The Chocolate Cult

February Chocolate 2012

2012-01-31T07:00:00.000-05:00

The entire month is a Chocolate Celebration literally called the "Celebration of Chocolate Month!" You ready to celebrate every day not just these special fun food holidays, Sisters and Brothers? February 1 = National Dark Chocolate Day -- 70% and above for your Chocolate Priestess is best February 5 = National Chocolate Fondue Day -- potentially romantic, too February 5/6 = World Nutella

Kissable Chocolate Lips

2012-01-28T07:00:00.035-05:00

Chocolate can be used for a lot of things and in 2011 we started reviewing products that were not food nor drink but body care items. Just in time for Valentine's Day 2012, the folks from indi chocolate sent us a five pack of their "Chocolate Lips" -- lip balms made with chocolate and cocoa absolute with added flavors for the different varieties as well as coconut oil, shea butter, olive oil,

Book Review: The Treats Truck Baking Book

2012-01-27T07:00:00.001-05:00

Near the end of 2011 I received two cookbooks to review via the Amazon Vine Program and today I want to share my evaluation of one of these books. The Treats Truck Baking Book: Cookies, Brownies & Goodies Galore!is a fairly small book of only 159 pages from start to finish, you might expect a lot more given the long title, huh? The Treats Truck can be found in Brooklyn, New York, so not far from

French Chocolate for Valentine's Day 2012

2012-01-25T07:00:00.078-05:00

Many European nations boast of a particular style, taste, or formula for their chocolate. Europeans can do that because they are the ones, one people at a time, often one chocolatier at a time, who took what the native Central American populations did with cacao and turned it into the chocolate that we know and love. What do you do if you don't have that tradition because you're in the good old

Chocolate Heart Box For Valentines 2012

2012-01-21T10:18:00.000-05:00

Heart shaped boxes are popping up everywhere in the USA as Valentine's Day is now only a little over three weeks away. Originally created back in the 19th century, chocolate boxes allowed chocolatiers to sell a selection of what they created and allowed the giver to present it in a decorated box. The heart-shaped chocolate box seems to have appeared soon after the turn of the 20th century and

Slitti Selection of Pralines Part 2

2012-01-18T07:00:00.001-05:00

This is our second featured review of the Slitti Selection of Praline's box from PastaCheese. We looked at 8 pieces on Saturday and so we'll finish the final 8 today with a bit of help from some of our Acolytes. Five of the reminding eight pieces have something added to them that your Chocolate Priestess doesn't really love -- coconut, coffee, tea -- rather than just tell you that each piece

Meet Claire Robinson & Win DOVE Chocolate

2012-01-16T07:00:00.004-05:00

Sisters and Brothers, your Chocolate Priestess has an amazing opportunity to do a very high profile interview with one of the stars of The Food Network. I'm sure many of you watch this cable challenge and I'm betting many of you have seen Claire Robinson's show 5 Ingredient Fix or the show she hosts called Food Network Challenge. DOVE Chocolate offered me the opportunity to conduct an interview

Chocolate Recalls 01.15.12

2012-01-15T09:13:00.000-05:00

Sorry to have to bring these recalls to your attention, Sisters and Brothers but I want you all to stay safe if you are in the USA. I get these from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration's weekly summaries. Keep your eyes and ears alert for recalls during the week so you have the most up to date information. D.F. Stauffer Biscuit Co., Inc. Issues Allergy Alert and Voluntary Recall on Safeway

Slitti Selezione di Praline Part 1

2012-01-14T00:56:00.000-05:00

Valentine's Day is approaching and you may not be thinking that far ahead but the chocolatiers and companies who send us products to review for you all, certainly must think this far ahead. Today we are looking at another product you can find at the website of PastaCheese, one box of Selezione di Praline from Slitti, a Tuscany chocolate company started in 1969. Starting in 1993, their head chef

Semi-Homemade Recipe: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chips Bars

2012-01-12T13:42:00.000-05:00

I'm sure you've all heard the phrase "semi-homemade," right, Sisters and Brothers. Magazines, websites, even books are put out giving recipes about using mixes and pre-made food items into something else by twisting the directions, adding extra ingredients, or using it in different ways. We review a lot of products here on The Chocolate Cult because part of our goal is to help you spend your

Toffee for National English Toffee Day

2012-01-07T07:00:00.046-05:00

Where do you expect to find English toffee, Sisters and Brothers, to help you celebrate "National English Toffee Day" which tomorrow, January 8th? If you live in the UK it will probably be easy to find or even makes some from a family recipe. For the rest of us, we may have to turn to other sources and some of these combine our Sacred Substance with the toffee. One such place is Brooke's Candy

Heath vs. Skor

2012-01-05T07:00:00.029-05:00

In two days time we're going to look at some chocolate covered English toffees in time for the "National English Toffee Day" on January 8th. But today we're going to look at two readily available check out line "toffee" candy bars here in the USA. We're calling this our "Heath vs. Skor" match and if the response is good, maybe we'll do more of these comparisons in the future, Sisters and

