They planned all sorts of outrageous stunts to generate "buzz" for their launch including having fans buzz-cut their hair with the Butterfinger Buzz logo in order to have the chance to win a trip to Las Vegas.

So, what is Blog Chocolate's verdict on this new Butterfinger Buzz?  

Let's just say there is no way I'd even think of shaving my head for it. Or even getting a trim.

The chocolate bar, for the most part, tasted a lot like the original Butterfinger of which I've always been a big fan.  But the off-putting difference is the shocking orange colour of the inside.  It was almost toxic looking. I brought some to my office to get other reactions and literally had a few people refuse even a taste when they saw the colour.

If I closed my eyes it tasted fine but it's a challenging hurdle to surmount.

Suffice it to say, I am likely not in their target market. If I were still an undergraduate student looking for all-night study aid then this would be a reasonable alternative.  One of my younger co-workers said on a night she was going out clubbing she'd be happy to eat one of these in lieu of an energy drink before. 

So if you are 20-something, in the market for a caffeine buzz and eat it with your eyes closed then I think this is the bar for you.  

Which is to say, this is not the bar for me.

Be Mine: Valentine's Chocolate

We are on the heels of one of the biggest chocolate days of the year and  I have a surprising (perhaps even shocking) admission to make.  

I have never received chocolates for Valentine's Day.  Ever.

There is no question in the minds of anyone who knows me that I am an enthusiastic chocoholic and always have been. It's a no-brainer really. I couldn't be easier to shop for.

But instead, Valentine's for me has always been just about the week after February 14th when all the chocolate goes on clearance sale and I can scoop up copious amounts at bargain prices for myself.  Sad but true.

Should you feel sorry for me?  How has a woman who writes a chocolate blog completely missed ever being gifted Valentine's chocolate?  

It all began with my first boyfriend who was not well-schooled in the fine art of romance. Valentine's Day was either, ahem, accidentally missed or marked with some hastily purchased cinnamon hearts from the local convenience store.  Which is nice.  Nice. He was very nice.

My next boyfriend was decidedly his polar opposite. He was all about grand gestures of amour, complete with candlelight and flowers and corny poetry and over-the-top story book surprises.  The poor guy could have saved himself so much trouble with a small box of truffles.

My university beau once bought me a jumbo package of red Valentine's Day licorice and ate them all himself.  In front of me. It's hard to believe I let that one slip away.

And then that brings us to my dear husband.  My dear, dear husband. But the reality is that I can't place one ounce of chocolate-less blame on him.  It's all my fault.  

When we were first dating, 13 years ago, we were madly in love with harps and cherubs flitting about our heads.  Together we proclaimed that everyday was about expressing our affection for each other and not one commercially-manufactured, retail-manipulated day.  We both agreed to boycott Valentine's day in favour of 365 days of looooove. We were the loving Mc. Loversons and Valentine's gift exchanges were beneath us.  (oh my)

And now 13 years later I am pretty convinced that might have been the worst idea I have ever had. 

So instead I wish YOU a very Happy Valentine's day filled with baskets of chocolate. Someone should be enjoying a sweet-chocolate celebration.  Please have an extra one for me.

xo

Great Mexican Chocolate

I am terrific at going on vacation.  Really. It's a skill that has taken years to master. 

But returning from vacation? Well, that I am not so good at.

So before the post-holiday blues take hold with too menacing a grip, I'll reminisce about my recent 2-week-long sojourn to the Mayan Riviera.  The weather was glorious, the pace was restful and restorative and the reprieve from snow for two blissful weeks was absolutely appreciated.

As we explored the Yucatan Peninsula, there were healthy doses of reading on the beach, shopping for things we didn't need, visiting Mayan ruins, discovering quaint little towns, snorkeling in the sea and swimming with the dolphins. 

We've visited Mexico many times before and seen several different regions because we have family that live there.  Through our travels over the years, I've always been on the quest for great Mexican chocolate. After all, the Mayans and Aztecs claim to have been the first chocolatiers.  The birth place of chocolate must have the best. 

But, I've not yet been blown away.

Other than Mexican hot chocolate, of course.  The wonderful combination of the bitter dark chocolate with the biting spices leaves that warm feeling in my chest just thinking about it.  It's a drink to sip, to savour and it's not for everyone. But I am a fan.

