Category Archives: Chocolate

Patric Chocolate: From Bean to Bar

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Small-batch chocolate made in Missouri.

Columbia, MO-based Patric Chocolate makes dark chocolate bars in small batches, from cacao beans sourced from Madagascar.

Founder Alan McClure started his company three years ago, after being inspired by the chocolate-making traditions he witnessed while traveling in France.

Hearing about Food Gal’s insatiable appetite for all things chocolate, McClure sent me a sample to try. The 1.75-ounce bars retail for $6.25 each.

I’ll use my patented scale of 1 to 10 lip-smackers, with 1 being the “Bleh, save your money” far end of the spectrum; 5 being the “I’m not sure I’d buy it, but if it was just there, I might nibble some” middle-of-the-road response; and 10 being the “My gawd, I could die now and never be happier, because this is the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth” supreme ranking.

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Man-Happy Cookies

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You can't resist taking a bite of these chewy cookies.

Whenever I pull out my mixer and measuring cups, my husband will eagerly chirp, “Oooh, what are you baking?”

If I answer “lemon-grapefruit-kumquat coconut bars” or “cardamom-nutmeg-pine nut chewies” or anything else a little exotic, he’ll sigh dejectedly.

“Oh,” he’ll fret. Then add, “How about chocolate-chip or peanut butter instead?”

You see, besides his nickname of Meat Boy, he’s also known in our house as Basic Boy.

Sure, he likes his fancy four-star dinners at swank restaurants. But after awhile, he’s craving the simpler tastes in life. A good burger or — dare I say it — Taco Bell.

Like many men that I know, he’s also a milk chocolate lover. He much prefers that to the dark, earthy, slightly bitter, dark variety I can’t get enough of.

So when I spied this recipe for “Peanut Butter Cookies with Milk Chocolate” in the “Baked” (Stewart, Tabori & Chang) cookbook by Brooklyn bakery owners Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, I thought I’d give it a try.

Milk chocolate swirled with peanut butter in a cookie.

Unlike other peanut butter chocolate chip cookies I’ve made, this one calls for milk chocolate, coarsely chopped from a bar, rather than milk chocolate chips. So instead of a peanut butter cookie studded with milk chocolate chips you get a cookie that’s a little like a melted Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. As the cookies bake, some of the milk chocolate melts into the peanut butter batter, creating chewy cookies that are swirled throughout with nutty and chocolatey goodness.

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Tantilizing Toffee

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Victoria's Toffee

The rewards of blogging are many, not the least of which is the kindness of Food Gal readers, many of whom know me only through cyberspace.

Take SteveK for instance. Steve and I have never met, though we both live in the Bay Area. His older brother happens to be a well-known broadcast journalist who belongs to a media organization of which I’m also a member. But no, I’ve never met his brother, either.

But SteveK, knowing I’m a fiend for chocolate, told me I ought to try this chocolate toffee made by a woman who used to help watch his young daughter at day-care. The woman, Victoria Stillian, used to make the toffee as gifts for friends and families. It was so addicting, they told her, that she ought to sell it. So, five years ago, Victoria and her husband, Ron Stillian, started doing just that.

Victoria’s Toffee of San Mateo is now sold at Draeger’s Markets, Piazza’s Fine Foods in San Mateo, Roberts Market, and GC’s Cafe in Menlo Park, as well as online. A 1-pound box is $24.95.

The chocolate almond toffee squares are strewn with crunchy chopped nuts. The toffee is sweet, but tempered by the slight earthiness of the chocolate. It has a nice texture — not so hard and sticky that it gets glued to your molars for life, but just right, as Goldilocks might say if she nibbled some. Read more

Beauteous Bundts

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Definitely not your average bundt cake.

You know how when you’re a kid, you have all the time in the world, but just don’t know it?

When I was a kid, I loved to bake cakes. Layer cakes. With homemade frosting, all done up with elaborate swirls, sprinkles, and flowers.

Heck, I had the time then.

Now? Forget about it.

Nowadays, if I do bake a cake, it’s apt to be a no-nonsense springform-pan variety or the reliable bundt-style.

So when Nothing Bundt Cakes came calling, offering to send a sample for me to try, my first thought was: “Really? A bakery that makes nothing but bundt cakes? Why on earth?”

After all, bundts are one of the quickest and easiest of cakes to make. Would people really opt to buy these, rather than fancy layer cakes enrobed in pastel fondant or airy meringue buttercream if they were going to the trouble and expense of buying a cake?

Marble bundt cake

When the doorbell rang and the cakes arrived, I understood why they would.

Why, of course, if they got a bundt cake that looked like this: Dressed up with a big, bright yellow sunflower bursting from its center, and thick ripples of ivory cream cheese frosting cascading down it. A precious card and butterfly magnet perched atop it all upped the cute factor even more.

Sure, it looked amazing. But was it merely a bimbo cake — all looks and no substance underneath? One taste would determine that.

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Fruity, Chocolate-Dunked Meringues

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Blueberry CocoaBerries.

Sound pretty good?

Then, meet CocoaBerries — the newest treat from Rubicon Bakery.

If you don’t know Rubicon Bakery, you should. For more than a dozen years, it has created baked treats that are sold at many Bay Area stores, including Andronico’s, Costco, Zanotto’s, and Whole Foods, as well as Rubicon’s online site.

It is part of Rubicon Programs, Inc., a non-profit that provides training, employment, and housing to those in need. The bakery offers work-skill training and entry-level jobs for those who are homeless, or suffer from mental disabilities or addictions. All revenue from the bakery, minus costs, are donated to the agency.

The CocoaBerries are available in two flavors: Strawberry and Blueberry. Each 2.7-ounce box is about $5.50.

I’ll use my patented scale of 1 to 10 lip-smackers, with 1 being the “Bleh, save your money” far end of the spectrum; 5 being the “I’m not sure I’d buy it, but if it was just there, I might nibble some” middle-of-the-road response; and 10 being the “My gawd, I could die now and never be happier, because this is the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth” supreme ranking.

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