I was talking to my partner the other day and we were reminiscing about the fact that we had not one, not two, but three blocks of glorious chocolate. Just sitting in our cupboard. And goddamit it, we weren’t going to eat them.
Because if we did, good God. Our bodies. Those blocks would be gone. In one night.
But it got me thinking: there’s an awful lot of variety in the world of chocolate, and I’ve never asked you what you think.
First: chocolate and coffee always go great together. Coffee-flavoured chocolate is another thing entirely — also great — but having them as a pair is always, always lovely.
But I find different chocolate works for different occasions.
- If I’m in the office: something sweet. Cadbury’s milk chocolate, or perhaps a sweet Caramello.
- Late at night, with a glass of wine or perhaps at the end of a long gaming session: something really dark. Minimum 70% cocoa solids.
- If I’m making a brownie cake? I like a big mix. 500 grams of white and dark chocolate of varying solids. And yes, I know white chocolate isn’t really chocolate. Bugger off. It still tastes good.
- For something like Rocky Road? I don’t want it too dark. About 65-70% goes quite nicely.
That’s generally how I like to make my Rocky Road, by the way. Not that there’s ever one planned, but God forbid if we ever do a big Sydney TAYbie meetup I’ll make some for everyone. It’s so easy.
So, chocolate. Do you like it? Do you love it? What chocolate do you like? And how do you like to have it?
Comments
39 responses to “The Big Question: Chocolate”
Chocolate flavours in brown ale tickle my fancy – specifically The Growler Ale brewed in Moorrabbin at 2 Brothers Brewery. Fantastic beer and a stellar place to have a chat and an unwind after a days hard yakka.
I have a bottle of Nomad Brewing’s Choc Wort Orange in my fridge that I am saving for a special occasion.
niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice 🙂
Chocolate?
CHOCOLATE?!
SNAAAAAAAAKKKEEE!!!!
I’m a dark chocolate lover in general. Shelf stuff I loathe Cadbury, love Toblerone & Lindt. I’m not a huge fan of the selection at Max Brenner but they do a great Italian thick dark hot chocolate. I thought I found my true love with San Churro as they put a heavy emphasis on dark chocolate but the menu has changed since launch and there are less dark offerings and the dark that is left is noticeably weaker. I do really enjoy San Churros raw cocoa shake though, great texture 😉
Lindt I think is the best ‘supermarket’ chocolate.
I used to be an adherent of Jeff de Bruges (still go weak for it) but now I pretty much go for Coco Chocolate (see below). I think San Churro beats out Max Brenner for drinking chocolate – I also love the ‘a l’ancienne’ thick stuff. Some places add too much milk though…
Also, the chili chocolate at San Churro is awesome!
Hells yeah! Although it’s hard not to go for the spicy Mexican one instead.
I don’t really dig expensive stuff all that much.
There’s this happy medium though, because cheap stuff tastes pretty bad.
That said, I’ll take what I can get…is what I used to say before I was diagnosed with high cholesterol. Now I avoid it as much as possible.
Dark chocolate, good quality. I really don’t care for gritty milk chocolate 😛
Stout Chocolate Cake. That’s a winner.
I really like white “chocolate” and dark (80+%) chocolate. A bit indifferent to milk chocolate, but I do like chocolate with mint.
In the same boat. Most milk chocolate is very eh to my tasteless nowadays. Love Lindt dark chocolate with added flavours, mint or orange are the best.
Won’t walk past a packet of titans on sale though.
I’m not a huge fan of chocolate but do enjoy it on occasion.
Generally we get Whittaker’s and either the dark mint or a a hold over from the NZ top the white chocolate L&P
Whittakers is awesome, peanut butter!
Haven’t tried that one yet. I am a sucker for Berry Biscuit though I can demolish one of those in minutes.
Yes definitely! I lived in NZ for a bit they have way more flavours over there! White choc rasberry is pretty good too!
Got into Haigh’s recently, expensive habit!! Cadbury’s now tastes like crap!
Seriously amazing chocolate, isn’t it?
Yeah I’ve tried pretty much every variety, it’s all great. Even their (chocolate covered) liquorice is amazing, so much softer than most liquorice!
That reminds me that the darryl lee liquorice covered white chocolate twists are great
How could I forget Haighs! Awesome chocolate, get it whenever I’m in Syd/Melb/Ade
My friend owns a chocolate shop in Kirribilli: http://cocochocolate.com.au
She also runs chocolate making classes…
Generally, I am not a chocolate fan. Too many of them are too sweet, or too bitter. Also, I will eat it but never buy it from the shops.
