This holiday season, whether you’re looking for an indulgent Holiday Gift for a special Human in your life or a new go-to snack to satisfy a sweet tooth, enjoy giving back while indulging with Hu’s simple ingredients and unbeatable taste. From now until December 31, 2022 at 11:59 pm ET, 40% of all sales at Hu Kitchen via this LINK will directly support underserved youth through the USTA Foundation.
For a very limited time, you can snag this sweet-treat set that’s one of Amazon’s best-kept secrets for only $20! The Popbar Hot Chocolate Sticks are a mouth-watering gift set that’s perfect for anyone you adore that has a sweet tooth! With six delicious chocolate on a stick, you can shake things up with their three flavors dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate; you’ll never run out of those rich flavors to enjoy! Both kosher-certified and gluten-free, these can even be a wonderful gift for those with dietary restrictions! Per the brand, all you have to do is fill up a mug of hot milk, place the hot chocolate stick in the cup, and stir for up to two minutes. Then you’re set to have the most relaxing and delicious cup of cocoa!
Prides Crossing Confections started a block away in Beverly Farms, MA in 1982 and found their home about 20 years ago just over the tracks in the Prides Crossing train station where they reside today. What separates them from other chocolate shops is that the over 100 varieties of chocolate are all done by hand, cut by hand, and made in small batches. Their most popular seller is their Turtles, a layer of creamy caramel sandwiched between two layers of chocolate with your choice of nut, (almond, cashew, macadamia, or pecan),– and absolutely delicious! Of course, there are other delicious assorted chocolates, found on their website, for shipping. For more info, check out their website at PridesCrossingConfections.com.
If you have a sweet tooth, chances are chocolate brands are high on your snack radar. And if you agree that chocolate might as well be the eighth wonder of the world, keep reading. Per Insider, the chocolate industry is a more than $100 billion business, and to keep that business alive requires a lot of cocoa beans. According to the National Confectioners Association, it takes 400 cocoa beans to make just one pound of chocolate — and a cacao tree will, on average, produce some 2,500 beans a year, or about six pounds of chocolate. To put this into context, for Valentine’s Day alone, an estimated 58 million pounds of chocolate are sold every year (via Good Housekeeping). As for chocolate makers, as with any food product, some brands are killing it in this space, while others aren’t quite living up to the hype. Our Tasting Table taste testers hit the ground running to round up 20 chocolate brands with the end goal of ranking them from worst to best. Check out the results, HERE.
The James Beard Foundation award-winning pastry chef extraordinaire has dropped a bomb just in time for the holiday season. His lineup of high-end hot chocolate bombs will remind you of the best cup of scratch-made cocoa. Confections are sold at seven retail locations throughout New York City, as well as online. Check out all his hot chocolate selections, HERE.
It’s tough to go wrong with chocolate, which makes it a great gift for pretty much anyone in your life. And if you buy the fancy stuff from bean-to-bar chocolate makers or chocolatiers, it often comes in a beautiful box or wrapper that’s ready to be gifted. To help you get started on your search, FORBES.COM rounded up standout options from some of their favorite chocolate companies. While you’re at it, pick up some bars for yourself (and tell yourself that extra chocolate is better than paying for shipping). Click, HERE.
If you’re a hot chocolate superfan, then you’ve probably encountered hot chocolate bombs, which straddle the line between homemade and boxed hot cocoa in the most delicious way. These “bombs” are spheres of glossy tempered chocolate that are filled with hot cocoa mix, mini marshmallows, sprinkles, and other treats. When they’re added to a mug of warm milk, the chocolate orb melts, revealing all the fun treasures inside. If you love hot chocolate bombs, you may have wondered why chocolate giant Hershey hasn’t marketed its own version of the trendy treat until now. In a case of “better late than never,” the confectioner unveiled its new Hot Chocolate Bombs. The bombs, filled with cocoa and either mini marshmallows or cinnamon chips, should be just the ticket for sipping on while wrapping holiday gifts or tucked into a Christmas stocking. The bombs are available nationwide during the holiday season.
There’s nothing cozier than a big mug of hot chocolate, bundled up by the fire in the middle of winter. And if you’re not up for making a hot chocolate recipe from scratch, the best hot chocolate mixes are here to help. From sweet and marshmallowy cups to decadent mugfuls rich with chocolate flavor that double as a great Christmas treat (or, honestly, any time of year!), GOODHOUSEKEEPING.COM picked the best store-bought hot chocolate for any palate. Check them out, HERE.
