Halloween isn't the only way to get chocolate during this last weekend in October.
Slashfood got a golden ticket to the expo of sweet temptations, pastry chefs, chocolatiers and chocolate fashions. Click on the gallery for our coverage.
The 12th annual Chocolate Show will be in New York from Oct 30 to Nov. 1. For more information on the chocolate show and ticket sales, visit www.chocolateshow.com.
Jacques Torres chocolates at Chocolate Show New York. Photo: Sara Bonisteel.
You'd think that with the nation's focus on turkey, cranberry sauce and the subsequent holiday season, November food festivals would be few and far from interesting. Not so -- from warm-ups to warm climes, check out our roundup of remarkable November fȇtes.
Chocolate Show New York, New York, Oct. 30-Nov. 1: A brief event straddling two months, these three decadent days include book signings, cooking demos and tastings, from chocolate experts such as Jacques Torres' -- he's pairing Puerto Rican rum and chocolate -- as well as party ideas.
Chocolate Festival of Texas and Texas Wines, Houston, Tex., Nov. 6-7: Not to be out-gunned by the Yanks, the Lone Star State is holding its own celebration for chocoholics, and this one includes oenophiles, who get a souvenir wine glass.
Port Barre Cracklin Festival, Port Barre, La., Nov. 12-15: You read right -- fat back is on offer! The perfect way to pad up for winter hibernation. There will be a fair pageant, rides, live entertainment and the obligatory cook-off.
Celebrate National Chocolate Day. Photo: 427/flickr
No excuse is usually necessary to dig into a piece of delectable chocolate, but as Wednesday, Oct. 28, is National Chocolate Day, feel free to eat two pieces.
Next, consider eating chocolate with unlikely ingredients. Vosges' Mo's Chocolate Bacon Bar comes to mind. Scharffen Berger's Chocolate Adventure Recipe Contest is still accepting submissions -- you just have to combine chocolate with one of 16 exotic ingredients: paprika, cumin, smoked sea salt, papaya, rice flour, black-eyed peas, peanut butter (OK not that exotic), Malbec, fresh or whole dried chili pepper, cacao nibs, raw honey, sumac, banana leaf, pandan leaf, crystallized ginger and fresh mint. Two winners will get $10,000.
Whether they're packed with walnuts, shaped like ghosts and goblins or infused with bacon and bourbon, brownies rarely fail to satisfy. Maybe it's the fact that their texture is somewhere between cake and cookie (when done properly), or just that they're always packed full of chocolate. Even a simple brownie -- with no bells, whistles or bourbon -- can be absolute perfection. Just ask Flickr user little miss amanda, who made these using a recipe from the New York City bakery Baked.
On her blog, Slow Like Honey, Amanda admits that while they're actually her second favorite brownies, they'll still "render you senseless" and are -- like any brownies worth their weight in chocolate should be -- better the next day.
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Whoever conceived the idea to bake individual cakes in muffin tins is a culinary genius -- not only for giving the world the perfect sugary serving size, but also for allowing bakers at every level to mix and match flavors, colors and the most fun part of any sweet treat, sprinkles.
This chocolate-frosted chocolate cupcake was one of a delightfully diverse dozen captured by The Feisty Foodie after she received a box from New York City's Billy's Bakery. Just looking at the chocolate triple whammy -- chocolate frosting on a chocolate cupcake with chocolate sprinkles on top -- is enough to get us through a midweek slump (though a taste would be even better).
One person's haul from Food Fête. Photo: craigemorsels/Flickr
If New York City's annual Fancy Food Show is a hurricane of food-related items, occupying three vast floors of the sprawling Javits Center, then the tiny, cramped Food Fête is its spin-off tornado.
Hosted in a smaller space and likewise designed to get food writers and editors interested in new and interesting culinary products, the Fête was an interesting and slightly chaotic affair. High-end eats were hawked right up alongside lower-end food, from a very tasty slice of grass-fed steak to a Kikkoman "umami" demonstration in which we were subjected to a taste-off between a regular chocolate and one containing soy sauce -- a rather palate-numbing experience, that.
Former Top Cheffer Stephanie Izard was there with Lucini, the spicy olive oil she endorses, which she had drizzled on a very tasty panzanella. She told us she hadn't had a chance to roam the halls yet. But we had, and our faves are after the jump.
Pay no heed to those who thoughtlessly proclaim bacon-inflected desserts "so over," or "so December 2008."
Pictured is one of the reasons why. This delicacy, known as Pig Candy, is the genius of one Rhonda Kave of Roni-Sue's Chocolates. What Kave has done is create a union as holy as that of peanut butter and chocolate or vodka and tonic: fried bacon, dipped in chocolate. And that's it.
It's a marriage that is astoundingly pure yet diabolically addictive and, thanks to the beauty of online retail, has inspired slavish devotion far beyond the Roni-Sue headquarters on New York City's Lower East Side. This photo hints at the promise and madness contained in each salty-sweet nugget. While the shutterbug's ability to restrain herself long enough to take the pic is admirable, the subject likely met its demise shortly after being immortalized for the enjoyment of drooling procrastinators everywhere.
Hooray for the Dairy Queen Blizzard, the dessert that combines ice cream, candy and sometimes even cookies all in one (swiftly melting) creation.
The sweet treat is given even greater pride of place on the DQ menu thanks to its "Blizzard of the Month" feature. Former BoMs have included caramel cheesecake and turtle Oreo (pictured), but it's the divine midnight truffle -- a blend of vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and truffle bits -- that's enjoying an April shout-out.
