Club Chocolate Blog – Gourmet Chocolate and Fine Chocolate

With all the gloom and doom on Wall Street, here is some great news for a change.

A Citi analyst says, “Our analysis of recent takeaway trends at retail suggest significant improvement happening at Hershey’s driven by significant increases in advertising spending and consumer trade-down to less expensive chocolate. We see the upcoming Jan 27th earnings report as having the potential for a guidance raise; although new mgmt may take the conservative route and maintain ’09 est’s even in light of improving trends.”

The Hershey Company is a manufacturer of chocolate and sugar confectionery products.

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Ingredients:
3/4 cup of water
3/4 cup of milk
3 oz. bittersweet chocolate
1 tbsp. sugar, optional
Whipped cream, optional

Directions:
Chop chocolate into small bits. Boil water. In a separate medium saucepan, place chocolate, reserving a few pieces to sprinkle over the top when served. Turn the stovetop to medium heat. Pour splash of boiling water into the chocolate pan and stir with a whisk or spoon until the chocolate is melted. Gradually add the rest of the water, and then the milk, stirring constantly with a whisk. Top your cups with whipped cream, if desired. Makes enough for two regular-sized mugs.
­— GateHouse News Service

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Chocolate that’s safe for dogs?  Is there such a thing? According to Shelley Price of the Seattle Pet Trends Examiner there certainly is. It seems “the folks at Petit Four Legs have developed hand-crafted “chocolates” that look astonishingly like something you could pick up at a Godiva retailer.”

The dog treats are made from canine-safe carob, peanut butter, and other human-grade ingredients. They are made in small batches in the Seattle-based kitchen of the owners of the Petit Four Legs website. Treats available include petit fours, of course, and also truffles and a cupcake mix.

You can purchase these treats online or at their Seattle store. You should also know Petit Four Legs donates a portion of their profits to Homeward Pet, a no-kill animal shelter.

So to all you dog lovers, treat your favorite friend and check out Petit Four Legs for your self.

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Tip of the Day: The many ways of chocolate

From the GateHouse newservice comes the following.

There are many varieties of chocolate available in grocery stores, and each are suited for specific jobs.

- Unsweetened chocolate is pure and has no additives. It also is called bitter or baking chocolate. It is used in recipes that add sugar.

- Semisweet chocolate is bitter chocolate mixed with sugar and vanilla. The amount of added sugar determines whether it is bittersweet or sweet chocolate.

- For milk chocolate, dry milk is added to sweetened chocolate to create the creamy texture desired in candy.

- Cocoa powder is the unsweetened ground solids extracted from chocolate. It is used in a variety of chocolate flavorings, including commonly with sugar in hot-chocolate mix.

- Liquid chocolate is unsweetened chocolate kept liquid by vegetable oil instead of hard cocoa butter. It is suitable for baking.

- Couverture is glossy and forms the thin shells in chocolate-coated candy. It is available in candy-making stores.

- White chocolate offers very little chocolate flavoring. It contains sugar, cocoa butter, milk solids, and lecithin and vanilla.

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