This fall, Dr. Bronner’s is launching a new flavor of its delicious, organic, fair trade, and vegan Magic All-One Chocolate pairing organic peppermint with 70% dark chocolate and sweetened with lower-glycemic coconut sugar. The latest offering—Cool Peppermint Cream—delivers a lively, lightly sweet mint taste alongside a decadent cocoa experience featuring a unique blend of cocoa from Ghana and Ivory Coast, coconut sugar from Indonesia, cocoa butter from Congo, and bourbon vanilla from Madagascar. Dr. Bronner’s Cool Peppermint Cream Magic All-One Chocolate flavor was created to honor the company’s legacy of peppermint products and its socially and environmentally responsible supply chain. All of Dr. Bronner’s chocolate, now available in seven flavors, is made from cocoa beans grown using regenerative organic farming practices that have lasting positive impacts on farmers, their communities, and the land. Dr. Bronner’s Magic All-One Chocolate was created to address and model solutions to the ecological and social harm prevalent in the conventional chocolate industry.
With fall in full swing and winter quickly approaching, the season for hot chocolate is officially upon us, which means it’s time to polish your mugs in preparation. This sublime drink originates in Mexico. The Olmec people drank hot chocolate as early as 1500 B.C., per Smithsonian Magazine, but theirs looked a little different than ours does today. While most of us like a sweet sip, the Olmecs’ hot chocolate was bitter. They would harvest and roast their own cacao seeds. If they did add a sweetener, it was to ferment the drink. Today, we have the convenience of grocery stores that sell a variety of premade mixes. To fully prepare you for hot chocolate season, MASHED.COM rounded up the top mixes of the year. Whether you like your hot chocolate dark and creamy or rich and full of marshmallows, they’ve got you covered. These are the best hot chocolate mixes of 2022 (click HERE).
Macalat is Made Organic and Without Sugar or Bitterness — A Fermented Mushroom Extract is the Secret Ingredient. Certified Organic, Sugar-Free, 70% Peruvian Cacao, Plant-Based, Zero-Net Carbs, and No Coconut Sugar. Bitter Free. How is that possible? Macalat is a first-of-its-kind, sweet, velvety smooth 70% couverture dark chocolate. Organic Heirloom Peruvian Cacao formulated with other superfood inclusions: Maca, Lucuma, Vanilla, Monk Fruit, and Cinnamon, which result in Macalat’s gentle caramel-like sweetness. The final touch is a marvelous mushroom extract that assures a smooth sweet finish, without the least bit of bitter. The Chocolate Wizardry is self-evident as Macalat melts and swirls in your mouth, releasing and revealing a symphony of chocolate flavor in all its super goodness. Made without Coconut Sugar.
We’re definitely not strangers to the need of satisfying a sweet tooth. If you know any chocolate lovers, self-proclaimed chocolate connoisseurs, or chocoholics, you’ve come to the sweet spot for finding them the best chocolate gifts that are just as thoughtful as they are delicious. While it’s hard to go wrong with a dessert as delectable as chocolate, there are so many tasty treats out there. It can be hard to decide on just one! We’ve rounded up the best chocolate gifts that will leave your recipients begging to know where you got them—so they can get more! From chocolate covered strawberries and drizzled popcorn to s’mores bites and fondue—no matter their particular taste, you’ll find the perfect present. And if they rather take a sip, hot chocolate and chocolate coffee are on the menu, too. There’s even a monthly chocolate subscription and a DIY molten lava cake. All the chocolate desserts they could ever dream of are on this list. And if you’re shopping for any other food lovers, you can also check out these food gift baskets including meat and cheese gift baskets. Dessert is served! Check them out HERE.
New York City’s iconic Levain Bakery is introducing a brand-new cookie for the change in seasons. The Fall Chocolate Chunk, which released on Wednesday, September 14, was created with hints of ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon and molasses, layered with melty Valrhona chocolate. The seasonal cookie is available in 4, 8 and 12 packs. It will also be available in a new fall cookie assortment in 4, 8 and 12 packs that also feature the Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip, Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip and Chocolate Chip Walnut cookies. All Levain Bakery cookies are baked fresh daily and available to ship nationwide via the bakery’s website and most recently through DoorDash National Shipping. In addition to the current ten bakeries in New York, Washington, DC, and Boston, Levain expanded beyond the east coast to Chicago and LA this year.