BUT…. Big but here, I would have a complete meltdown and step over my own mother for a Cadbury Old Gold Rum ‘n’ Raisin bar of Dark Chocolate!
I’m on a Ketogenic diet at the moment, and have lost 15kg in the past 4 months so I don’t want to ruin my run on a bar of sweet sweet Rum ‘n’ Raisin chocolate.
Darn you, now my mouth is watering and im shaking, and I cant stop thinking about it. I’ll just crawl up in the corner of my office and rock myself for the next few hours!!!!
Oh boy, Rum ‘n’ Raisin, my old friend…
Chocolate does nothing for me, I’m still swooning over your prosciutto camembert…
I made that on the weekend. So good! Pan fried for 4 minutes each side, then baked for 10 minutes at 180C for 10 minutes. Came out of the oven puffed up like a balloon.
My sister said it was too much Garlic. I said that was blasphemy, and showed her where the door was lol
Whittakers Coconut Chocolate. I rarely eat sweet things but if I’m having chocolate it needs to be this. Awesome stuff. Eat it alone or grate it over some ice cream.
Whittaker’s for blocks. Belgium, Swiss or Ferrero Rochers for treats. I know they are only covered in chocolate but Maltesers are perfect for movies.
I absolutely LOVE chocolate.
Really cheap chocolate is almost always rubbish, though. But on the other side of the coin, quite a lot of REALLY expensive chocolate is completely overrated, and sometimes tastes worse than the mid-range stuff.
Rocky road is one of my favorite things of all time – darrel lea’s one especially.
All time favorite chocolate is Haighs, but as mentioned above, can get pricey.
Are you coming to PAX meat? Dippa is going to bring a huge batch of rocky road since there will be lots of sydney taybies at that meatup
Damn it – i won’t be at the meat 🙁
Self-saucing chocolate pudding. My partner makes an amaaaaaaazing one. With lots of cream.
Anything as long as it’s dark
im a sucker for CheeseCake shop Boston Mud Cakes. love em.
coles coco pops are often on special and much cheaper than kellogs and are quite an admirable substitution.
other than that, i do enjoy cadbury old gold, old gold with peppermint and rum and raisin.
back when i was a teen, every Friday night after youth group, my snack before bed was
a bowl of coco pops with sugar on top, a glass of milo and 2 tim tams. i cant consume this much sugar/chocolate in one hit any more though, my teeth ache and then i feel like shit for the next few hours.
I’m usually not huge on chocolate, but there’s always about 2 months of the year (usually during winter) that I absolutely CRAVE it.
I’ve got a couple of favourites. I’m a real sucker for the classic Cadbury Fruit ‘n’ Nut, and I also love Lindt Dark Chocolate Blocks with Sea Salt. In general, I’m a dark chocolate man all the way, even with the drinks. There’s this place in Melbourne (Chokolait, I think it’s called?) where you can order an iced or hot dark orange chocolate, and it is just the best.
Dark choc hazelnut mousse. Frangelico in the whipped cream, melted 70% chocolate (minimum) and a squeeze of lime juice when whipping the egg whites.
Goes beautifully with hazelnut meringues. I could eat this everyday if I stopped caring about weight and heart disease and stuff…
Oooh, sounds like something I’d like to try making.
Cadbury or nestle (exclusively rolo or club mint though). That’s it. Lindt and similar products are far too rich and cheaper stuff tastes wrong some how, I want to say thinner. Old gold, standard milk or caramello would be my usual picks from cadbury.
For me it’s standard or simple snacks and then more involved media (chocolate is terrible with games unless it’s really cold, otherwise you risk a disgusting keyboard.), generally movies or TV. There’s something about watching an arthouse or independent film while eating the most simple of snacks that just feels right.
All dark all the time. Not that I have it that much. I have managed to work my way through the kilos of stockpile that built up from presents over the years a number of times, but it seems fairly low now.
Oh, and even better with chilli. I recently created my own awesome easy hot chocolate – a generous sprinkling of cinnamon, a good pinch of chilli powder (less if using the world’s hottest chilli as I have been lately), and a heaped teaspoon of nutella. Pour in a little milk, put it in the microwave for about 50 seconds/watch for it boiling over, then take it out and stir. Add in more milk to about 2/3 full, give it another 50 and stir. Then add in the rest to top out the glass and enjoy.
If the question is chocolate the answer is YES PLEASE.
Personally I like the Coles brand stuff, Dark for me, milk for my wife. Not the Woolies, though, that stuff is rubbish. Aldi is ok though.
Or Italian thick hot chocolate, especially if it’s dark too.
But generally anything is accepted if you’re offering 🙂