The Chocolate Dance

The Chocolate Dance, also known as the Spanish Dance, is one of the divertissements in Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite.

Divertissements used to be very common in ballets. You'd have some serious story going on -- in the case of Nutcracker, a fairly epic battle between the forces of good and evil, or at least between rats and toys -- and all of a sudden the action would stop while some pretty dancing with lots of costume changes went on.

The major characters would be sitting around watching, or lying in fetching poses showing that whole thing was a dream sequence, or sometimes they were off the stage entirely, making no pretense that the intrusion of random dances with unrelated music made sense in the story. Often, the names of the dances printed in the program were the only clue.

In the Nutcracker, Clara visits the Kingdom of Sweets in a dream, and there are various dances symbolizing a variety of sweets, including chocolate. Chocolate, being historically connected with Spain, provides an opportunity to have a nominally Spanish dance, with some cool percussion reminiscent of castanets and a hint of flamenco in the arm movements.

The Chocolate Dance is part of a trio of divertissements. The others are Tea and Coffee, which may not be sweets, but are... ummm... things a person might drink while eating sweets.

One of the main rules of divertissements was that they didn't have to make much sense.

Black Friday Chocolate

Thanksgiving was great, right?

It is possible that you need some guidance on how best to include chocolate in your day today. Depending on how you spent Thanksgiving and how you intend to spend today, choose one of the following plans.

• You feasted excessively yesterday and are going back to work today, slightly hungover and vowing never to eat rich foods again:

Cocoa Roast Almonds (Emerald makes them) or chocolate coffee (Gevalia and Godiva both make it -- take it black) give you the scent and flavor of chocolate without the fat and calories. The little hit of chocolate goodness will help you resist the break room, which will be full of leftovers people have brought in to share.

• You are shopping, beginning at about 4:00 a.m.

Plan to stop and have a cup of good hot chocolate mid-morning. This will encourage you and give you the strength to make good choices at lunch or dinner, instead of taking in more calories today than you did yesterday.

• You are still on vacation and nibbling on leftovers.

Enjoy it. However, consider making yourself a plate with good amounts of vegetables, lean meats, and whole grains, and treat yourself to just a sliver of that chocolate pie. One day of indulgence is not a problem. Our problem in the U.S. is not that we have feasts, but that we feast all the time. Instead of letting Thanksgiving be the start of a self-indulgent spell that lasts till Mardi Gras, let it be just one day, and you'll be thankful you did when you get to your annual checkup.

• You had a sensible Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, and today is a normal day for you.

While Thanksgiving is often a mad blow-out of saturated fats and simple carbohydrates, it doesn't have to be. If your Thanksgiving dinner was turkey breast, roasted root vegetables, salad, and a sliver of fruit cobbler topped with granola, then you can have a couple of ounces of dark chocolate today, for the sake of your health, the same as every other day.

Happy Thanksgiving

Old-fashioned Chocolate Meringue Pie

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so you're probably cleaning house, baking bread, finishing up those pies, and dealing with the turkey, which at this point is often causing anxiety.

No? In that case, you are probably on the other side of the feast: the invited guest, who gets to drive over the river and through the woods to the feast which someone else is preparing and cleaning up for right this minute.

You have the leisure to dazzle people with this wonderful old-fashioned pie. Follow the directions precisely.

Chocolate Meringue Pie

1 baked 9" pie shell
1/2 c. sugar, divided
3 T cornstarch
5 oz. good quality chocolate
2 1/2 c. milk
3 eggs, separated
1 t. vanilla
6 T sugar

Whisk 1/4 c. sugar, cornstarch, chocolate, and milk together in the top of a double boiler over boiling water, stirring constantly till mixture is thickened. Cover and cook a5 mins, stirring occasionally. Beat egg yolks and remaining sugar together. Stir a little of the hot chocolate mixture into the egg mixture, and then stir the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture in the double boiler (this keeps the heat from cooking the eggs and making stringy bits in your custard). Stir for two more minutes and then remove from heat. Cool slightly, stir in vanilla, and pour into pie shell.
Beat egg whites to stiff peaks and then very gradually beat in 6 T sugar. Spread some meringue all the way to the edge of the pie, and then mound remaining meringue onto pie and create swirls. Bake at 300 degrees for 15 minutes or until peaks of swirls are nicely browned.

Cool this pie away from drafts, and then pack it up (if you don't have a pie basket, put it into a box with newspapers around it) and set it very carefully on the floor of the car. If the car will be full of people, assign the most reliable person to hold the pie, guarding it with his or her life.