From babkas to black and white cookies, and challah to honey cakes, few food cultures are as emblematic of New York as Jewish baked goods. This bakery scene in NYC reflects the many Jewish communities in the city, from the diverse enclaves of the Upper East and West Sides to the ultra-Orthodox in South Williamsburg, the Sephardic in Flatbush, and the Bukharian community in Forest Hills. Modern interpreters like Breads and Michaeli Bakery sell buttery, croissant-like babka, and storied shops like Sander’s trace their roots to the mid-20th century, showcasing recipes that generations of customers have grown up on. Check out the top 13 Jewish bakeries HERE.
Let’s be honest, who can resist a square or two (or three) of deliciously creamy chocolate? The editors of VeganFoodandLiving.com certainly can’t! But people often wonder ‘is chocolate vegan?‘ – you’ll be happy to know that we vegans are spoiled for choice these days with a wide selection of tasty vegan chocolate bars at our fingertips. In fact, the UK has dominated the vegan chocolate market with 1 in 5 chocolate launches being suitable for vegans in 20211. We know it can be hard to choose from all of the enticing packaging and unique flavors, that’s why we’ve done the hard part and rounded up our top vegan chocolate bars to save you the hassle…(click HERE)
Whether it’s dark, milk, white, or filled with nuts, almost everyone loves a quality chocolate bar! If you’re among that chocolate-loving crowd, take a look at this roundup of the best chocolate bars LifeSavvy.com found. Click HERE.
If you want to make a people-pleasing dessert, chocolate is the star ingredient you’re looking for. We shave it into ice cream, powder it into our milkshakes, turn it into syrup for our Sundays, and frosting for our cakes. Chocolate, though relatively new to the food scene when compared with ancient eats like butter, has taken the world by storm over the past few centuries and is now our go-to treat. And though most of us only see chocolate presented to us in a candy wrapper, thanks to a few educational cartoons growing up and our own research, we know that chocolate comes from the cocoa bean which is where we source the cocoa butter and powder we need to create cacao liquor. Sugar and other supplementary ingredients are then added to the cacao liquor to create the chocolate we are familiar with. But as we are all aware, chocolate isn’t consistent. Depending on the brand, the percentage of cocoa, and even the type of cocoa used all affect how sweet or dark a batch of chocolate tastes. To find out more, click HERE.
Dark chocolate has some promising health benefits, and that’s all thanks to special ingredients like cacao and cocoa beans. Unfortunately, there are some sustainability issues that come along with them, and the chocolate industry has come under fire for unethical sourcing practices that are harming farmers and the communities that produce them. Livestrong.com asked registered dietitians to share their favorite organic chocolate bar, and most came up with a few! They told them what makes each of these bars unique, and let them know what ingredients, nutrient info and labels to look out for when shopping. The organic chocolate bars on this list were chosen based on the following criteria: cacao content, sustainability and ethical farming efforts, ingredients, taste and texture, amount of sugar. See the results HERE.
When conditions line up just right, a normally dry cliffside in Arizona’s Navajo Nation outside of Flagstaff transforms into a milky brown waterfall taller than the Niagara Falls — a phenomenon that visitors who were in the right place at the right time recently got to see. Click HERE to see the site!
And ANOTHER chocolate ice cream taste test (see Southern Living article, below). See who comes out the winner HERE, as Joey Skladany, on TODAY.COM discusses all 9 chocolate ice creams. The winner may surprise you ( or not, if you’re a true connoisseur of chocolate ice cream!!!).
No one expects a chocolate bar to be healthy, but you do generally expect to bite into chocolate, and perhaps creamy nougat, some nuts, or coconut flakes, and not simply sugar. Unfortunately, when it comes to chocolate bars, some rank high on sugar content and low on the chocolatey, caramelly, nutty content we crave. Want to know who’s at the top of the list? Click HERE!
Who doesn’t have a few pints of ice cream in the freezer for when the craving strikes? If it’s not vanilla that you have on hand, it’s likely chocolate. And the ideal chocolate ice cream has to deliver on the chocolate flavor, whether dark or milk chocolate, dairy-free or regular—if it says chocolate it better mean it. While everyone has their favorite brand, the freezer aisle is loaded with over a dozen varieties of chocolate ice cream, and there are likely a few you haven’t gotten around to trying. Don’t worry, we did the tough job of sampling nine of them for you. In a blind taste test our editors (Southern Living magazine) determined an overall favorite that was rich and creamy, super chocolatey, and without hot fudge or extra toppings, wowed us (click here).