January in Chocolate 2012

2012-01-04T14:38:00.000-05:00

So sorry, Sisters and Brothers, that this post is so late. The end of the year and the beginning has been a challenge with my continued arm injury and resulting very limited writing as well as a death in the extended family. So without further waiting, here are the fun food holidays you can mark with chocolate this month. Let me know if you have others (along with links to information about

American Heritage Chocolate: The Best Chocolate of 2011

2012-01-02T08:49:00.000-05:00

In the past it has been relatively easy for your Chocolate Priestess to select the "best" of the past year and I did that on the last Saturday of 2009 and 2010. This year, however, was more of a challenge because of the quality and variety of chocolate we've been privileged to feature here on The Chocolate Cult. We have written 67 featured reviews in 2011 covering retailers, small independent

New Year Starts with Recalls

2012-01-01T10:13:00.003-05:00

Here we are, only one day into 2012, and your Chocolate Priestess has one recall to share with you to help keep you and your loved ones safe. Maribel Sweet’s Inc. Recalls Their New York Handbag Collection Gourmet Chocolate Candies Due To Undeclared Tree Nuts And Peanuts12/23/2011 05:32 PM EST Maribel’s Sweets Inc. of New York, is recalling its New York Handbag Collection gourmet chocolate

New Year, Old Cookie Favorite

2011-12-31T07:00:00.024-05:00

Today is the last day of 2011 and some people fear that 2012 will bring some great disaster. Let's not dwell on such morbid theories and instead ring in the New Year with an old favorite, Sisters and Brothers. The folks from Nabisco via the Amazon Vine Program sent me a box of their Mallomars. I remember these primarily from my five years living in NYC, Manhattan to be more clear, while I went

Nadia's Cannolis

2011-12-29T09:08:00.000-05:00

Not far from your Chocolate Priestess' house is a new restaurant called Nadia's Bistro. It replaces one of the finer restaurants in our college town, a place we went to once maybe since are not really "fine dinning" folks. I found a coupon on the Nadia website, we decided to try it. I also got to try out my new recorder as well so I could speak into it and get all my ideas instead of just take

Holidays Recap Winter 2011

2011-12-24T07:00:00.043-05:00

It is far too close to Christmas to make an official Saturday Sacrament post for you all, Sisters and Brothers. Instead I want to recap those companies and chocolatiers who asked us to reveal their products to you these past two months. While it may be too late to order for tomorrow, none of them only make products for Christmas so you should still check them out. We have a few posts scheduled

Words on Chocolate for 2011 Holidays

2011-12-20T10:00:00.000-05:00

This is our final Winter Holiday specific Sacrament for you all to consider, Sisters and Brothers. This comes from a fairly new company called Chocolate Says It All which uses FDA approved food colorings without flavor to print messages and images on chocolate. They sent us this winter holiday sample that we'll look at today as well as a few birthday samples they have. Their chocolate smells

GIVEAWAY: Gourmet Popcorn for the Holidays

2011-12-17T07:00:00.021-05:00

We are thrilled to team up with a gourmet popcorn company for this time of year because it is nice to offer you all options that are healthier, unique, or just plain not the run of the mill candies or cookies you see everything during these holidays. J. Drizzle sent us two dark chocolate varieties of their popcorn we'll share with you all the experience of trying them out. I was assisted in

Keeping Track of Chocolate the Smorgie Way

2011-12-13T07:00:00.034-05:00

As you may see, Sisters and Brothers, from the right sidebar, I partner with several sites and companies. Those that send us products or those that, to be blunt, offer me a little money upfront without clicks or sales, are higher on the list. One of these is The Foodie Blogroll and they've asked me to help spread the word about a new company. Now, I will never do this unless I think it may be

Recipe: Cookie Swap 2011

2011-12-12T07:00:00.002-05:00

I decided to participate in my first food blogger event for the holiday season which may have been insane of me given the busyness of the two months right before Christmas. I chose to do something for National Cookie Day, which is today, December 12th, and so I joined the "Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2011." The rules were that we sent in our information and we'd send one dozen homemade

Chocolate Recalls 12.11.2011

2011-12-11T09:24:00.001-05:00

Sisters and Brothers, if you have not heard of this food recall related to chocolate, here is the list I received from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. See's Candies, Inc, Issues Allergy Alert on 8oz Almond Clusters, Code SF 088/12 12/08/2011, 6pm EST See's Candies, Inc. of San Francisco, Calif, is recalling one code of 8 ounce Almond Clusters, because they may contain peanuts. People who

DOVE for the Holidays 2011

2011-12-10T12:49:00.000-05:00

DOVE Chocolate is well-known in the USA and many other places around the world now. Still a private company, DOVE has grown and grown into international powerhouse that provides chocolate year round as well as for may holidays though not all holiday. This Christmas DOVE has four bags of chocolate in their PROMISES line called "Snowflakes" -- Milk, Dark, Peppermint Bark, and an Assortment. They

Chocolate Rose Soap for the Holidays

2011-12-07T07:00:00.004-05:00

It wasn't look ago that we looked at some of the soap from Fullmoon but for the holidays they have another chocolate soap they asked us to reveal to you all. Until the previous soap we featured this Chocolate Rose soap is a seasonal product which means you can only order it for a limited time or you might be able to find the Fullmoon ladies at Winter Market in Bloomington, Indiana. This bar to