If you are single -- male or female -- you can expect marriage proposals once people taste this pie.

Chocolate for Thanksgiving

A friend of mine once served smoked salmon for Thanksgiving dinner, "just for a change."

This could never happen at my house. Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, corn, and cranberry sauce are de rigeur. Changes are not allowed. Points are not awarded for creativity. We're talking about tradition here, so no one can mess with it.

Creativity is allowed in three areas, though. First, breads may be changed around at will. Cranberry-orange bread, fantans, corn muffins with jalapenos and cheese -- all of these and more have graced our Thanksgiving table.

Vegetables, too, as long as potatoes and corn are offered, may be varied. The kids can ignore the existence of steamed green beans bundled and tied with herbs just as well as they can ignore squash casserole or roasted carrots.

Desserts are supposed to be varied. We've had gingerbread turkeys with pumpkin dip, Pineapple Upside Down Cake, and cherry cheesecake. Lemon meringue pie, spice cake with bourbon-spiked whipped cream, and Apple-Plum Crisp.

We also like chocolate for Thanksgiving. I'm going to offer you two pie recipes today: one for purists, and one for those of you who still haven't gotten a turkey and are in no mood for serious baking.

First, the quick one made with convenience foods:

Possum Pie

1 c. flour
1/2 c butter
1/2 c. chopped pecans
8 oz. cream cheese
1 c. powdered sugar
1 c. Cool Whip
2 pkg. instant chocolate pudding, mixed with 3 c.milk

Combine flour, butter, and pecans. Form crust in pie pan. Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool. Mix the cream cheese and powdered sugar and spread over the cooled crust. Pour the pudding over the cream cheese mixture. Top with Cool Whip and chopped nuts.

This recipe came from Kathy Simmons, and I have no idea what it has to do with possums, but people love it. You could substitute a nice homemade chocolate mousse and real whipped cream for the processed foods here, but you could also substitute a ready-made graham cracker crust. It all depends how busy you are.

Now, for the serious:

Chocolate Pecan Pie

1 1/2 cups pecans
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 c butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix everything else together, pour into the pie shell, and bake at 350 degrees till it's set -- about an hour.

You can add a splash of bourbon to this, too, for a marvelously rich flavor. And, actually, this is probably just as quick as the Possum Pie, when you get down to it, so you might as well make both.

Make them today or tomorrow and keep them in the refrigerator, and you won't have to fuss on the big day.

Advice from Santa Claus

We don't like to get our holidays out of order. Thanksgiving is still ahead, and it's important to observe and enjoy that holiday before you start looking ahead to Christmas.

On the other hand, we want you to have all the goodies you need on hand for Christmas. So we want to encourage you to visit our catalog and get some of your Christmas shopping done before life gets too hectic.



Order chocolate rocks and seashells, pebbles and Sunflower Mix right now and relax -- they make great gifts for colleagues, neighbors, Secret Santa, teachers, delivery people, sweethearts, and people you forgot to buy a gift for.



They also tuck neatly into stockings. Shipping is free on qualifying orders, so get that order done, cross a bunch of things off your list, and you can relax and enjoy your turkey.

Candyfreak

Steve Almond wrote a book called Candyfreak which is, on the surface, a story about obssession. Right under the surface, it's a catalog of chocolate trivia, letting you know precisely how Valomilks are made (it involves shaking) and just what proportion of feuilletine is required for the optimal mouthfeel in a candy bar containing feuilletine (15-18% by weight).

But the center of the book is about economics. The city of Boston used to have 150 candy companies. At one time, there were as many as 40,000 different candy bars -- every town had its own special variety. Then a few companies grew to monstrous proportions, and the amazing variety shrank to only a few different basic items.

Now, we're seeing a renaissance of artisanal chocolates, with special things like Sweetique eggs reappearing. We're happy to be part of the trend.

Festival of Chocolate

Wisconsin's Festival of Chocolate kicks off this weekend at the Lettie W. Jensen Community Center in Amherst. This festival includes both chocolate -- tastings, cooking classes, and more -- and fitness. So you can listen to a lecture on the health benefits of chocolate, join a Pilates class, and then go learn how to make molded chocolates for Christmas gifts. A balanced approach.

Next weekend, Delaware hosts their Chocolate Festival at Dover Downs, with a Christmas theme featuring Santa claus and gingerbread, as well as an ice carving contest. The Syracuse Wine and Chocolate Festival is also slated for the weekend following Thanksgiving, as is Jackson Village's horse-drawn sleigh chocolate tour in New Hampshire.