If contrasting crunchiness is preferable in the creamy Blizzard, then the softness of the truffle chunks are a bit of a letdown. But if maximum richness is the goal, then their melt-in-your-mouth texture works quite nicely with the smooth chocolatiness of the ice cream. Fight the current heat wave to slurp this sucker down before it turns from a Blizzard into slush.
Barbie, as you may know, turned 50 earlier this year. If this slightly belated bit of promotional whimsy is any indication, plenty of you still want a piece of her.
To celebrate the doll's 50th, Dylan's Candy Bar created "Barbie Loves Dylan's," a line of chocolate and candy outfitted in colorful graphics befitting the belle's pop-art and pop-cultural legacy. We love the way these chocolates are packaged, with through-the-years pix inspiring affectionate memories of both "The Brady Bunch" and yearbook photos of days (and unfortunate hairstyles) gone by.
It's rare to come across chocolate whose packaging wouldn't look out of place next to a Warhol, and we applaud whatever graphic design genius was behind this. But if Barbie taught us anything, it's that beauty is skin deep, and that lesson unfortunately applies to the chocolate bearing her name. It tastes as plastic as Barbie herself or, in the words of one judge, "like drugstore Easter candy." Like Barbie herself, this chocolate could last 50 years ... in the back of a pantry.
For $14, a better move might be to pop the candies into a frame on the bedroom wall. 'Cause Barbie also taught us that when substance fails, style triumphs.
A weekly look at the draft selection at beer-friendly bars across the country.
We all have our vices: Some live for libations while others pine for sweets. In St. Louis these two groups can merge in one ecstatic, sugar-fueled pit of sin at Bailey's Chocolate Bar. A lengthy menu of treats includes dramatic desserts, award-winning cocktails and sometimes the two in one beautiful bite (Irish Cream cheesecake, anyone?).
Beer is another of Chocolate Bar's specialties, as it boasts one of STL's most highly-regarded draft lists. A few selections seem obvious (such as Young's Double Chocolate Stout and Arcadia Cocoa Loco) but the bar also boasts a namesake brew, Bailey's Chocolate Bar Chocolate Ale. Of course, a great beer bar can't just stock stouts, and general manager Gene Bailey says they strive for "good enough variety where everyone can find something they like." Many of the current taps come from one brewery: "We're big fans of the New Belgium [Fat Tire] people," Gene admits. Beyond pure pints, Bailey's happily mingles sugar & suds: The Stout Beer Shake, blending chocolate stout and cinnamon ice cream, is a favorite.
Check out Bailey's Chocolate Bar's complete draft list after the jump, tell us if you've got a favorite chocolate beer and get your indulgence on in person next time you're in St. Louis.
Wow. Talk about decadence. Windy_Sydney posts this devil's-food-cake cupcake topped with vanilla frosting (tinted green) and garnished with a mint chocolate brownie and mint chocolate sauce. Refreshing!
Wine and chocolate? Blech. At least that's my usual ho-hum reaction when I read (yet another) Valentine's wine-and-chocolate pairing story. If you ask me, pairing wine and chocolate is usually a futile exercise in taking two perfectly delicious things and ruining them by forcing them together. They bring out each other's worst qualities: overharsh tannins, weird flavors and aromas lurking beneath the surface, personality quirks that don't come out when they're alone.
But then I tried Brix, a line of chocolates made especially to go with wine, and I changed my tune. Brix is made from a single-origin chocolate from Ghana blended with Belgian chocolate. Each of the three blends (milk, dark, and extra-dark) was developed to complement different varietals and styles of wine. The darkest is good with Cabernet Sauvignon and other powerhouses; the middle complements Syrah and Zinfandel, and the milk chocolate is good with dessert wine and Pinot Noir.
My husband and I decided to go all out experimenting with the chocolates. We lined them up with a bunch of wines, and added some Dove dark chocolates and Lindor milk chocolate truffles to the mix.
Just getting that out of the way first, as it's proved nigh on impossible to mention this event to anyone without their invoking Roald Dahl's tale of confectionary hedonism. Pastry chef Laurent Richard has crafted a carnival-themed, all-you-can-eat chocolate dessert buffet at New York City's Ritz-Carlton's 14th floor Rise Bar, and for the price of admission, one receives the privilege of sticking one's face into the endless treat plates borne by spinning ferris wheel, carousel and roller coaster, and not coming up for air until every last Nutella crepe, haute faux Twix (Chef Ricard calls it a Raider Bar), chocolate financier, Valrhona-slathered strawberry and morsel of Black Forest griotine has been gobbled up. Don't worry -- he'll make more.
One of the many reasons we love Pinkberry is because of its many fabulous toppings, such as daily cut fresh fruit. Now, they've added white and milk chocolate shavings. Unlike many yogurt places that use stale chocolate chips, Pinkberry cuts shavings of fresh Belgian chocolate. The chocolate perfectly balances Pinkberry's three tangy flavors: Original, Pomegranate, and Green Tea.
The timing of the addition of this topping is perfect! Just in time for Valentine's Day, chocolate lovers can take their significant others to Pinkberry for some rich chocolate mixed in with smooth luscious yogurt. Pinkberry doesn't gratuitously add new flavors. When you try the chocolate, one of the first things you'll notice is its amazing quality.
A combo that I recommend is the original flavor topped with chocolate shavings, strawberries, and blueberries. Or, if you feeling like escaping to the Caribbean, try the original flavor with both white and milk chocolate shavings and coconut. If you've tried these new chocolate shavings, what were some of your favorite combos?
Hooray for the Dairy Queen Blizzard, the dessert that combines ice cream, candy and sometimes even cookies all in one (swiftly melting) creation.
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