So I couldn't have been more thrilled than to stumble on a brilliant little chocolate cafe in Playa Del Carmen

It had the most delicious Mexican hot chocolate and quickly became my daily haunt.

On our many trips there we tasted their ice cream and brownies and chocolate bars and chocolate nibs and drinking chocolate and, my personal favourite, the chocolate frio ...

I say this (and completely unsolicited and unbiased), Ah Cacao was indeed my happy place.  Everything they made was incredible.  And the wait staff and atmosphere was as charming as the chocolate was tasty.  

The funniest thing was the prominence of this enormous poster in several locations of the cafe with the headline "Chocolate Makes Happier Babies" quoting the British studies that say eating chocolate during pregnancy produces happier infants.  Now, why didn't someone tell me that when I was expecting on my uber-organic, all-healthy pregzilla mission?

Their website says it all though: "According to Aztec legend, chocolate was a gift from Quetzalcoatl, the God, and formed a bridge between heaven and earth. One taste of Ah Cacao Real Chocolate and you will understand why!"

And as I pack away my flip flops and return to reality, I can say that my quest to find great Mexican chocolate was finally realized.

Emily Come Away With Me

So I am bidding you a fond farewell as I pack up the family for 2 glorious weeks in Mexico.  Mojitos and sunshine here we come!

I should admit that when I travel, I am a bit of an over-planner. Okay, I am a serious over-planner.  I have a packing fetish and an enthusiasm for lists that I can check off twice.  

Everyone knows one of the most important thing to plan for are the snacks for the journey.  So, what wonderful timing that some fine folks at Emily's Chocolates sent me four cute boxes of chocolate to sample as I was knee-deep in vacation organization mode.

My intention was to bring them along on the fight.  But as you might have guessed, I have less will power than Telly Sevalis has hair, and I already ate them. All.

First there was the box of cherry hazelnuts which I expected to be a cherry infused hazelnut covered in dark chocolate.  Instead, it was a nice mixture of some chocolate covered cherries and chocolate covered hazelnuts.  And it was lovely and tasted exactly as you'd imagine it to.

Then there was the Cranberry Almonds which, similarly, was a 50/50 split of dark chocolate covered cranberries and dark chocolate covered almonds.  Sweet and satisfying and, again, exactly as you'd expect.

I had a feeling the chocolate covered graham crackers would be a favourite. Because, I mean, chocolate covered graham crackers?!?!  And they didn't disappoint.  I could eat them daily they were that good.

But the unexpected and undeniable best of the bunch were the milk chocolate cocoa dusted pecan halves.  I have to confess that when food writers and restaurant menus use the term "dusted" to describe any sort of culinary creation it doesn't do it for me.  Call me literal (which usually I am not), but all I can think of is dusty food. Ick. So at first I was sure I wouldn't be into these because of my peculiar semantic hang-up, but I am a lover of pecans so I gave it a shot anyway.  And wow. Seriously. W-O-W. The other chocolates they sent were not even in the same league.  They shouldn't have even been shipped in the same box.  These dusty morsels were spectacular. They were not too sweet and the texture was brilliant and they tasted elegant and fabulous and every other excessive descriptor you can think of.  They were perfect.  Thank you Emily.

So the moral of the story is that: a) I should just buy my travel treats at the airport so they are not consumed before I've even left the house and b) dusty food isn't so bad. In fact, it's un-freaking-believable if you are a cocoa dusted pecan half. 

Be back in 2 weeks with tales of Mexican chocolate.  Adios!

The Truffle Doesn't Fall Far From The Tree

So you may have noticed that I have a sweet tooth.  Shocking, I know.

I fully acknowledge that I have no self control when it comes to chocolate.  Everyone has a price and chocolate just happens to be mine.

That would be all easy peasy except that at the same time as I am unapologetically living life as an active chocoholic, I am trying to raise a seven-year-old to grow up with healthy eating habits.  

It's not like our cupboards are stocked exclusively by Lindt and Godiva. I am a vegetarian who eats mostly organic.  His dad doesn't have even a quiver of cravings for that lovely dessert food group.  We keep lots of healthy snacks and fresh foods in the house and he's grown to be a kid who adores chick peas and spinach and lentils and tofu.

