Chocolate together with smoked chiles? Chinese five spice? Curry??? Well, yes, yes and yes! But before we plunge into flavor adventures, let’s back up a bit.
As you know, there’s nothing else like chocolate. It is great in both sweet and savory applications; it can be melted, chopped, grated and pulverized into nibs and powder for a multitude of uses; it can be used straight up and intense or blended with sugar and milk for a lighter taste. And best of all, its deep, universally-loved essence blends beautifully with so many other flavors, each enhancing the other.
For me, the experimenting all started with truffles. The first truffle flavors I developed professionally for my chocolate business, Dear Coco, were the most familiar: espresso, toasted coconut, salted caramel, peanut, banana, peppermint – classic pairings. Then came the next level of flavor combinations: green tea, Mexican cinnamon and almond, smoked paprika, chai tea, lime – interesting and a bit different yet still very approachable. Some unusual, off-the-beaten-path flavors became part of our rotating monthly truffle collections to spread the exotic and fun throughout the year: sesame, apricot anise, passion fruit, lavender, coconut jerk, balsamic vinegar. Amazing – all these beautiful flavors (and more) blended with chocolate, and they all work – a testament to the beauty and versatility of chocolate.
Even after I developed 38 flavors of truffles, there were still possibilities on my idea list that I hadn’t yet explored. Since I love making caramel I decided to detour from truffles and try something completely different: blending new spices and aromatics with toffee and then making all of it taste even better by adding chocolate. And this is how our new Toffee Chocolate Bar line was conceived, developed (after tons of trials and refinements) and finally born. And am I ever proud! These unique, textured bars are loaded with flavorful handcrafted toffees, fresh roasted nuts and seeds, smooth premium dark chocolate and a sprinkle of sea salt to balance all the flavors. With eight different globally-inspired flavors (like our truffles), there is a toffee bar (or several) for everyone.
This dessert is inspired by one of our toffee bars: Madras, which combines sweet curry toffee with roasted sunflower seeds and sea salt in premium Belgian dark chocolate. Curry and chocolate together might sound strange, but don’t wrinkle your nose – it is surprisingly delicious. I took the flavor profile of this toffee bar (chocolate, caramel and curry) and added creamy, nutty coconut to create this “4C” double-decker tart (gluten free, dairy free). This tart features a layer of fragrant, curry-infused caramel topped with a layer of smooth, luscious dark chocolate ganache, all encased in a chewy coconut crust and sprinkled with sea salt.
Try my recipe for this Curry, Caramel, Coconut and Chocolate Tart.
I hope you’ll embark on a delicious chocolate journey and try this wonderful tart – let me know how you enjoy the chocolate adventure!
chocolate! my favorite. hope i win
I had a ginger chocolate bar once and it was my favorite.
I am a true chocoholic, I would love to try these bars!
iam a hardcore chocohaloic those flavors
got me nosie but good
LOVE milk chocolate!
I prefer milk chocolate
Orange dark chocolate.
I really like dark dark chocolate- the 72% cocoa type. I also really like the chocolate raspberry combo
Dark, caramel, sea salted, any chocolate
Dark chocolate with coffee! The two flavors pair together so well!
I LOVE chocolate. I have been wanting to try these. They look so good! I love all of the flavors!
I love white chocolate!
hazelnut
I love chocolate!!! The darker the better.
My fave is dark dark chocolate.
Would love this for all the chocoholics in my life.
I love almost all chocolate, picking a favorite is like picking my favorite child! Ha ha!
I like milk chocolate.
My favorite flavor of chocolate is chocolate and more chocolate! I’m not fussy.
i love all chocolate, but dark or sea salt is my fave.
I adore coffee flavored chocolate: think coffee beans and Schmerling cappaccino flavored chocolate!!
Anything with sea salt 🙂 yum
I love chocolate covered almonds- yum!
These sound heavenly!!! I love dark chocolate and paired with fruit or peanut butter is truly heavenly!!
I like milk chocolate
I am not very particular about what kind of chocolate– as long as it’s chocolate 😉
If I had to be specific– I prefer milk chocolate with something in it– nuts, caramel, truffle…
Tokyo sounds awesome
WOW! All those different types of chocolate look incredible!! So up my street! Love the idea of Barcelona sea salt, toffee, NUTS and CHOCOLATE!!
I love any chocolate with caramel!
caramel chocolate
My favorite is dark, bittersweet chocolate paired with raspberry flavors…still the best..
we love 80% or more — Equal Exchange Panama type — do you make?
One flavor sounds better than the next – this is a chocolate lover’s dream come true!
My favorite is dark chocolate.
Wow! the Sidama flavor looks really great to me!
My favorite flavor of chocolate is dark.
All chocolate is good, but milk is my fave.
PURE DARK CHOCOLATE =)
I like that it has no corn syrup and is pareve!
I love any flavor chocolate. but caramel has a special place
The darker the better! 🙂
I wasw born a chocoholic and I will never break that addiction.
dark chocolate is the best and when you add a hint of chili it gets even better
Wow, what an interesting new product that I would love to try
My favorite flavor of chocolate is dark chocolate.
So hard to choose…caramel?
Sounds delicious!
I would lovevto try every flavor.
I love all of your creative flavor pairings. I want to try all of them!
Milk chocolate is great.
who doesn’t love chocolate. hope i win!