Over the years, Cinnabon has kept things relatively simple: Sure, they’ve branched out into Churro Swirls and Cookie BonBites, but the main star of the show has always been their classic cinnamon roll. So just how rarely has the 37-year-old brand deviated from that underlying cinnamon theme? Well, Cinnabon has a new product, and the company says it’s the first time they’ve ever skipped the cinnamon. Chocolate BonBites are being billed as Cinnabon’s “first-ever chocolate-filled baked treat” and “the brand’s first-ever non-cinnamon treat.” (Interestingly, for both statements, Cinnabon included the qualifier “in U.S. bakeries,” making you wonder what kinds of products Cinnabon locations are whipping up overseas!) This new spin on Cinnabon’s tiny BonBites cinnamon roll is baked with the usual Cinnabon dough, but then — instead of cinnamon — is layered with a chocolate schmear on the inside and topped with both chocolate frosting and cream cheese frosting. These limited time only Chocolate BonBites will be sold until September 11 in either 4-count or 16-count packs, with prices starting at $4.79. The chain says customers should be able to find them at mall bakeries, at Maverick and Pilot Flying J Travel Center locations, or via the new Cinnabon mobile app and food delivery platforms.
Say it with chocolate! These nine adorable little chocolate cameras are handmade with the finest white, milk and dark Belgian chocolate (three of each), plus a negative strip of motivational phrases. The chocolates are made by a family business near Bath in Somerset – a father-daughter team, including the accomplished inventor Kerr Dunlop who designed the hedgehog boot wiper! Their now patented idea of layering chocolate on top of chocolate created Choc on Choc, and they now produce a wide variety of designs – including a gaming controller, stationary, and wildlife designs, as well as ‘Melt and Make Your Own kits’ such as zoo animals and dinosaurs. Buy now from Amazon (£14.93), Choc on Choc (£12.00).
Everyone has a favorite ice cream flavor, whether it’s strawberry, vanilla, chocolate, or something more creative with plenty of fudge ribbons and mix-ins. One of my favorite ice cream flavors is mint chocolate chip. When it comes to mint chocolate chip ice cream, not all are created equal. First off, there’s the issue of should mint chocolate chip ice cream be white or green? Then there’s the fact that the ice cream should have discernible chunks of chocolate versus little shavings. With all of this in mind, here are some of the “best” (click, HERE) according to Megan duBois, as posted on EatThis.com, and the “winner” will surprise you!
McDonald’s released a limited-time-only dessert: the Chocolatey Pretzel McFlurry. It’s a vanilla soft-serve ice cream base with chocolate-covered pretzel bits, with a ribbon of caramel sauce swirled in. But there’s another way of trying this! Order a regular Oreo one and ask them to add hot fudge to it (it costs a little extra, but live a little). The cookies offer that signature crumbly Oreo texture, but the hot fudge adds a warm, rich, velvety experience that contrasts with the soft serve.
The Sweets & Snacks Expo, scheduled for May 24-26, 2022, in McCormick Place, in Chicago, is a look at some of the chocolate products we are most excited to see in 2022. For a list of these 22 products, click HERE.
McDonald’s USA plans to debut a new limited-time Chocolatey Pretzel McFlurry nationwide on May 25. The Chicago-based burger brand said the chocolate-pretzel McFlurry is the first new flavor of the year and will be available at participating restaurants. The offering features vanilla soft serve that is mixed with chocolate-covered pretzel bits and topped with a caramel swirl – combining salty and sweet flavors. McDonald’s said it will continue to offer the Oreo and M&Ms McFlurry flavors.
Sisters Frances and Ginger Park were carefree young women when the sudden death of their father turned their world upside down. Reeling from the loss, they turned to each other – and the comfort of good chocolate – to numb their pain as they tried to figure out a way to create a shared future. The answer turned out to be as simple as their childhood dream: open a chocolate shop. In January 1984, Chocolate Chocolate opened its doors in downtown Washington, DC. Soon thereafter, Ginger’s husband Skip became a part of the chocolate dream. Overtime, the CC family grew with the wondrous Estelle, Koomo, Justin, Marge, Eva & Jason. And the rest is chocolate history. Learn more about CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE by watching the video, HERE, and check out their website, ChocolateDC.com.
The Ghirardelli Chocolate Company announced it will soon reopen its flagship Chocolate Experience Store, located in San Francisco’s Ghirardelli Square. The space is designed to elevate the customer experience and provides new and exciting ways to celebrate the true craftmanship of chocolate making. Visitors can expect to be delighted by the delicate taste and aroma of fresh chocolate, warm waffle cones and hand-made hot fudge. San Francisco Mayor London Breed will attend the official ribbon cutting ceremony at a grand reopening celebration on May 20.
Do you love LOVE chocolate? Would you eat it in everything if you could? Well, in case you didn’t know, there’s a restaurant at Universal Orlando‘s CityWalk that makes almost EVERYTHING with chocolate. You must visit The Toothless Chocolate Emporium & Savory Feast Kitchen! Find out all you need to know, HERE.
