Shiao’s Handmade Peppermint Bark

Ingredients:
8 ounces TCHO 68% Baking Drops
2 ounces old fashioned peppermint sticks, about 5, 6 inche sticks
1/8 teaspoon peppermint extract (for an extra minty option)

Equipment Needed:
Double broiler
Half sheet pan
Parchment paper
Scale
Thermometer
Fan

Instructions:
Find a cool spot in your house and set up your fan with an area to place the sheet pan once the bark is ready to chill.

Crush the peppermint sticks into 1/8” bits, you can either use a thick plastic bag and break them up using a wooden spoon or a mortar and pestle. Set the peppermint aside, pulling out 1/4 cup for sprinkling on the top of the bark.

Temper the chocolate according to the instructions on the bag. While the chocolate is tempering, cut a piece of parchment to fit the sheet pan. Once the chocolate is tempered, stir in the crushed peppermint *and peppermint extract, pour it onto the sheet pan spreading to about a 1/3 of an inch thick. Sprinkle the remaining peppermint evenly over the bark and place of the direct flow of the fan to chill.

Once the bark has hardened, break it up and enjoy with a cup of hot cocoa or just by itself!

The Best of the Best...So Far

Through extensive research, hundreds of recipe iterations and enough carbs to make Dr. Robert Atkins roll over in his grave, we’ve come up with quite the curated selection of sweet and savory TCHOcolate Sandwiches. Read, drool, and be inspired to craft your own TCHOcolate Sandwich!

Nib Salad
Chocolate 411 Quickie: Nibs are crushed up pieces of the most flavorful part of the bean. Nibs are pure cacao, so this product is the most nutritious of all chocolate products. Theobromine, antioxidants, polyphenols—here we come!
Nibs are incredibly versatile because these little bits of pure bliss have no added sugar. For this salad, we tossed nibs with spinach, avocado, Earl’s Organics persimmons, and a simple balsamic vinaigrette.

Citrus, Sweet and Savory
And simple! Perfect as eye-catching, mouth-watering appetizers. We used a sweet baguette, Cowgirl Creamery’s Mt. Tam (triple cream) and generous drizzles of our PureNotes Citrus dark chocolate.

Minted Marscarpone Madness
Prepare to have your mind blown. Fresh minted Marscarpone Cowgirl Creamery cheese, Jamwich jalapeno jam and just the right amount of PureNotes Chocolatey.
How could such a strange-sounding combo yield such beyond-infinitely-delicious flavors? No clue. We just know this recipe works. Seriously.

PB&J Goes Foodie
We’re all for a good ol’ classic PB&J sandie. And we did try many different variations of PB&J with TCHO before discovering something jaw-droppingly delicious. What was it? Drumroll, please! The one and only hazelnut butter! Spread on a nice, thick layer of hazelnut butter, add a bit of your favorite jam, top with ripe banana slices and cover with PureNotes Fruity. PB&J Goes Foodie is heaven in a lunchbox.

Turkey Day Reprise
A majority of our TCHOcolate Sandwich R&D happened in the weeks before Thanksgiving. So, naturally, our minds were on the big day. And the big turkey. And what to do with that big turkey after the big day. Being the creative, resourceful and perpetually hungry chocolate group we are, we came up with a scrumptious solution: Ciabatta bread (or leftover rolls) topped with turkey, cranberry sauce and a bit of squash (if you’d like). Mix our drinking chocolate extra-thick. Drizzle on top. Enjoy!

Xoco Carnitas Torta with Cilantro Lime Crema
A recipe from our very own chocolate maker, Shiao Williams-Sheng, this sandwich is the most savory and the most complex of the bunch. Be on the lookout for our full recipe. In the meantime, enjoy gazing at this mouth-watering photo of our Speakeasy Sutro Stout (chocolate beer) braised carnitas!

GelaTCHO Sandwich
Even a meal made completely out of TCHOcolate Sandwiches needs a proper dessert! We love squishing a gigantic scoop of Gelateria Naia’s scrumptious gelato between two equally scrumptious cookies, most preferably made with TCHOPro. Yum!

