Product Review: Ghiradelli Luxe Chocolates

Like I mentioned a few weeks ago, blogging rules. Specifically, food blogging. As a Featured Publisher and member of the Tastemaker program on Foodbuzz, I get to try yummy things every so often. A few weeks ago, I got a sample pack containing three flavors of Ghiradelli’s new luxe line of chocolates.

I’m a huge chocolate fan, so I jumped at the offer for a sample. I’m not big on candy, but I’ll never turn down chocolate. I especially won’t turn it down when there’s nuts involved. The three pieces I received were milk, hazelnut, and almond. Even though they were just little squares of chocolate, being the good fiancée that I am, I shared.

I was least excited about the milk chocolate, and most excited for the hazelnut. I’m a serious fan of hazelnuts, and it’s my go-to coffee flavor. I like almonds, too, but wasn’t expecting anything special, as a lot of chocolates have an almond variation. While milk chocolate is the most common, I always gravitate to dark – milk is just average in my eyes. So I started with my least favorite, and it was a great start. I knew that even if it didn’t get any better, it was at least pretty darn good! As I continued on to almond, the flavor grew. For both the almond and hazelnut, there was actually a lot of nut in the chocolate. Usually, the additional flavor is minuscule, but Ghiradelli didn’t hold back. Of course, hazelnut wound up being my favorite, but it barely won out over almond. While savoring each square, I began dreaming up recipes where these chocolates could be melted down and combined into pure deliciousness.

After sharing with my fiancé, I was disappointed there wasn’t more. The chocolate is super rich and creamy, in a simply decadent way. It definitely earned it’s “luxe” name. I’m looking forward to getting some to enjoy as a treat every so often!

I’ll take you to the Candy Shop

Yes, those are in fact lyrics from a 50 Cent song, that I listened to many a times in a crowded Scranton basement in college. Candy Shop also happens to be the sub-brand of the Duncan Hines brownies I made tonight. I know, you’re thinking I’m a total cop-out for using a brownie mix instead of making my own while having a food blog. Well while wandering down the baking aisle at Target today, I stumbled upon a peanut butter brownie box and had to have it. Sometimes making mix out of the box is just as fun as making them from scratch? And by fun, I really just mean easy.

My fiancé has a seriously delicious salmon recipe that he got from his dad. It’s super easy, and I beg him every now and again to make it. So, after some coaxing this past week, he gave in and made it for me tonight, after letting it marinate overnight. We paired it with rice, and boy did it hit the spot! While I’m forbidden for sharing the recipe (so unfair, I know) I can at least show you how delicious it looked!

Back to the reasoning behind the post, the peanut butter brownies! I always find it interesting that brownie mixes provide you two options; one for fudgey brownies, and one for cake-like brownies. I always think to myself, “who wants cake-like brownies?! Fudge is where it’s at!” I suppose there are some people that would disagree, but I always go for the ultimate fudge-factor. That’s why I’m a huge fan of Ghiradelli’s mixes. For something that only required me to combine the brownie mix, a little bit of oil, water, and an egg and throw it in the oven for about 30 minutes, I’m impressed. Sure, I probably could have made better brownies myself, but it also would have taken me a lot longer. Sometimes a little sacrifice in authenticity is allowed for a quick treat on a weeknight. These badboys will be an excellent afternoon snack tomorrow during my 2:30pm “I really still have 3 more hours of work?” wallowing.

So I thought I’d end the post with a question: what’s your favorite straight-from-the-box dessert mix?

Happy nomzing!

Another Snow Day Means Baking!

Today we got MORE snow, so I was off from work. Unlike my past few snow days, though, I got stuck doing some work which was no fun. Aside from getting my TV and internet surfing fix, I made some Hot Chocolate Brownies!

As soon as I saw the recipe, I knew I had to make them immediately. I got the recipe from the blog New York City Dish, which I follow on Google Reader. Thankfully, I had every ingredient readily available, except for the marshmallows. I’m not a huge marshmallow fan, so I wasn’t too upset about having to leave them out.

I’ve never made brownies from scratch; I’m a big supporter of the Ghiradelli chocolate brownie mix; it’s super decadent and really chocolate-y, which I love. So, I was a little nervous about making my own brownies, but it turns out it’s super easy! And I got to add in chocolate chips for some extra gooey deliciousness.

If you’re someone that bakes relatively frequently, you probably have all of these ingredients already. So next time you’re bored, and in the mood for some chocolate, I definitely suggest these!

Hot Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)
1 bag mini marshmallows

Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour baking pan.
2.Stir together butter, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. Add eggs and beat well. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add dry ingredient mix to the egg mixture and beat until blended. Add chocolate chips if desired. Spread batter evenly in pan.
3.Bake the brownies for roughly 20 minutes, until almost baked through. Distribute marshmallows evenly across top and bake for another 2-5 minutes until brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool completely and sprinkle with decorative sugar, if desired.

Should make roughly 16 brownies.