Win Wonderfully Unique Chocolates

Yesterday, January 30, 2010, I reviewed a wonderful box of unique chocolates.  There was a mix up with the shipping and I received two identical boxes of these great butter cups from Ococoa.  I would like to give the other box to one of you, Sisters and Brothers.

Here is what you do to get a chance to win.

1. Be a follower on The Chocolate Cult.
     You can find three ways to become a follower

The Unique, Delicious Butter Cup

When I first saw this company, your Chocolate Priestess thought "What an adorable name for a chocolatier!"  Ococoa is based in Los Angeles and run by an incredibly friendly lady named Diana.  Not only did she send this lovely box of 9 flavors of her Butter Cups — think of these like sophisticated peanut butter cups — but she also wants to offer you, Sisters and Brothers, a special discount on

Rush to Valentine's Day

So we've revealed Van's Chocolates to you as possible Valentine's gifts and then we received products from Ococoa, FTD, Mrs Fields, Astor, and have a few things still on the way I'm told.

I wish more companies had done as Van's and Ococoa did sending me offerings earlier so I could place things out and schedule them fairly.  But now that they realize that one of their big selling days is

Chocolate Theme Parks

Hopefully, Sisters and Brothers, you've seen the news now that there is a new chocolate theme park which opened in Beijing, China.  This over 200,000 square feet exhibit in three temperature and moisture controlled halls includes art such as a replica of the Great Wall and copies of Qin Shihuang's (China’s first emperor) famous terra cotta warriors made in chocolate as well as displays and

Chocolate Holidays in February

In the USA when we think Chocolate and Holidays we primarily think of Valentine's Day, February 14th.  It is a big event for chocolate sells though Christmas, Easter and Halloween all see bigger expenditures on the Sacred Substance nationwide according to several news reports I've seen this past year.

Your Chocolate Priestess has all ready covered a few possible outlets for you to find your

Chocolate Supreme Cocoa Mix

Sisters and Brothers, it's Wednesday and with this time of year it means time for another review of a hot chocolate drink.  Your Chocolate Priestess tried the second flavor from the Kroger Private Selection line of Cocoa Supreme dry mixes: "Chocolate Supreme" flavor.  I bought this during the same sale for 50¢ versus the normal 65¢ price though with the rates the prices seem to be rising at

Ironic Chocolate Mints

Yesterday after her class, your Chocolate Priestess went to the gift shop of the university museum where I've seen some chocolate related products for sale.  I got two things.  One of this is in this little box you see below.  These are "Irony Chocolate" by Hint Mint.




This weights only 0.33oz and has 9 servings of tiny 0.25in diameter mints for a grand total of 22.5 calories in the entire box

Museums of Chocolate

Some time back I read this article from Reuters India about museums around the world which are focused on the Sacred Substance: Chocolate.  Sadly your Chocolate Priestess hasn't been to any of these, I don't charge money for my reviews so so far The Chocolate Cult is pure fun and outreach to all of you.  But I tried to find out more about these museums so I could share some information with you.

Four Wonderful 2-oz. Chocolate Bars from Astor

Astor Chocolate has sent several offering to us here in The Chocolate Cult.  Today we will look at four of their 2-ounce Belgian chocolate bars, which come in seven regular varieties and then some seasonal packaging as well, such as their Valentine's Day bars of "heart healthy" dark chocolate.  These bars are simple — chocolate plus a filling if required, no artificial ingredients.  The

National Pie Day in The Chocolate Cult

And the winner is Black Bottom Pie!

Here is my first ever attempt to make this treat using the next cookbook I have to review.



Attempts to find chocolate curls -- fail.

Attempts to follow vague directions about making them -- fail.

Used chocolate jimmies instead.






Layers are perfectly matched but I think I did an OK job here.  The top layer of whipped cream, again vague directions, not

What Pie Should I Make for National Pie Day?

Tomorrow, January 23, 2010, is another fun holiday you can use to help you enjoy the Sacred Substance.  "National Pie Day."  Now why this is not specific to chocolate you can, of course, make pies with chocolate in them.  In preparation for tomorrow I'm going to make a pie today. 

The question is: What type of pie will I make?

I have another cookbook to review and I was looking a few days ago.

Delicious Raspberry Hot Cocoa

On a very recent trip to my local Kroger, I found two brands of hot cocoa mix on sale. One of these was the store's own Private Selection brand of products.  These "Cocoa Supreme" hot cocoa mixes come in single serve bags and normally cost 65¢ but were on sale for 50¢.  So I got a few in each of the four varieties they had.  Last night we tried the "Chocolate & Raspberry" flavor with 150

Triple Chocolate Mousse Candy

A while back at Kroger they were have a clearance sale on this product from Russell Stover, their "Private Reserves: Triple Chocolate Mousse" with 70% dark chocolate plus white chocolate and between them milk chocolate.  Something for every chocolate taste. This 4.5oz bag was $1.09, a dollar less than it's normal price the clearance label claimed but I'm fairly certain the regular price was

Post Christmas Chocolate at Sam's Club Part 3

The final thing your Chocolate Priestess found in Sam's after the Christmas holidays was this box of Cocoa Dor Grand Truffles, Belgian Collection.  This was nicely wrapped with a lot of little extra decorations on the top as you can see.  The extras didn't last the unwrapping even though I tried to do it very carefully.  The autumnal colors made this more a fall and winter gift than Christmas