The British company, which uses fermentation to create the beloved confection, hopes to use its U.K. launch to highlight the ethical problems with the traditional way the candy is made. The process to turn cacao into chocolate is long and complicated. After workers harvest cacao fruit from trees, they cut the fruits open and scoop out the seeds, which undergo several days of fermentation. Then the seeds are sun-dried, shipped to processing facilities, roasted, shelled, ground into a paste, heated and stirred to bring out the flavor, tempered and molded. WNWN, a UK-based company, is replicating the very beginning of the process, during which the freshly picked cacao beans are fermented, to make cacao-free chocolate. Starting on May 18, its boxes of dark chocolate thins that are primarily made from fermented barley and carob are available to buy online in its home country. You can read more about this, HERE.
Starbucks is adding a new cold beverage as demand for iced coffee continues to grow. The coffee chain is adding a new chocolate cream cold brew to its menus. The drink features cold brew coffee topped with a “light, sweet and silky” chocolate cream cold-foam and is sweetened with vanilla syrup. The new offering is inspired by “nostalgic summer moments,” Starbucks said in a press release. “The classic combination of coffee and notes of chocolate, along with the malt flavor in the chocolate cream cold foam, are reminiscent of a chocolate malted milkshake, or that last bit of melted chocolate ice cream on a warm summer day, to recreate the sweet, creamy flavor of summers past.” Prices for a grande chocolate cream cold brew range from $5.25 to $5.45 depending on which US city customers order from.
The first Hershey’s Chocolate World, located off of Hersheypark Drive, in Hershey, Pennsylvania, is in an entertainment complex that also includes Hersheypark, Hersheypark Stadium, Hersheypark Arena, Hershey Museum, and Giant Center, and sets the world record for being the World’s Largest Chocolate Visitor Complex, according to the WORLD RECORD ACADEMY. The main candy store is one of the largest stores of its kind in the world selling Hershey’s products including new items not widely released, and premium chocolate brands such as Scharffen Berger Chocolate. Learn more HERE.
There’s chocolate, and then there’s gianduiotto chocolate. An ancestor of Nutella, the melt-in-the-mouth treat is as rare as it is delicious. Like most renowned Italian artisan chocolate, gianduiotto originates from Piedmont, Italy, where it’s considered the “king of Italian chocolate.” Made of a rich paste consisting of fine cocoa mixed with the premium hazelnuts that grow in Piedmont’s Langhe region, it’s hugely popular with locals. Some have it with an espresso for breakfast, and/or after a meal, along with snacks and aperitifs. Usually wrapped in a thin silver, golden or colored aluminum foil, the ingot shape treat has been produced by local chocolatiers here for centuries. Its birthplace is the region’s capital, Turin, which has been known as Italy’s “chocolate capital” ever since maître chocolatiers began making their sweet artisan delicacies for the House of Savoy, the royal dynasty established in the Savoy region of Italy, here in the 1500’s. Learn more, HERE.
Those of us astonished by what people can do with food are probably familiar with Amaury Guichon. The chef, who runs the Pastry Academy in Las Vegas, is very popular online—and his recent masterpiece is a good example why. The chocolatier spent five whole days creating a giant squid, made entirely out of chocolate. And if we hadn’t seen the full video of him constructing the huge chocolate sculpture, we might mistake it for the real thing. (Or, at least a sculpture made out of non-edible materials.) Check out the video, HERE.
If you have a sweet tooth, chances are chocolate brands are high on your snack radar. And if you agree that chocolate might as well be the eighth wonder of the world, keep reading. Per Insider, the chocolate industry is a more than $100 billion business, and to keep that business alive requires a lot of cocoa beans. According to the National Confectioners Association, it takes 400 cocoa beans to make just one pound of chocolate — and a cacao tree will, on average, produce some 2,500 beans a year, or about six pounds of chocolate. To put this into context, for Valentine’s Day alone, an estimated 58 million pounds of chocolate are sold every year (via Good Housekeeping). As for chocolate makers, as with any food product, some brands are killing it in this space, while others aren’t quite living up to the hype. Tasting Table taste testers hit the ground running to round up 20 chocolate brands with the end goal of ranking them from worst to best. As self-proclaimed chocolate fanatics, they found so many good ones, it was truly a challenge to organize them for this list. But they did, so grab a glass of milk, a cup of tea, or whatever beverage fits your fancy (and pairs with chocolate, of course), and get ready for some serious deliciousness. Read more, HERE.