Have more ideas? Tried it yourself and want to share? Our eyes and ears (and mouths) are wide open! Shoot us over an or connect with us on our Facebook page. Nom on! 

The Gang’s All Here

Our delectable savory experiments are growing increasingly complex and intriguing! 

For this latest “session” we created a smorgasbord of yummy sandwich fixings—with everything from various Cowgirl Creamery cheeses, Acme breads, salumi, jams, figs, walnuts, almonds, avocados, apples and more.

And we invited a whole bunch of co-workers to come and make their own combinations—then cut them up so we could all share in the tasting. It was a great festive experience! Tons of shockingly appealing combinations that we never could have imagined might work well with chocolate. Lots of delight and joy.

Setting up the smorgasbord of sandwich fixings:  almonds, walnuts, figs, cheeses, peppers, spreads, nut butters, fruits, various breads; 4 bowls of molten dark TCHOcolate

We invited co-workers to join in the festivities. Turns out this is a cool way to socialize around a table. It’s somewhere between collaborative art, foodie lunch party, and science experiment.

Chief Chocolate Officer Brad Kintzer creating a masterpiece:  TCHO Fruity, Blue Cheese, Fig, Sopresseta (salumi) on Acme rustic bread

Store & Tour Manager Tyler Barkley proudly displays his creation:  Blue cheese, pear jam, TCHO Nutty, and walnuts on Acme Sourdough.

A few personal favorites: 

TCHO Nutty, Aged Gruyere, walnuts on Acme walnut bread—a pleasing balance of sweet, crunchy, salt, and creamy.

TCHO Citrus, Sharp Cheddar, yellow pepper, on Acme olive bread; sprinkled with TCHO nibs— created a complex blend of flavors and textures; the yellow pepper added a flavorful bite and nibs were a good slightly sharp nutty crunch that balanced out the sweetness of the chocolate.

Citrus chocolate draped over Acme rustic bread, topped with Cowgirl Creamery Aged Gruyere and slices of fresh farmer’s market figs. Sweet n’ savory heaven.

Keep dreaming up your creations, then share with us on Facebook. And we’ll continue posting ours! 

Let’s Get Cheesy

Goat cheese is heaven. Scratch that. Gobs of goat cheese are the delicious, fluffy nimbus clouds on which heaven rests. That’s right. Goat cheese is wondrous enough to hold up the entirety of whatever heavenly realm you choose to believe in (even if you don’t believe, just go with the metaphor anyhow—goat cheese is insanely delectable).

So, we asked, what could make the most delightful cheese substance known to mankind even more divine?

The answer was all too obvious: TCHO.

For our Savory TCHOcolate Experiment numero dos, we decided to plan with that ambrosial combo.

Trial #1: Citrus TCHO, grandma’s homemade plum jam, and goat cheese. Simple. Sweet. A little savory. A lot of mouth-watering taste. Highly suggested.

Directions: Toast sourdough bread with citrus chocolate in toaster oven until chocolate just melts. (Alternative: toast sourdough, melt citrus in microwave, stirring every 30 seconds).  Add generous amount of plum jam. Sprinkle or spread goat cheese overtop. Nom!

Trial #2: Added avocado and pepper to the sandwich above. The added fats and spices made the simple more complex and upped the amount of savory. Our tastebuds approved.

Let’s leave the land of the ethereal for a little while and head back on down to earth. Imagine that, on the way, our satchel of assorted cheeses—who doesn’t carry a satchel of assorted cheeses everywhere?—gets nipped by the brightly burning center of our universe. What have we just created? Beautiful smoked cheeses.

Okay. Perhaps that’s not exactly how smoked cheeses come to be, but the point of the story is we next decided to explore the land of Smoked Cheddar and TCHO. Results?

Trial #3: Nutty TCHO, smoked cheddar and arugula. The mellowness of the nutty helps balance out the strong flavor of smoked cheddar and zing of arugula.

Directions: Toast sourdough bread with nutty chocolate, arugula and smoked cheddar stacked on top until cheese just melts. Sprinkle with pepper.