The thing is, he has a sweet tooth. Or if it were my husband writing this, we'd say he has my sweet tooth.  Which essentially means it is ENORMOUS.

He could eat candy 24-7.  It doesn't dampen his appreciation for brussels sprouts cooked in garlic, but if given the choice he'll go for the chocolate box every time.  He asks for a sugary treat a gazillion times a day. He dips into my stash. He is a veritable connoisseur

And so I am faced with a real quandary. His mother writes a chocolate blog and nibbles on dark chocolate while I am making him breakfast. (I can see the finger waggling from the judgey mcjudgersons in unison).  

Do I become one of those parents who is all "do as I say not as I do"? 

Do I stop eating chocolate to set a good example?  Um, ya, like I could ever stick to that resolution.

So I've done the only selfless (heh) thing I could think of and I took all chocolate products out of the house. Every single one was packed up and toted away.  Toted away to my office. Where, incidentally, I have just become the most popular person in the building.  

The first day sans chocolate met with the lip.  You know the lip. The lip all cute kids have perfected. The big pouty lip that turns under at the exact moment that the eyes widen and look up with the most tragic attempt at a plea.  

But there is an outside chance he might not actually be my child after all. Because by day two he was happily eating clementines instead of chocolate orange slices and carrot sticks instead of candy canes.  

And best of all, apparently there is a logical explanation for his superior will power.  He's pretty sure it's because the tooth fairy likely took his sweet tooth away when it wiggled out a few weeks ago.  

She better just keep her hands off of mine.

May Your 2009 Be Filled With Chocolatey Goodness

Wishing you a happy, happy, happiest New Year!

xo

~ Sandra

I'm Dreaming of a Chocolate Christmas

Since I was knee-high to a grasshopper (I've always wanted to say though I don't know why. Do grasshoppers even have knees?  And are there some freakishly large grasshoppers in the jungle that would make this size reference even remotely relevant?). 

Um, let's start this again (you're welcome). 

Since I was a small child, Christmas and chocolate have been inextricably linked. (That's better).

I was born a chocoholic and my mom (and Santa) were sure to fill my stocking with chocolatey treats and wrap a substantial box of chocolates up each year. The highlight of my holiday season for sure.  They were always drug store chocolates - nothing fancy - but as a kid growing up in the country, they were fancy schmancy to me.

For years there were After Eights (which really were not such a kid chocolate). Those little sleeves they were individually packaged in could be found all over the floor of my powder blue girly room for days.

 

I was also terribly fond of Toffifee (and how do you pronounce that?  Looks like Toffee-fee but I always said Toffee-fay.  A quandary of epic proportions to an 11-year-old.)  Though they did have a propensity to stick to your teeth like nothing else, there is no denying that they were deeeeelish.

And of course, what would the holiday season be with out the good ol' staple ... Turtles. "Turtles, turtles, rah, rah, rah.  Turtles, turtles, ha, ha, ha.  Ahhhhh I love turtllllllllessss." 

Yes, I just spontaneously belted out a bad ad jingle from 1980. Because this is where I reveal that as an eight-year-old girl I daydreamed of one day becoming THIS woman:

Sad but true.  Sad but true.

I wonder what chocolate selection my mom Santa will wrap up for me this year? 

Merry Christmas!

Like A Good Red Wine

For some, dark chocolate can be an acquired taste. It isn't the sweet, creamy comfort food that we enjoyed as kids with milk chocolate.  It has some substance.  A bite.  

I often liken it to drinking red wine.  The more you try it, the more you like it and the more you are able to discern the subtle differences in taste.

Amano Artisan Chocolate (with the help of their PR firm) recently launched the latest in their line of one-of-a-kind, single-origin chocolate.  They were kind enough to sent me this one to savour:  

The Jembrana bar is made from beans grown only in Bali.  While not "fair trade" certified, Amano claims to pay even more than fair-trade regulations to their farmers.  The package is pretty and sophisticated like a great vintage wine bottle.

It's a 70% cocoa bar, which in my world means "health food" (also known as guilt-free-eat-as-much-as-you-want-chocolate).  It has a really lovely taste.  They describe it as having a "rich chocolate flavor with nice fruit notes that are also a little nutty."  I would agree.  It's subtle.  I liked it.

