Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate

After my surprise encounter with Halba Swiss chocolate yesterday, I decided to give Ghirardelli a chance to compete with the Swiss. Kinda ironic, since Ghirardelli is a US subsidiary of Swiss company Lindt.
The Milk Chocolate from Ghirardelli has a taste that is in-between Hershey's and Halba. I found it to have that unique and unpleasant "tingly" taste that Hershey's has, yet it also had a stronger chocolate taste than the Halba. My preference is for the Halba, but I can easily enjoy Ghirardelli any time.

Reviewed: Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate
Personality: Trustworthy, rather like a Scout
How to enjoy: Good milk chocolate, but a little too Hershey-ish for me
Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Germany http://www.bestcoffee.de/newsletter.php
USA: most larger grocery stores, also online http://www.ghirardelli.com/
UK: http://www.cybercandy.co.uk/aaasmt/ (occasionally stock Ghirardelli)

Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate with Almonds

Ghirardelli makes good, solid chocolate. This bar is no exception, with a smooth sweet milk chocolate and nicely crunchy almonds.
There were easily 2 dozen almonds and large almond pieces, mostly whole almonds. Nice, even distribution.

Nice.
Even.
Good.
ZZZZZzzzzzzz.

Snark! Snurk! Oh! I'm still awake. Did I mention that Ghirardelli is owned by Swiss chocolatier Lindt & Sprüngli?

Reviewed: Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate with Almonds
Personality: Safety school. You still get the education, but the partys aren't as good
How to enjoy: Good comforting food

Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Germany http://www.bestcoffee.de/newsletter.php
USA: most larger grocery stores, also online http://www.ghirardelli.com/
UK: http://www.cybercandy.co.uk/aaasmt/ (occasionally stock Ghirardelli)

Chocolate Wars: Gross, Xiocrolata, Ghirardelli

With so much dark chocolate floating around, it's time for a choolate war, this time with 3 different high percentage bars:

• Ghirardelli Dark 60%
• Xiocrolata 72%
• J.D. Gross Kul-Kul 78%

Like my last chocolate war, I'm judging based on smell, color, smoothness and taste. An excellent dark chocolate should have a rich taste, with a distinct aftertaste that is not bitter, and be quite smooth.

Here's how they stack up.

Smell
J.D. Gross and Ghirardelli come out on top, smelling distinctly like chocolate. The
Xiocrolata is just too mild to score highly.

Color
Gross is the clear winner here, with a rich dark color, and a nice sheen to match.

Smoothness
Ghirardelli edges out Xiocrolata edges by a hair.

Taste
This is tough. I can see where I would prefer either J.D. Gross or the Ghirardelli at
different times. It all depends on how much sweetness I'm in the mood for.
Ghirardelli is a little too sweet for my preference, but it's still quite good.

Winner:
J.D. Gross by a nose. Ultimately I prefer J.D. Gross' smell and taste over
the Ghirardelli.

Ghirardelli Dark 60%

I'm really piling on the dark chocolate this week! It doesn't melt quite as fast as milk chocolate, and it's my preferred intensity anyway.

This bar is quite pleasant, with a rich dark flavor. Nicely fruity, it has an ever-so-slight powdery feel on the tongue. The aftertaste is mild, and doesn't leave much of a memory. It is also a bit sweeter than most of my German darks.

Reviewed: Ghirardelli Dark 60%
Personality: Friendly and quite eat-able
How to enjoy: anywhere, anytime

Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy



Where to buy:
Germany: nowhere in Germany that I know of. I scored this bar from a buddy

arriving out of California
USA: Practically everywhere

Chocolate chips, and a cookie recipe

OK, so chocolate is chocolate. Chocolate chips are a marvelous way to keep chocolate in your life when you need to pretend that it doesn't really revolve around chocolate.

Ghirardelli make some of the best chocolate chips around. Their 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips (formerly known as Double Chocolate Chips) are my favorites for baking.

When I can't get good chocolate chips, which is all the time in Germany, I chop up chocolate bars and use chunks instead. My favorite bars for making chocolate chunks are Milka for milk chocolate and Lidl's Madagaskar for dark chocolate. I use milk chocolate chips very sparingly, generally only when someone requests them, because I believe semisweet offers the best contrast to the baked goods.

Here is my very own Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie recipe, pictured above. Enjoy!

Miss Charlotte’s Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
1 cup pecans, toasted
½ cup finely chopped coconut
¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup vanilla sugar
1 large egg
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup raisins
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
optional: 1 or 2 teaspoonfuls of milk
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Toast nuts by putting them in a medium oven (about 350 degrees) for about 10 minutes. Let cool. Keep oven at 350.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cream butter and sugars with a mixer.
Add the egg and beat until mixed.

In a separate bowl, stir the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and raisins. Coating the raisins keeps them from sticking together in one lump.

Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture a little at a time and beat until incorporated. Feel free to run the mixer a little hard. The raisins will only make the cookies taste better if they are a little broken up.

Add the oats a little at a time. Add up to a teaspoonful of milk if the dough seems too thick. It will still be a very stiff dough.

Break the nuts into pieces directly into the bowl. Stir into the dough.
Gently fold the chocolate chips into the dough last. Don’t stir too much, or you'll bruise the chocolate.

Use a rounded teaspoonful of dough per cookie. Press the cookie a little flat, because they won’t flow very much.

Bake the cookies for about 12 minutes, or until light golden brown around the edges. Cool as long as you can stand it. Remember a burnt tongue can't taste as well.

Makes about 30-36 cookies.