When you were a child, you might recall having to take bitter medicine when you were sick and your mom told you to hold your nose so you wouldn’t taste it. Of course, doing so was to prevent you from throwing up the medicine, but this concept can also be applied to the enjoyment of chocolate. According to The Kitchn, if you give your nose a little squeeze and hold it for 2 to 3 seconds as your favorite chocolate rests on your tongue and begins to melt in your mouth, when you release your nose, you will discover you have a heightened sense of what the chocolate tastes like. In fact you may even detect subtle notes of other flavors in your chocolate. Read more at TastingTable.com.
While Reese’s might be the most popular and best-known brand of chocolate nut butter cups, Trader Joe’s also makes its own version of the creamy, cocoa-covered candies. And in a recent Reddit thread, Trader Joe’s fans didn’t shy away from sharing their opinions about the dark chocolate peanut butter cups found at the TJ grocery retailer. While they might not be new, they’re still highly talked-about, as proven by a recent post on Reddit. “I made the dangerous decision of buying the big box of the dark chocolate peanut butter cups. And I regret nothing,” the original poster wrote. After all, love means never having to say you’re sorry to the loved one you ate – when it comes to candy. One person in the thread claimed that the massive one-pound tub is in fact a single serving size. The dark chocolate peanut butter cups were one of the runners-up for the most popular product overall in this year’s Trader Joe’s Customer Choice Awards, an honor that Redditors would agree with. “I actually swore the first time I tried these,” one fan admitted. “I didn’t expect them to be that good.”
There’s a new vegan-friendly Trader Joe’s product hitting shelves: oat chocolate bars. The new spin on vegan chocolate bars were spotted at an Agoura Hills, California store and shared by Trader Joe’s fan Instagram account @traderjoeslist on March 13. The oat milk chocolate bars, which are described as having “a smooth and creamy texture without the milk” on the box, clearly have fans excited, as the post had already received more than 10,500 likes just one day later. In addition to being vegan, the product packaging states that these new chocolate bars are also soy-free, gluten-free, and kosher, making them great for people with a variety of diets and allergies.
Alana Al-Hatlani, a professional baker, made devil’s food cake with Pillsbury, Duncan Hines, and Betty Crocker mixes. The Duncan Hines version was moist and had the strongest chocolate flavor of the three. Betty Crocker’s cake was also moist but lacked flavor and tasted bland without frosting. For more details, click HERE.
Your body requires protein to build muscle. And while professional athletes have trainers and dieticians to help them get enough protein to optimize their workouts, other people have to find high-quality protein on their own. Whether you want to build muscle mass or your doctor recommends you eat more protein, a daily protein shake can give you enough nutrients to be strong and healthy. If you want a delicious chocolate treat that packs a whopping 32 grams of protein into each delicious serving, the Muscle Milk Pro Series Knockout Chocolate Protein Shake is for you. You can find it on Amazon and for detailed info about how to choose the best protein shake mix, click, HERE.
They say don’t judge a book by it’s cover. But when it comes to this tuxedo chocolate mousse cake with its dark chocolate ganache at Costco, it definitely tastes as great as it looks.
You can find damn-near everything at Costco. Every day grocery essentials? Of course. Quick, ready-to-bake weeknight dinners? Plenty of it. Lounge chairs and other outdoor furniture to deck out your patio this upcoming summer? Check, check, check. But our favorite Costco finds? Decadent, creamy, ooey-gooey desserts, from their popular oversized cheesecakes to the most recent Costco find that’s already become a shopper-favorite, Death by Chocolate Dessert Cups. Because not only are these individual dessert cups filled to the brim with layers upon layers of chocolate, but these desserts also put reusability and sustainability first. La Vie Gourmand’s Death by Chocolate Dessert cups are dubbed “the ultimate chocolate experience” — and that they are. Each of the six, 2.3-ounce jars boast layers of varying textures of chocolate, from chocolate cake and chocolate mousse to chocolate cookie crumbles and chocolate cream. You can find La Vie Gourmand’s Death by Chocolate Dessert cups in the refrigerated section of Costco stores. They’re just $10.99 for a six-pack.
If you have a sweet tooth, chances are chocolate brands are high on your snack radar. And if you agree that chocolate might as well be the eighth wonder of the world, keep reading. The chocolate industry is a more than $100 billion business, and to keep that business alive requires a lot of cocoa beans. It takes 400 cocoa beans to make just one pound of chocolate — and a cacao tree will, on average, produce some 2,500 beans a year, or about six pounds of chocolate. To put this into context, for Valentine’s Day alone, an estimated 58 million pounds of chocolate are sold every year. Tasting Table taste testers hit the ground running to round up 20 chocolate brands with the end goal of ranking them from worst to best. Click HERE to see if your favorite brand made the cut!