But what I liked even more than the chocolate was a fantastic post I discovered on their blog.  It is one of the best "How to Taste Chocolate" articles I've read.  Take a peek if you are interested in a more high-brow approach to chocolate tasting ... which should not be confused with chocolate eating. It's serious, serious business my friends.  I, personally, am more partial to eating rather than tasting chocolate. It's the same way I love my wine.  But this chocolate is worth savoring slowly and with all the palate pleasing sophistication you can muster.

 

Santa Fe, Here I Come!

I have recently become a fan of the lovely state of New Mexico when two of the most fabulous women I know moved there.  They had given me a peek inside their local chocolate industry with a gift of the most incredible drinking chocolate elixir.  It was like a spiritual experience.  Ommmmmm.

So I wasn't the least bit surprised to fall head-over heels with another chocolatier that hailed from Santa Fe.

The artisans from The ChocolateSmith sent me some of their incredibly unique and delicious selections to try last week.  

First, there was the "Petite Melange Assorted Miniatures" which is a bit of a misnomer because there was nothing miniature about them:  

They were generous sized morsels of sweet and savory and salty surprises bathed in really high quality dark chocolate.  I brought this one to my office to share and it was met with reactions reminiscent to that scene in "When Harry Met Sally".  That good.

But what I really enjoyed was the chocolate ganache covered in cheese wax. They are so unusual and colourful. When the hand-dipped chocolate pate's wax is unraveled, you find a soft, fresh and decadent dark bit of heaven.  The festive holiday tree was a creamy dark chocolate that rivaled the texture of newly made fudge.  But better.  Even my husband, who is not a chocolate fan (shocking I know), was all over this.

But despite my enthusiasm for their other creations, the clear winner for me was the wax-wrapped Chili-Pate.  They describe it as: "Dark Chocolate Orange Ganache infused with Smokey Chipotle Chili & Cool Tones of Cinnamon. This Mildly Spicy Treat will surely suggest Southwest."   It was the most mouth pleasing experience imaginable.  It might be because flavours of chili and cinnamon are tastes I love ... but combining with dark chocolate ... now that was brilliant.  

 

The ChocolateSmith  claims to produce "honest" chocolate which isn't a term I'd heard before but it appeals to me.  They make their chocolates in full view of their patrons and support local and organic traditions and the living wage principle. That get's my vote.

I had only one problem with the chocolates they sent me to review: they are now gone. 

Santa Fe, here I come!

Car Hunting?

The lease for our car comes due in a few months. 

With all these financing deals abound my hubby and I 

have a harder decision than ever about what kind of car to get.

He has his own antiquated ideas of what makes a solid family vehicle choice. 

Me? I'm happy with one made of chocolate ...

See This

So, I have been apparently living under a rock for my entire life because I've not once tasted a See's Chocolate.  Well, actually, I've been living in Canada and although See's is in lots of groovy international locations, the great white north is not one of them.  

Lucky for me the nice folks at this California-based candyland sent me the cutest little Poinsettia Box of chocolates to sample.  

I have to admit that at first I was a little apprehensive because I was flying blind with the absence of one of those handy "which chocolate has which filling" guides.  I love those guides as I plot my way through a box of chocolatey goodness.  But it turned out that was half the fun because the first one I tasted was insane. Insane. In a good way.  I was hooked and sat and devoured the entire package in one sitting.  Not a single miss in the box.

I know you've been worried about what to get me for a stocking stuffer or hostess gift this season.  Fret no more ... problem solved my friends ... a few dozen of these and I'll be smilin.

I poked around their website and they have a terrific selection of business gifts and (my personal favourite given I run a national charity when I am not busy devouring free chocolate for the laborious work of this blog) is their fantabulous fund-raising program.

Two chocolate-covered thumbs up for sure.

Birthday Chocolate

A few days ago it was my birthday.  Not a milestone birthday. Not a fanfare birthday. Not a big-deal birthday.  Yet it still left me feeling more older than wiser which necessitated a trip to the salon for an ill-advised attempt to make at least my hair look younger.  Sigh.

Because my friends and family know me so well, my birthday is always smothered in chocolate. Each gift is accompanied by a requisite chocolatey treat and each celebration's finale has some sort of chocolate decadence involved.  