St. Lucia's Chocolate Festival on the first weekend in December is the only one offering a tour of a cacao plantation.

December 12th is the Rochester Wine and Chocolate Festival. Both Rochester and Syracuse give half-price tickets to designated drivers who are ready to skip the wine and just enjoy the chocolate.

If none of these festivals is in your neighborhood, don't despair. There's pretty well always a chocolate festival coming up somewhere.

Thanksgiving Preparation Checklist

One week from today you'll be baking chocolate cakes, pies, and tortes in preparation for the great Thanksgiving feast (okay, maybe a pumpkin pie, too). Here's a checklist to make it easier on the Big Day:

1. Check with guests to make sure you know who's coming, what they plan to bring, and any special needs.
2. If there'll be infants or pets coming along, now's the time to rent or borrow a crib, playpen, or other items to keep them safe in a household that isn't always prepared for pets or babies.
3. Check table linens to make sure they're all clean and ready.
   
4. Write the names of the dishes you'll serve and tuck them into the appropriate serving dishes. This keeps you from having a pan of mashed potatoes and nowhere to put it.
5. If you fall short in linens or serving pieces, ask around and see if you can borrow or swap items.
6. Clean out the coat closet -- it's easy to forget that until guests arrive and ask where to put their coats!
7. Set up music, or make it easy on yourself by planning a custom radio station for your party at Pandora.com.
   
8. Hunt down simple board games to supplement conversation. Sports equipment, too, for those after-the-feast football and Frisbee games. It's frustrating to have a spontaneous plan to play turn into a long search for the equipment.
   
9. Appetizers may be over the top for Thanksgiving, but you may also have teens or others who find it hard to wait for the holiday's typical late lunchtime. Set out chocolates or mixed nuts for guests who arrive hungry so you won't have to rush serving the meal. If they're not eaten, they can simply be put away for the next party.
   
10. Gather plastic storage containers so you can send leftovers home with your guests.

Chocolate Milk Controversy

As classroom controversies go, this doesn't seem that tough. We've survived debates on the teaching of evolution and global warming, on uniforms and gun detectors, on no Child left behind and Cultural Literacy, so we can probably survive the debate on chocolate milk as well.

Chocolate milk -- really? Is that the most important thing we have to fight about?

The anti chocolate milk forces are concerned about the added sugar in chocolate milk compared with plain milk. We understand this concern: it's easy for kids to get too much sugar. For example, the amount of sugar in chocolate milk (6 teaspoons) is the same as that in two slices of white bread or a hamburger bun. You'll also find added sugar in spaghetti sauce, barbecue sauce, canned fruits, and of course in all dessert foods served in school cafeterias.

The pro chocolate milk camp points out that many children who won't drink milk straight will drink chocolate milk, thus taking in all the nutrition of milk -- instead of soda or "juice drinks" which typically contain much more sugar and little nutritional value. Chocolate milk has just 56 more calories than plain milk -- an extra amount of energy that ought to be burnt up at recess.

Read all the details of chocolate milk's nutritional value in a PDF file on the subject. We say kids should ask their parents' permission -- and schools should get back to more important controversies.

Chocolate Reduces Ill Effects of Stress

Chocolate's connection with stress may not be news, but just how it's connected certainly is. Many people feel that they are more likely to eat chocolate when they feel stressed, for example, and perceive that as a problem. Others think of theobromine, one of the active chemical compounds of chocolate, as a euphoria-producing drug that can counteract stress. Others point to the flavanoids in chocolate, and their role in reducing blood pressure. The physically calming effect, they figure, could show up as a psychologically calming effect as well.

But new research examines the effects of eating dark chocolate on the entire metabolism of healthy men and women. A group of volunteers was asked to maintain a diet free of chocolate for 8 days, and then provided fluid samples which were tested for hormones indicating stress and anxiety. The subjects were then given 40 grams each day of 74% chocolate, and otherwise did not make any changes in their lifestyles. After 14 days of consuming just about an ounce of dark chocolate each day, volunteers again provided fluids for study.

Their results showed that the metabolic effects of stress had lessened in those subjects who were showing physical signs of stress at the beginning of the study. Researchers didn't observe significant changes in those who weren't suffering from stress initially; that is, the changes weren't simply a reduction in the chemicals measured, but a normalization in the metabolic pattern. Likewise, the study didn't measure self-reported feelings of stress, but rather the physical and chemical signature of stress in the body.