Trial #4: Added walnuts (on left) and plum jam (on right) to sandwich above. The extra plum jam we could have done without, but we loved the added crunch of walnuts and how the nuttiness of the arugula really came out!

Thus concludes Experiment #2. Stay tuned to discover what craveable concoctions we come up with next!

Hasta luego,

The (Savory) TCHOcolate Crew

Please email us with any recipes or suggestions!

Introducing Savory TCHOcolate Sandwiches!

A few of us here believe chocolate’s true potential has been constrained by its marginalization in the sweet realm. For far too long, most people have considered chocolate merely as a sweet treat; only that, and nothing more.

But we believe good chocolate has the surprising potential to expand into the savory realm. And so, we bring you The Savory TCHOcolate Experiments—a series of tasty explorations that joyfully push the boundaries of chocolate.

Our dedicated little team (Kaileen Kelly, Greta Miersma, and me) are proud to present you with our first efforts —delectable TCHOcolate Sandwiches.

Can you imagine the best dark chocolate in the world melted on an Acme sour dough bun with smoked cheddar, arugula, and olives? Neither could we — until we tried it (and loved it). Wow! Suddenly the possibilities are endless!

Turns out that the combination of bittersweet, rich, and chocolatey goes beautifully with all sorts of cheeses, breads, savory spreads, nut butters, condiments, veggies, and more. Not everything works, mind you. But that is the nature of experiments. The fun is in discovery.

We would love for you to participate! Send us recipes and photos of your own creative explorations!

And please tweet and FB post on this (share these photos too)!  Help us expand chocolate’s horizons! A new dawn has arrived.

More TCHOcolate magic to come — so stay tuned!

Bon Appetit!

The (Savory) TCHOcolate Crew

Our first experiment was fairly simple:  Citrus chocolate drops (67% cacao; organic from Madagascar) on brie, spread on German Pretzel Bread, with a little cracked pepper. The light salt in the pretzel bread together with the pepper and brie worked nicely with this mild chocolate.

Then we put the whole thing in a toaster oven for a few minutes—just enough for the chocolate to become spreadable. Amazing combination! Flavors melded much better.

We drizzled a little Sriracha hot sauce (basically red chilies ground into a paste with garlic) over it for spice. Now it had a great combination of elements: sweet, rich & creamy, salty and hot. A great beginning to our savory series!

Please email us with any recipes or suggestions!

When we think of summer several things come to mind.....the kids on summer vacation, sandy beaches, lemonade or just a good old-fashioned barbecue. TCHO chocolates may not be at the top of your traditional summer list but it should be because of one mouth-watering word: Citrus.

Our Citrus chocolate bars and nibs are the perfect addition to any 4th of July bash or casual dinner. Sourced from the finest beans from Madagascar, our cacao with citrus notes allows you to bite into a creamy bar of chocolate or crunch into some nibs with that added sense of refreshment.

Consider these table suggestions at your next get-together and your TCHO additions are sure to please even those finicky guests that view cacao as a dessert or winter holiday item.

Brie and Citrus Appetizers

1 block of brie
1-3 58 gram TCHO Citrus bars
1 package of water crackers (or any plainly flavored cracker with a nice crunch)

Allow brie to come to room temperature and smear a generous portion of cheese onto each cracker. Take a 58g bar of TCHO Citrus Chocolate and break into small chunks. Place a chunk of TCHO Citrus on top of the cheese and arrange on a serving platter. You can also set up a self-serve option by pre-breaking bars, then placing all of the ingredients on a tidy-looking butcher board. If you are wanting to cut down the carbs...no problem! I go for the gold and dip my Citrus chunks directly into a dollop of brie, but each to their own.

TCHO Drinking Chocolate

This decadent chocolate drink isn’t just for snowstorms anymore! Our TCHO Drinking Chocolate serves up perfectly hot or cold. 300 gram tins are available to either make a cool chocolate drink or to shake into your favorite plain or flavored vodka (I like vanilla and citrus infused vodkas to make a luscious choco-tini). Just make sure to shake thoroughly or better yet use a hand-blender to fully emulsify the chocolate into the vodka. Citrus Nibs can also be placed into bottles of vodka to self-infuse. Yummy!