Growing up I had the same birthday cake each year.  My mother was not much of a baker.  In fact, one of the favourite family tales to retell is her attempt to bake my brother a birthday cake when he turned 6.  She mis-read the recipe and used 2 cups instead of 2 tablespoons of a key ingredient for the icing. Rather than aborting the mission and starting over, she increased the quantities of everything else and ended up with an enormous bowl full of intensely-sweet, bright, bright blue-coloured icing.  Knowing that my father would tease her incessantly, she decided to make it look like she meant to make enough electric blue icing to feed a small village.  So she told him we begged her to make extra and then forced my brother and I sit with a bowl and spoon every day for a week and eat it up after school.  Seriously.  I have had an aversion to blue icing ever since.

From then on though, she never baked another family birthday cake. Instead, as a sort of family tradition, we celebrated each year with this:

Good old McCain Deep n Delicious Chocolate cake.  Mysteriously moist days and days and days after opening, and somehow tastier when eaten without permission at breakfast.  Not gourmet chocolate by any stretch of the imagination, but it is to chocolate what mac & cheese is to pasta ... comfort food.  Even a whiff of it brings back a flood of childhood memories.

It's been years since I've thrust a fork into one of these.   Maybe I need to make this a "birthday week" and give it a go for old times sake.

Drink. It. Up.

This past weekend I was out for a drink with two of the best friends anyone could ask for. 

I tend to change my drinks with the season.  Spring brings a nice crisp Pino Gris, summertime spells Mojitos and fall ushers in a full-bodied Shiraz.  But when the air gets a chill and the white stuff starts falling from the heavens, I have only one thought on my mind ... hot chocolate with Baileys. And whipped cream. Because everything is more fun with whipped cream.  Heh.

My winter beverage of choice warms your bones and satisfies your sweet tooth in one delicious cup.

Perfection.

At least that is what I thought until I found this in the store today:

Baileys with a "Hint of Caramel".  Caramel.

I realize that this has probably been around for eleventy hundred years, demonstrating I don't spend nearly enough time skulking around my local liquor store.  But stumbling on this sweet find made my day. My week.  Well, quite frankly, this made my season.

Off to light a fire and wrap my hands around a big mug of hot chocolate with Caramel Baileys.  Mmmmmmmmmmmmm ..... wanna join me?

A Spoon Full of Chocolate Helps the Medicine Go Down ...

I've had one of those weeks. You know the kind where life piles up on you and you are trying to navigate drama, wade through a mountain of work and then you get knocked on your backside with some rotten plague-like illness. Good times my friends. Good times.

The solution? It starts with a "c" and ends with me smiling - c-h-o-c-o-l-a-t-e.

The first solid food I've eaten in days was at breakfast this morning ... chocolate hazelnut spread. By the spoonful. Straight out of the jar.

Until I am back to my old self and able to string a coherent thought together, I'll leave you with "Sandra's Favourite Words to Live By" ...

10. Chocolate is cheaper than therapy ... and you don't need an appointment.

9. A balanced diet is a chocolate in both hands.

8. Save the earth, it's the only planet with chocolate.

7. When no one understands you, chocolate is there.

6. I would give up chocolate, but I am no quitter.

5. I've heard that chocolate slows down the aging process ... it may not be true, but do I dare take a chance?

4. Coffee makes it possible to get out of bed. Chocolate makes it worthwhile.

3. There is nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with chocolate.

2. When life hands you lemons, throw them back and demand chocolates.

.... and number 1 ...

Amantes do chocolate de Brasil bem-vindo

I think that title translates to "Welcome Brazil's chocolate lovers." But I don't actually speak Portuguese so I may have offered up something ridiculously naughty instead.

They say you should learn something new each day. Today I learned that Brazilians love their chocolate.

A lot.

And there are hoards and hoards of them visiting here today compliments of a lovely Brazilian website who appears to be profiling blogs about chocolate. Judging by the volume of traffic they are sending my way, for all I know they could touting this here blawg as chocolate porn. Heh.

But I am nothing if not hospitable to fellow chocoholics.

I expect they came here to read about delicious recipes or poignant chocolate reviews or at the very least see tantalizing photos of chocolate debauchery. I doubt they wanted to read the diarist ramblings of the life of a 30-something Canadian mama with a sweet tooth.