In a high-stress situation, then, you'd be wise to add a bit of dark chocolate to your day.

Chocolate: the Exhibition at Union Station

Union Station's Chocolate Exhibit runs through January 3rd at Kansas City's Union Station. There's a wonderful multimedia exhibit on the history of chocolate from Chicago's Field Museum, and if you click that link you can experience some of it online. Share the interactive online activities with your kids.

Science City at Union Station is a great place for kids, too, and they're having chocolate science demonstrations every Saturday at the Periodic Table. Do a little chemistry and practice the scientific method and science process skills. Download the PDF Educator's Guide and check out our post on Chocolate as a Classroom Theme for more ideas.

No kids? There are wine and chocolate tastings, chocolate and vodka tastings for the hardcore, and just plain chocolate too.

Drinking Chocolate

A cup of hot chocolate is a wonderful way to start the day. Don't be limited by instant hot cocoa mixes, though. Their ingredients, which include not only sugar and cocoa, but also corn syrup, partially hydrogenated palm or soybean oil, powdered milk, flavorings, carrageenan or guar gum, salt, and chemicals like sodium aluminosilicate and dipotassium phosphate, aren't necessarily the most conducive to a good, healthy cup of hot chocolate.

It's not hard to make it yourself from good quality cocoa powder.

Just mix together 2 T cocoa, and 1 T sugar. Stir in 4 cups of water or milk which has been heated just till bubbles begin to form at the edges of the pan.

Turn it into delicious Café Louvois by mixing the resulting hot chocolate with equal parts of coffee. Gently stir a tablespoon of whipped cream into each cup.

As fall nears and there's a bit of a nip in the air, you can mix up hot chocolate with water as described above and add a spoonful of whiskey for a special addition to an afternoon tea party.

Or get fancy with this Spanish drink:

Beat 3 tablespoons honey with 9 egg yolks. Beat in a shotglass of rum and 1 t each allspice, ginger powder and grated lemon peel.

Whisk the egg mixture into the hot chocolate and heat it till it's hot but not boiling.

In the evening, consider this bold Guatemalan take on hot chocolate:

Heat 2 vanilla pods in 4 cups of milk for 5-10 minutes. Stir 2 heaping T of cocoa into 1 / 2 cup of water, and stir it into the hot milk along with 2 tablespoons honey, 4 tablespoons sugar, and a dash of cayenne pepper or 1 / 2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce.

Add tequila or rum, if desired.

The versatility of chocolate shows up even in simple cocoa.

Sweetique Products Now Available by Mail!

We've been showing you our delicious chocolates now and then, but we haven't told you before how you can get some for yourself.

Now you can order them at our catalog. We're offering free shipping with your $50 order, which makes today a great day to do some holiday shopping.

Sweetique Sunflower Mix Butter Cookies

An alternative to the highly successful Sweetique Sunflower Mix Cookies, these buttery cookies show off the bright colors better, even if they don't have the flavanoids added to the original by a liberal use of cocoa.

Sunflower Mix Butter Cookies

1. c butter
1 c. sugar
3 c flour
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 egg
2 t cream
1 t vanilla
1 c Sweetique Sunflower Mix

Cream butter and sugar together. Sift dry ingredients together and stir in. Beat egg, cream, and vanilla together and stir in. Stir in Sunflower Mix. Drop onto cookie sheets by teaspoonful. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until edges are golden.

This makes a nice big batch, and they freeze well.

Health Benefits of Chocolate Lost in Baking?

According to the Journal of Food Science, there is plenty of evidence about the effects of processing on cacao, but until now it's been uncertain whether cooking makes cocoa powder and chocolate less beneficial, compared with simply eating bar chocolate or drinking hot cocoa.

Now we know. A recent study checked on cookies, cakes, and frostings made with cocoa powder. Initial findings suggested that baked goods contained only half the flavanols of cocoa, and that in some cases as much as 95% were lost in the baking process. However, further research determined that it isn't the heat that's the culprit, but the leavening agents used.

Baked goods with a higher pH lost flavanols and antioxidants during the baking process, and baking soda was the culprit.

Lessening the baking soda, either by using it in combination with baking powder or by relying on air for much of the leavening power as in a traditional genoise or sponge cake, solves the problem.

We suggest our Chocolate Blender Gateau, which uses very little leavening and still has a wonderful texture, without the time-consuming effort of a classic sponge cake.

Is Brand X Chocolate Really Different?