PETER WHO? Inc. was founded in 2021 by a group of Swiss chocolate enthusiasts who were frustrated by the lack of premium vegan chocolate alternatives and the lack of transparency in the chocolate industry. With their vision to create the best Swiss Premium chocolate for conscious connoisseurs, Peter Who? launched their first chocolate bar in December 2021. But the founders of Peter Who? won’t stop here: They are already working on new recipes and are set to write a new chapter in the long and successful history of Swiss chocolate making. Peter Who? is proud to present their first chocolate bar to US consumers. Their Vegan Salted Caramel chocolate has deep aromas of cacao and coffee which are paired in harmony with elegant notes of plum, pineapple, and black tea. Add crunchy vegan caramel crisps with a touch of sea salt and you have a chocolate that will have chocolate lovers craving for more. Peter Who? is on a mission to change the Swiss chocolate industry by committing to 100% vegan, 100% organic, and fair-traded ingredients and to producing great chocolate without harming animals or the environment. Their vision: To create the best Swiss Premium chocolate for conscious connoisseurs. Peter Who? chocolate contains no palm oil, no soy lecithin, no refined sugars, and no gluten. All ingredients used at Peter Who? are certified organic and sourced from ethical suppliers. Grown without antibiotics, synthetic fertilizers, or GMO technology. At Peter Who? a lot of attention is given to sourcing only the best raw materials for their chocolate to offer a product of outstanding quality, pureness, and incredible taste. For their Vegan Salted Caramel, a single-origin Cru cacao, grown in the dry, sandy soils of the Suhum district of Ghana was chosen and only the very highest quality, complex, and intensely flavored beans were selected & hand-picked. Peter Who? Vegan Salted Caramel chocolate is currently available on their online store and on Amazon.
Nestlé Toll House has announced that it is bringing back its line of Baking Truffles with new varieties and packaging. This June, the brand is releasing Bite-Sized Filled Baking Truffles in two flavors: Chocolate Lava Cake and Caramel Dulce De Leche. Filled with rich, decadent flavors, these new truffles help to elevate everyday baked goods like cookies, brownies or pancakes. They can also simply be enjoyed right out of an all-new re-sealable stand-up bag.
While visiting Niagara Falls visit Hershey’s Store! Stop by for rich milkshakes, HERSHEY’S Candy souvenirs and bakery-fresh sweet treats. If only the falls were made of HERSHEY’S Chocolate!
In order to capitalize on the emerging vegan trends taking center stage in the food industry, Lindt just launched a new kind of vegan chocolate made with oat milk. Lindt is expanding its existing line of oat milk chocolate bars with three new vegan-friendly flavors: original, hazelnut, and salted caramel. These are still considered milk chocolate, but the traditional dairy milk has been swapped for a plant-based version made with gluten-free oat milk powder and almond paste. They’re not yet available in the United States, but all three flavors can be found in Canada, and the United Kingdom has all but the salted caramel variety.
Health-conscious chocolate lovers, rejoice! There is a wonderful chocolate product that is perfect for Valentines that will satisfy your loved ones’ chocolatey cravings without regret. Instead of heart-shaped treats, try RED chocolate. RED Chocolate is European crafted, decadent chocolate that has up to 50 percent fewer calories and 30 to 40 percent less fat. Formulated by European Master Chocolatiers, and beloved throughout Europe for nearly 15 years, you know we’re talking about the good stuff here. So how do they do it? Most of the sweetness you experience when indulging in RED is from the cocoa bean itself. However, the RED secret is out—they are the first in the world to use the natural sugar from fruits such as melons to lightly sweeten their no-sugar-added chocolate recipe. Five flavors are available in full bars sizes, four flavors in the grab-n-go size, and two amazingly decadent (and widely popular as they simply can’t keep these in stock!) flavors are available in diamond stuffed pralines, mom will indeed be happy this May. For more info, click HERE.
Many times, chocolate is oh-so-much more than just candy. In its natural form, it’s a superfood packed with antioxidants and cardiovascular benefits, and studies show chocolate boosts energy, reduces stress, increases concentration and even improves maternal health. This playful, nutrient-dense treat is the perfect pick-me-up and superfood recharge. So we know chocolate is good for us. But what about the farmers who grow it? The International Labor Organization estimates that there are millions of child laborers working to produce many of our everyday purchases such as coffee and cocoa. As you might imagine, forced laborers are exploited for their work, forced to work long hours with little or no pay, and have little rights. These 11 conscious chocolate brands (click HERE) have made it an integral part of their mission to develop mutually beneficial partnerships by employing fair trade and direct trade practices with the farmers who cultivate their cocoa crops. Oh—and they make delicious good-for-you chocolate.