So in an attempt to make my new South American friends feel welcome, I did a little research on Brazilian chocolate facts that they might find more interesting ....

Did you know there is a super cool Brazilian chocolate company called Garoto? Well, I guess if you are here from Brazil then you would know that. Ya. But I didn't. I am a Euro-chocolate lover myself. Especially the Belgian variety. Though the Garoto folks look like they know a thing or two about chocolate so if you want to send me some brazilian sweets then I am alllll over that.

Actually, I have come to the conclusion that I think I might have to move to Brazil. Did you know they have a National Chocolate Research Institute?! Well they do. But better yet, that they have found that Chocolate can save the planet! Of course it can. Of course it can. Those smart, chocolate-savvy, Brazilians.

Tropical paradise, soccer wizards AND enviro-chocoholics. Nice. Even my friend Lucy, might have liked to pay them a visit ...

Saving The World One Chocolate Bar At A Time

Remember our little eco-trip this past summer? We were hot.

And so was our sweet ride.

There is only one thing that would have made it sweeter ... if it were powered by chocolate. Yes chocolate.

Earlier this week I read about these uber-green Brits from a company called Ecotec that drove a chocolate powered truck 4,500 miles to Timbuktu. You gotta like a pair of guys who aspire to drive to Timbuktu inspired by chocolate. That's just cool.

(source: AFP)

My first reaction was mixed. The selfish, chocoholic side of me was all "whoa boys, don't you be diverting my chocolate in massive quantities for fuel?!". The green-lovin side of me was concerned about all the controversial issues surrounding crop fuels. Not to worry on either count. They aren't taking my chocolate. Or yours. They use waste chocolate from confectionery companies and then turn it into biodiesel. (Although how can any chocolate be waste? Really.)

Unfortunately the car doesn't smell or taste like chocolate and it took them equivilant to 80,000 chocolate bars for their Timbuktu publicity trip. But if these guys can do it with waste chocolate, and if Doc Brown can do it with banana peels, then what the hell are the big car companies waiting for?

I want a car powered by waste bio fuels. I want a car powered by chocolate.

Chocoholism

Chocoholism is defined as:
"an eating disorder in which someone suffers from an addiction to chocolate. Chocolate contains theobromines and it may be possible for the human brain to become accustomed to chocolate at regular intervals. Etymologically, "chocoholic" derives directly from alcoholic, though some linguists complain that the word, by construction, implies addiction to "chocohol" rather than "chocolate", suggesting that chocolatic is a more appropriate neologism than chocoholic. Chocolate may be addictive and could impact the health of the chocoholic. Proponents of hypnotherapy claim that "chocoholism" can be treated through aversives, in effect forcing the addict to associate chocolate consumption with negative stimuli used to change behavior."

I have always considered myself a card-carrying chocoholic. But if the linguists prefer, I suppose that I can be a chocolatic (although that sounds more like a laxative). Recently I came across the term chocoholism and I am not quite sure if I qualify. I do know that I am not ready to be "treated through aversives." This is one of those few addictions that one can often indulge in without abandon, shame or fear of an intervention ... usually.

Do you remember that scene from Forest Gump when Bubba talks about shrimp? I swear to god I have the conversation all the time about chocolate. Chocolate Cake. Chocolate Cookies. Chocolate Ice Cream. Chocolate Truffles. Chocolate Pie. Chocolate Chips. Chocolate Chunks. Chocolate Mousse. Chocolate Strawberries. Chocolate Drops. Chocolate Brownie. Chocolate Fudge. Chocolate Wafers. Hot Chocolate... I should stop now as my typing pace begins to reach an orgasmic parallel.

I have read more than one blogger talk about their relationship with chocolate. I thought it important to establish my own chocoholic credibility.

My addiction (I mean affair) with chocolate has been life long. I was an official member of the Laura Secord Club for years (a chocolate chain in Canada) where I was able to get a free chocolate a month and special treats on my birthday because I was such a frequent customer. Not good enough? Stay with me...

My chocolate habit got so bad that about 10 years ago that I actually overdosed, had an extreme reaction and consequently developed a serious intolerance to caffeine. And I am so messed up that I am bragging about this. Big goofy smile on my face as I tap tap tap at the keyboard.

