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2 Chicks with Chocolate – Cocoa Tiles and Chocolate Pops

Chris Urban — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 01:42:02 +0000

As regular readers are probably aware by now, I’m on a simple quest to try and find the best spicy chocolates I can find. Dark, milk, whatever, as long as it’s gots some of dat heat!So, I spent the last weekend in Atlantic City at the Food & Wine show, surrounded by free samples of crabcakes, beer, wine, more wine, more beer, spicy barbecue sauces, more wine, and, (wait for it) chocolate.
Down the back aisle from my booth, were a group of chocolate ladies handing out free samples, led by an awesome chick named Elyissia. When asked if I would like to try some chocolate, I responded by asking if they had anything spicy. One of the girls handed me a milk chocolate pop – a truffle-sized chocolate on a stick, with beautiful red and gold flecks. One bite, and twenty seconds later, I’m overcome with a blissful sensation of creamy milk chocolate interspersed with cinnamon and cloves, a playful bite of ginger and the warm reassurance of cayenne. Then, to smooth things out, there’s the sensation of sea salt.
Let me tell you, these little suckers are simply awesome. But wait! There’s more! (inside joke…)
The chicks at 2 Chicks with Chocolate, from northern New Jersey – yes, that is their name, and they are awesome – make the same chocolate in an even more convenient and addictive bar size – packed in a box called, unobtrusively and deceptively simply, Cocoa Tiles. Intrigued? you can visit them online.
While they are not as visually stunning as the flecks on the pops, you get all the flavors, and get to enjoy them a little longer than the pops. And, a minor correction: the spicy chocolates are in fact called Spicy Tiles.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit, I’m partial to darker chocolates; I think they’re best at around 60%. But these are milk, at 38% cocoa. But in this case, I think the creamy milk fares better, especially with the sea salt on the finish. I’d be really interested to try a similar mix with darker chocolate – it’d be more austere, more earthy, and I think it’d have a wider spectrum of flavors…
I also managed to get a Signature Collection box, full of yummy chocolates, but my true favorites were the spicy tiles and pops!
I hope I run into these ladies again at the next food-oriented show!

Dolfin Chocolat Au Lait Au Hot Masala

Chris Urban — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:34:20 +0000

Dolfin is a fantabulous Belgian chocolate maker. They have a number of interesting sounding chocolates, so on a recent trip to NYC we picked a couple up to try. Two words made this an easy pick: hot masala.
For the uninitiated, what exactly is hot masala? It’s essentially a spice mix: start with ginger, add cloves, black pepper, cardamom, and cinnamon.
What an awesome flavor combination: creamy, vanilla-y milk chocolate, and then the flavors creep in and take over.
I need to make a mention of the fantastic gourmet packaging, too: this chocolate is packed exactly like a pouch of rolling tobacco. Inner plastic pouch, wrapped in a plastic wrapped paper wrapper. An absolute pleasure to open and handle! This was not too expensive either, $3.95 for a 70g bar.
Needless to say, if you come across this bar, try it.

Chuao Spicy Maya

Chris Urban — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 02:47:14 +0000

Heaven in a bar? here it is: cocoa, cinnamon, spices, chilies perfectly blended together. Short and sweet: perfect sweetness, creamy chocolate, complex character from cinnamon and chilies. These guys from Carlsbad, California make a damn good chocolate.

We picked this up in Wegman’s, where it was significantly higher in price than other bars, but I argue it’s worth the extra dollar and change over the next bars down. It’s lovingly made with 60% cocoa, Venezuelan only chocolate.

Two year old: “mm hmm good. tastes like donuts, smells like bacon, you love worms.” (Don’t ask, it’s a long story)

Four year old: “tastes like cereal bar, lemon, tastes like brownies.”

Choxie dark chocolate Ceylon spice bar

Chris Urban — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 18:22:44 +0000

Found this in the discount bin of our local Target. This is a nice, fairly spicy bar, with good texture from the cocao been nibs mixed in. I was surprised, honestly, with the balance of ingredients in this bar; it’s not what we expected.

What threw us off is that the ingredients list “spices” without being specific, but the front wrapper says Ceylon cinnamon. We’re guessing cinnamon is probably the leader among these, but we can’t say for sure. The point is that these “spices” are what even out the flavor of this bar nicely. A good chocolate experience, more exotic than what we expected.
Four-year-old says this is a tiny little bit spicy. “It’s okay.”

Vosges – Red Fire Bar

Chris Urban — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 20:42:38 +0000

Chocolate intended for Aztecs. Delicious. Dark chocolate with a slow-building ancho and chipotle chili undertone. Cinnamon nicely bridges the spice with the chocolate, and fills the gap on flavor between the burnt caramel chocolate and the crescendo of the chilies. 4 yr. old: “I don’t like it. It’s too spicy” (Note: she also feels candy canes and Altoids are too ‘spicy’)