Avid philanthropist and massive digital creator, MrBeast, AKA Jimmy Donaldson, announces the launch of Feastables, a better-for-you snacking brand rooted in gamified experiences. With the mission to deliver high-quality snacks to the masses, Feastables’ first launch is the MrBeast Bar, a gluten-free chocolate bar that starts with four simple ingredients, including organic cocoa. The MrBeast Bar is launching in three delicious flavors: Original Chocolate, Almond Chocolate, and Quinoa Crunch Chocolate. Check out the website, Feastables.com.
Both Kit Kat Duos Strawberry + Dark Chocolate and Kit Kat Thins Chocolate Hazelnut are permanent editions to the Kit Kat lineup, and are available in retailers nationwide now. Like its predecessors, Strawberry + Dark Chocolate combines two flavors — in this case, the sweet, fresh taste of strawberry with the rich, decadent flavor of dark chocolate. (It’s meant to taste like a chocolate-covered strawberry.) The bar is out in both standard and king size. Chocolate Hazelnut, on the other hand, is the first-ever new flavor for the Kit Kat Thins offering, which hit shelves last year. It joins Hershey’s “thins” candy lineup, including York Peppermint Pattie Thins and Reese’s Thins. Be on the lookout for the hazelnut slimmed-down treat in both 3.1 oz. and 7.37 oz. bags.
Mars Wrigley’s DOVE® Chocolate announced the release of its newest innovation, DOVE® Large PROMISES®. The treats are three-times the size of the original DOVE PROMISES, bringing consumers a more premium experience to share, enjoy individually or take on the go. DOVE Large PROMISES are available in two indulgent flavor variations, Milk Chocolate & Caramel and Dark Chocolate & Peanut Butter and feature the iconic DOVE PROMISES messages. DOVE Large PROMISES Milk Chocolate & Caramel and DOVE Large PROMISES Dark Chocolate & Peanut Butter are available in a shareable pack (2.75 oz) at retailers nationwide beginning in January 2022.
Salted, studded or oozing with a tangy truffled center, these mouthwatering dark, milk, white and ruby chocolate bars are some of the very best — and they’re shockingly easy to get your hands on. check them all out HERE.
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that nothing says “I love you” quite like a box of chocolates. That’s why it’s the ideal Valentine’s Day gift for your sweetheart or even yourself (self-care, anyone?). A box of truffles or bonbons also makes an excellent dessert if you’re cooking a romantic dinner at home. Instead of worrying about your soufflé falling or fussing with tempered chocolate, serve the chocolates as your grand finale. And while there’s a time and place for the drugstore variety, why not take your token of affection to the next level by picking out something more unique? Click HERE for some suggestions.
Beginning Jan. 7 and available for a limited time at participating shops across the U.S., Krispy Kreme fans can enjoy Chocolate Glazed mini doughnuts packed with a unique blend of chocolate “flavor on flavor on flavor.” Chocolate being a top “crave flavor” during New Year’s resolutions, these all-new doughnuts arrive just in time to help fans stay on track: Mini Chocolate Glazed Cake Batter Doughnut, Mini Chocolate Glazed Cookies & KREME™ Doughnut, Mini Chocolate Glazed Peanut Butter Doughnut, and Mini Chocolate Glazed Doughnut – KK’s iconic doughnut made mini and covered in chocolate glaze.
Next time you have a craving for chocolate, consider heading out to your local Trader Joe’s. While the chain has earned a reputation, in part, for producing healthy versions of classic dishes (yes, we’re talking about you, Cauliflower Gnocchi!) it also stocks plenty of sweets that chocolate fans (and others) will love. Click, HERE, for suggested treats.
Chocolate is a vast category. From bars and bonbons to cakes, frozen desserts, drinks, and sauces, you can get your chocolate fix in any number of ways. Traditional chocolates are usually non-vegan because they contain some amount of milk. Fortunately for vegans, the advent of dairy-free milks—such as soy, coconut, cashew, and almond milks—has sparked new ideas in the minds of artisanal chocolate producers. While we’ve got a ways to go before vegan chocolate takes the world by storm, it is much more prevalent than ever before. Here, we explore the sweet, sweet world of plant-based chocolate products (click, HERE).