Sweetique offers a wonderful collection of chocolates called Sweet Shapes of Nature. These candies are highly natural looking rocks, pebbles, and seashells available in a variety of attractive packages for private enjoyment or in exclusive packaging perfect for wedding favors, fundraisers, corporate promotions, and other custom uses.

Ours are not the only chocolate rocks out there, though. Recently, when we ran into some Brand X chocolate rocks, we decided that we needed to compare them.

Start with a visual comparison. Ours are up there on the left -- you can see that ours are larger and more colorful, while Brand X has quite a bit of "scrap."

Looks aren't everything, though, so we got together half a dozen volunteers for a blind taste test.

The results were so clear that we probably didn't need to bother to make it all so scientific. Ours have more chocolate, and better quality chocolate, so the experience is like eating chocolate. In fact, it is eating chocolate. Brand X has less chocolate and more sugar, so the experience is like eating candy, but it is not really a chocolate experience.

Some of our testers also reported a chemical or synthetic flavor in Brand X chocolate rocks. 100% of the testers preferred ours, and there was no uncertainty. Indeed, testers wanted more, and couldn't be fobbed off with Brand X, but insisted on having ours for seconds.

The surprise? Brand X costs more.

When you next consider private label chocolate rocks, or even chocolate rocks for your own personal use, you should think twice before you choose a Brand X. There's a clear difference.

Keep Chocolate Away from the Dogs

Hallowe'en candy may still be lingering around the house. You'll set a box of chocolates out for Thanksgiving guests, have chocolate gelt for Hanukkah, or have chocolate all over the buffet all through the twelve days of Christmas.

Go ahead. Just don't let the dog get the treats.

It's hard, at this time of year when there may be more chocolate around than usual, to keep canine friends from scarfing down the occasional contraband treat. However, the theobromine in chocolate can be toxic for dogs.

Generally, dogs can't get a toxic amount of theobromine. A 30 pound dog, for example, would have to eat almost two pounds of dark chocolate to be in danger of death. It takes quite a bit less to make a dog sick, though, and dogs usually have very little self-control. A little dog may gobble down a large bar of chocolate before anyone in a busy household notices.

It's best to keep chocolate where your dogs can't reach it.

Charming Chocolate Gifts

Our rocks, pebbles and seashells, made of fine milk chocolate with a candy coating, are the perfect gift for almost everyone on your list.

Who are they for?

• teachers
• friends who've gotten bad news
• friends who've gotten good news
• hostesses
• new neighbors
• sweethearts
• secret pals
• house cleaners
• hairdressers
• special nieces and nephews
• people who've done something kind
• people who are celebrating
• people who are having a rough day
• delivery people
• house sitters
• you

We're in the last stages right now of getting the e-commerce section of our site ready for you, and very soon you'll be able to order these lovely gifts right here at the website. We're offering free shipping with a $50.oo order, so we hope you'll stock up on these to make your holidays that much simpler and more fun.

Leftover Halloween Candy

The idea of leftover candy doesn't immediately make sense. The stuff has a long shelf life, so it isn't like having leftover turkey around the kitchen. You can just leave it alone.

The circumstances under which you may want to do something about your leftover candy bars are these:

• You won't eat them. You bought those little candy bars for the trick or treaters, and if you don't do something with them, you'll be throwing them out in January.
• You will eat them. Even though it doesn't fit with your doctor's orders, your diet, or your concept of correct food consumption. If you don't do something with them, you -- or your kids -- will eat too much candy this week, and you'll regret it.

Both are good reasons for making plans to cope with that extra candy. It's simple, too. Sort the candy bars if necessary -- mint and peanut butter may not taste good together, and plain chocolate can go into your basic baking supplies. But most kinds of chocolate candy bars can just be chopped up and mixed together. Then you can do these things with them:

• Stir them into a simple sugar cookie dough (reduce the sugar) and bake them. Pop them into the freezer for your holiday goodie boxes.
• Use them to decorate the tops of cakes, sprinkle them over warm brownies, or use them as a topping for cream pies at Thanksgiving. Just store your chopped candy bars in the freezer and you'll have interesting toppings throughout the holiday season.
• Soften plain vanilla ice cream slightly and stir it in for a designer ice cream experience. Do the same thing with puddings or mousse desserts.
  

If you've managed to end up with lots of identical candy bars, check out the Candy Bar Recipe Collection for recipes using specific types of candy bars. Snickers Apple Salad sounds disgusting to me, but you may be braver than I am.