It happened when I was doing my tour of duty in the ad biz and one of our clients was a chocolate manufacturer (not my client - I got to sell antiperspirant, shampoo, cosmetics and canned pasta. Shivers). They were consumer testing a new chocolate bar. Someone at the client heard that there was one of our team (me) who could eat an unbelievable number of chocolate bars in one day without getting sick of it. So they'd send me dozens to try and give my 2 cents on. Thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Turns out there IS too much of a good thing and I had a terribly embarrassing reaction at work - fainting, convulsions, very dramatic. I was taken to the hospital because of my chocolate OD. Credible chocoholic yet? Well just wait...

Following my over-indulgent episode and my "intolerance" being diagnosed, I was told that I'd have to break off my dependent fling with my sweet brown lover. To eat even just a little chocolate and I'd get a headache, loose feeling in my lips and forehead and my stomach would stage a full fledged war. Did that stop me? No. The doctor made the mistake of telling me that sometimes people grow out of an intolerance and their immunity changes. That's all I needed to begin planning a strategy for turning this little no-chocolate situation around. I proceeded to secretly build my tolerance over time in an effort to "cure" myself from this dreaded affliction. My sweet husband would have lost his mind if he knew what I was up too. I bought a bag of chocolate chips and snuck one chocolate chip a day to build up my immunity. At first the reaction was rotten but it got better and after a couple of years (this was some serious dedication I tell ya), I could have 2 chocolate chips and then the triumph of 3. I had to take a break when I was pregnant but then finally about 3 years ago I came out and admitted my back room sneaking and that I had won. I was back in the chocolate covered saddle!

So although I may have established my chocoholic credibility, I am pretty sure in the process, that I've lost all other credibility of being a reasonably sane person.

The most terribly ironic part of all of this is that I am a bit of a health nut outside of my chocolate issue. I'm a vegetarian who eats mostly organic, takes vitamins, eats little processed foods, and goes to a naturopathic doctor regularly. Yet I will never accepted carob as a viable substitute. More like a communist plot.

Maybe I do need an intervention...

Chocolate Caramel Apple Pie

Even the most culinary-challenged among us can, on that rare occasion, bring grown men to their knees with that one dish (okay now I am really over-promising). This Chocolate Caramel Apple Pie is most appreciated by those with a sweet tooth and a penchant for rich desserts. And, hey, if I can make it, anyone can.

Enough preamble already. All you really came to the party for was the damn pie! So without further adieu...

Hit the market to buy:

- 1 frozen pie crust with a lattice top (for us mom's with no time - or make your own crust if you are so talented - for simplicity, this is the lazy ass version)

- 2/3 cup of sugar

- 2 tbsp flour

- 3/4 tsp cinnamon

- 1/2 cup whipping cream

- 6 cups peeled, sliced apples (I like Macs but choose your own fav)

- 2 (or more) Caramilk chocolate bars

- 1 tbsp brown sugar

- 1 tbsp cream

- 1 additional tbsp sugar

Get Busy:

(note this is for the lazy ass version - adapt for your own crust)

1. Thaw pastry at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

2. Combine 2/3 cup sugar, flour, cinnamon and whipping cream in a large bowl.

3. Add apples and mix gently.

4. Place half the mixture on the bottom crust.

5. Break Caramilk chocolate bars into squares and place evenly on apple mixture in crust (plus stick some of those babies down between the apples).

6. Add remaining apple mixture, covering the chocolate.

7. Sprinkle brown sugar over apples.

8. Moisten edge of bottom crust. Place top pastry over filling , seal and flute edge.

9. Brush crust lightly with cream and sprinkle evenly with 2 tbsp of sugar.

10. Place pie on piece of foil on baking sheet (trust me on that part it can get sticky if you over-filled) and put on lower rack of oven.

11. Bake at 450F for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350F and bake 35-40 minutes.

12. Dig in.

Or in other words... take your favourite apple pie recipe and stuff in a pile of Caramilk chocolate bars and you too can be a one-hit-wonder rockstar. The chocolate and caramel melt into the pie and the flavour combo is ... well... you'll see.

Now that I've surrendered my best (okay only) recipe ... I challenge you to do the same.