Crunchy TCHO Nib Salad

The best thing about some summer meals are the salads but only if they pack the proper crunch. I am not always thrilled adding extra carbohydrates to my greens with croutons (although delicious) but I am always looking for tasty ways to add a little antioxidant punch to my day. You too can make a delicious salad by combining your favorite veggies, greens, a vinaigrette (I prefer using apple-cider and white vinegar mixed with a little grape seed oil but raspberry vinaigrette works too) and TCHO Citrus Nibs to your salad. Either toss nibs with the salad or place on top. Mmmmmm.

Nibs on Ice Cream

To add a delicious antioxidant-punch to your favorite summer dessert add Citrus Nibs to the top of your favorite ice cream, sorbet or frozen yogurt.

Citrus and Beer Pairing

Yes we’ve heard of pairing wine with chocolate, still one of my favorite Saturday nights, but what about fine refreshing beer and chocolate-pairings? I am a huge fan of having chocolate with beer but here are some of the best I’ve tried with summer’s favorite chocolate TCHO Citrus:

La Cuvée des Trolls (A well-balanced refreshing blonde with buttery notes).
Lindeman’s Cuvée René (Any brand will do but especially the non-fruity lambics for this pairing.. The non-fruity ones have a more sour flavor with overtures of fruits but without strong fruit-flavors).
Over-Hopulation by 21st Amendment, Hop Devil (or any other IPA or hoppy summer beer)

More interested in brewing your own beer with TCHO cacao nibs? Learn how in our blog entry, ”Chocolate Beer”.

Or, if you have your own creative summer uses of TCHO, send them to us! Facebook, Twitter or send us an email: ! 

Enjoy this whiskey, bourbon and chocolate pairing menu at your next get-together.

“Four Roses Yellow Label” paired with TCHO’s Nutty chocolate.
The chickory roast profile creates a good balance with the subtle nutty flavor of this chocolate.

“Red Breast Irish Whiskey” paired with TCHO’s Chocolatey chocolate.
The rounded tobacco depth pairs well with the complex sweetness of chocolatey.

“Santori Yamazaki” paired with TCHO’s Fruity chocolate.
The whiskey has a plum and apricot nose. The taste varies greatly from the aroma as it has a distinct smoky peat flavor. The fruity will bring out an explosive sweet and soft flavor to the whiskey.

“W.L. Weller 12 Year” paired with TCHO’s 60.5%.
This bourbon’s velvet smoky sweetness blends perfectly with the deep rich flavor of our 60.5% TCHO Pro

“Bulliet Rye” paired with TCHO’s Cacao Dark Milk chocolate.
Bulliet’s sweet soft rounded center pairs well with this dark milk chocolates strong beginning and smooth finish.

“Noah’s Mill” TCHO’s Classic Milk chocolate.
This is the strongest bourbon by far. It will light a fire in your mouth. Luckily this milk chocolates creamy smoothness will put that fire out in a most delicious way. The milk stops that fire then turns into a light floral note with a strong caramel finish.

When most people think of pairings with chocolate, they think of wine. However some are starting to realize that chocolate doesn’t just pair with wine, it can be paired with all kinds of foods and beverages from cheese to tequila. Beer has become a really popular alternative to wine and a couple of breweries are even taking it to the next level: Chocolate Beer.

Chocolate Beer is a delicious concoction that melds the intense hop character of beer with the smoky, earthy complexity of chocolate. Rather than adding cocoa powders or artificial flavoring to the beers, nibs (roasted pieces of de-husked cacao beans) are incorporated into the beermaking process in the secondary fermentation phase. In secondary fermentation, beer is aged with nibs — a process called cold extraction. This also imparts complexities in both aroma and mouthfeel, infusing the beer with chewy, rich cocoa depth. TCHO has been supplying breweries such as Samuel Adams (Chocolate Bock) and The Bruery for a couple of years with nibs. Recently, we held a competition at TCHO in partnership with City Beer and Brew Supply Group for the best Chocolate Beers. 

TCHO Nibs + beer = perfection.