What's Your Chocolate Personality?

Chocolate Lovers fall into different categaories all depending on what type of chocolate they like the best. In a study involving over 18,000 participants, Dr. Hirsch, M.D. (founder of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation) found that chocolate, full of pleasure boosting chemicals, is like a party for your brain. He also found that a persons' favorite exposes a lot of their personality traits. Check out your chocolate personality and see if you agree.



Dark Chocolate Lover:

You're a vivacious extrovert! You march to the beat of your own drummer and are the life of every party. You are an outgoing person and the perfect addition to any team. Dark chocolate carries a stronger sensory punch, more than any other type. For a lot of people, this would mean sensory overload, but not for you. No wonder you became a dark chocolate lover before it became a trend.


Chocolate with Nuts:

You're a super-friendly nurturer! You're amaiable, open-hearted and a consummate giver. You know that biting into crunchy foods purges aggression therefore reducing the need to take it out on others. So, gobbling down nutty chocolate guarantees that you stay sweet to others. The grainy and irregular shape of nutty chocolate shows that in life, you opt for substance over "look-at-me" packaging.




Mint Chocolate Lover:

You're opinionated and clever! Both mint and onions stimulate the same nerve. The nerve that makes you cry when you cut onions, also induces "wakefulness". The fact that you can handle that stimulation means that you have a higher threshold for stress. Whether you're coming up with verbal curveballs on the fly or standing up for friends in a fix, you're up to the task. You feel most alive during a debate -when you can think on your feet.



Creamy Milk Chocolate

You're a sensitive thinker! The sweet creamy chocoate is the perfect reflection of your kind, compassionate nature. This appeals to your contemplative side. Just like you savor the sweet, rich goodness of milk chocolate, you mull over ideas until they become refined theories. So it's no surprise that by the time you put them into action, they're absolutely flawless.


Caramel Chocolate

You're a go-getter! This ooey-gooey confection is an adult treat. Caramel cravers tend to be scupulous and detail-oriented. Caramel takes patience to eat. What's more is that people who love caramel exhibit a greater attention span. It makes sense that you always have your nose to the grind stone. You nuture every project you work on.




Which one am I? Well, I think that I am probably the exception to the rule (either that or I'm a victim a multiple personalities). I love them all!

Triple Chocolate Cookies

How heavenly! Late afternoon coffee and a stack of Triple Chocolate Fudge cookies. I finally got some time after a couple of days of calking and painting. I looked around, and there were no cookies in sight. I love cookies. No one could believe I'd slipped up and not made any for days. It never even entered my mind since there are always cookies in the house.

I purchased a wonderful baking book by Marcy Goldman, A Passion for Baking. She bakes using a method she developed for keeping the bottoms of cookies from being over heated and therefore a little too crispy as compared to the rest of the delicious snack.

She stacks two cookie sheets and lines the top one with parchment paper. She then proceeds to bake her cookies this way. I tried it and it works beautifully. She also uses this method when making bread. She places the loaf pan on top of the double cookie sheets. This also keeps the bottoms of the loaves from browning too much before the rest of the loaf has had a chance to bake through. Now, I don't know about you, but I've always had this particular problem. I haven't tried this method with bread yet, but it sure worked with the cookies.

Triple Chocolate Cookies
This recipe is adapted from Marcy Goldman's cookie recipe: Double Chocolate Fudge Cookies. She is the author of A Passion for Baking. Her method of baking uses two cookie sheets stacked together to keep too much heat from over baking the bottoms of cookies. And, after testing, it really works.

¾ cups unsalted butter, softened
6 tablespoons butter flavored shortening
1 cup white sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 ¼ cups flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ cup half and half
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Stack two baking sheets together and line top sheet with parchment paper.
Cream butter and shortening together and blend in both sugars and salt.
Mix in eggs and vanilla.
In another bowl, combine flour, cocoa and baking soda. Sift to eliminate lumps.
On lowest speed of mixer, add flour to butter mixture. Add half and half.
Fold in semisweet and white chocolate chips.
Chill batter for 10 minutes.
Using a cookie scoop, scoop cookie dough and place two inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and cool completely.

I also added some M & M Premiums - Mocha Flavored to the tops.
Makes about 2 ½ dozen.

Emeril’s Dessert Coffee
I saw this recipe in the Woman’s World supermarket magazine. I’ve made coffee with Kahlua, with rum, with tequila but I’d never tried using amaretto. The taste was superb.

¼ cup Kahlua
1 tablespoon cocoa
2 tablespoons amaretto
hot coffee
whipped cream
chocolate curls

For each cup:
Dip rim of cup in Kahlua and then in cocoa. Add Kahlua and amaretto to each cup and fill with hot coffee. Top with whipped cream and chocolate curls or (as in my case) chopped chocolate. Divine! Enjoy.

Chocolate Horoscope

Hi there. I know, I know...it's been a while since I've written a post for the Chocolate blog. SORRY. Really. Life takes precedence and right now there is a bunch of stuff going on that I have very little control over. But slowly I will inch my way back. I just hope that when I do come back full time my friends will not have forgotten about me and my obsession for chocolate.

I found this cool chocolate bar that I wanted to share with you. It's the creation of a company called Bloomsberry. The flavor is pleasant but what I found most fascinating in researching this company is their skill at packaging and marketing. Take a look here and here.

Your Chocolate Horoscope

Aries // March 21 – April 20
Eats the whole bar on the way home from the shop.

Taurus // April 21 – May 21
Loves good chocolate, especially if it is in expensive packaging.

Gemini // May 22 – July 21
Chooses their chocolate by taking a bite out of each piece.

Cancer // June 22 – July 22
Makes even the smallest bar last for at least a month.

Leo // July 23 – August 21
Likes to be in charge of dividing up the chocolate.

Virgo // August 22 – September 23
Cuts their chocolate into bite size pieces with a knife and fork.

Libra // September 24 – October 23
Chooses two bars: one for themselves and one for you both to share.

Scorpio // October 24 – November 22
Hides their chocolate and then becomes obsessed that someone will find it.

Sagittarius // November 23 – December 22
Will only eat imported chocolate.

Capricorn // December 23 – January 20
Likes to be seen eating only the best and the most expensive chocolate.

Aquarius // January 21 –February 19
Loves chocolate – but likes to think they actually prefer carob health bars.

Pisces // February 20 – March 20
Shares their chocolate and forgets to leave some for themselves.

I'm a Libra by the way and yes, I would buy two bars and share one with you! How does your Zodiac sign measure up to the ChocoScope?

I will be back later this week. I'm going to have some alone time on Friday so I plan to bake something up very special for you. Till then, have some chocolate and be well my friends.