"Week of Chocolate" Charity Event

Several years ago, your Chocolate Priestess remembers a fairly small, maybe 250-300 people, event in downtown Bloomington, Indiana, that used chocolate to raise money for a local charity.  I remember it in part because a friend entered a pie she'd made in the contest and she won third place in that category.  I also remember tasting dozens of homemade treats from other entrants.  Over the years,

4 Organic Chocolate Bars

The Chocolate Cult's retail friends at Taraluna have another offering for us to reveal to you all today.  These are four of the Sjaak's 1.6-ounce organic chocolate bars.  In total, Taraluna offers eight flavors from Sjaak's, but we have the "Milk Chocolate with Almond Butter," "Chocolate Green Tea," "Chocolate Mint," and "Dark Chocolate Raspberry" varieties to review today.  Each bar has a paper

"Chocolate" from the Masters of Horror Series

Last night your Chocolate Priestess caught an episode of the 2005-7 series Masters of Horror created and airing originally on Showtime for two seasons with 26 episodes.  The Syfy Channel was airing several of these episodes last night, some of which I'd seen before but I had never seen this one.  This particular 7pm Eastern time episode was entitled "Chocolate" so, of course, I had to check it

DeMet's Turtles Revealed

Back on World Chocolate Day in September, one of the products I found in my local Kroger was DeMet's Turtles which this red box says is a product of Canada.  If you look at the various companies involved in getting this into the store though you see an example of the international nature of chocolate today.  Made in Canada, DeMet's is part of Nestlé which is a Swiss company and it is distributed

Post Christmas Chocolate at Sam's Club Part 2

The second Post Christmas buy in Chocolate I found at Sam's a week or so after the holiday was this green bag with a tag reading "Sweet Treats Gift Bag".  This nice, shiny darker green is not just good for Christmas, in fact that holiday isn't what I thought of when I first saw this bag.  I thought St. Patrick's Day which is very big in some parts of the USA and was a small part of my personal

Everyday Chocolatier & Recipe: Bridget's Mole

Sisters and Brothers, with a new year I want to start offering you ever more.  I hope to do at least monthly interviews with chocolatiers that I know starting with some friends I have who are skilled cooks who can apply their skills to the area of Chocolate.  Please give me feedback and let me know what you think of this new category for The Chocolate Cult.


First on our list is a wonderful

15 Amazing Truffles to Try

Van's Chocolates from North Carolina sent in two offerings for The Chocolate Cult this past week, our first new offering of 2010, so I wanted to get to one of their offerings right away.  They sent two identical boxes that had different assortments inside.  The boxes were packed in a fair amount of Styroform peanuts, which I saved to be reused or donated to a charity that can use these.  Today

Essence of Chocolate with Scharffen Berger

Ah, another chocolate cookbook review on The Chocolate Cult, except "The Essence of Chocolate" from John Scharfeenberger and Robert Steinberg is not just a cookbook.  I will focus on it's ability to be a good or poor cookbook in a bit but first let me discuss what else this book offers.  If what I write today sounds interesting to you, your purchasing it through the above link will help us

Post Christmas Chocolate at Sam's Club Part 1

This past weekend we went to Sam's Club which I bet several of you have heard of, it is a a general good way for us to stock up on big supplies once a month or so.  While there we noticed their aisle of left overs from Christmas and among them were several candy gifts.  After looking through the ingredients on all the choices and eliminating any that had nuts, we got three boxes for between $2.50

Dark Hot Cocoa Mix Well Worth It

Sisters and Brothers, some of you will hopefully recall that Wednesdays have become our hot chocolate review morning here in The Chocolate Cult. You may also recall that your Chocolate Priestess also bought three types of Nestlé hot cocoa mix and has been reviewing them one at a time. Today I'll look at the last of those three flavors I got at Kroger for $1 a 8 envelope box. I hated the "Mint

Review: "World Chocolate Championship" 2009

Sisters and Brothers, I do not know if you had a chance to watch this interesting chocolate show tonight on TLC but your Chocolate Priestess watched it and so I want to review it for you.

The show was called "World Chocolate Championship" for the title of World Chocolate Master and was held in Paris in 2009 though the program did not say exactly when it was held  It's been on TLC in the past so

Use Christmas Sales for Later Giving

As you know, Sisters and Brothers, your Chocolate Priestess not only loves great chocolate but also looks to save money.  A few days after Christmas, on Monday, December 28, 2009, to be exact I found this in my local Kroger store.  A selection of candies from Russell Stover wrapped in a red Christmas style paper.  It was on half price sale and they had two varieties of the assorted style left:

Your Resource for Small Chocolatiers around the Nation

To start off the new year, Sisters and Brothers, we'll start with a new retailer to our Sacraments here on The Chocolate Cult.  Your Chocolate Priestess won a $25 gift certificate from Foodie Blog Roll in one of their monthly (November) contests.  This was for RegionalBest.com, and they had a good selection of chocolate products, so I went there to shop. 


I bought these three items and ended

Predictions & Hopes: Chocolate in 2010

Sisters and Brothers, for ten months we have been gathering here to celebrate Chocolate.  We've done this through product reviews, Sacramental reviews, news items, medical and health alerts, discussion of popular culture, book reviews, and lot of photos.  Today I want to use all of this information we've looked at and which I, your Chocolate Priestess have gathered, to predict how we'll encounter