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!
Toasted coconut sounds amazing!
Chocolate with praline! But I’m open to trying all new interesting flavors! 😉 I tried this Four C Tart and my family loved it!!! Thanks!
dark chocolate
dark chocolate raspberry
My favorite type of chocolate is dark chocolate with fruit- like cherries! Thanks for the chance to win!
I like milk chocolate.
I love love love milk chocolate!!
I love your Tahiti lime truffles!
Milk chocolate is THE BEST!!!
I love most chocolate as long as it also contains nuts, caramel, ganache, peanut butter or toffee. I also love it with sea salt.
I like milk chocolate
I like bittersweet 70% cacao.
Love Milk chocolate
Milk chocolate is my fave.
White chocolate is my favorite.
My favorite is dark chocolate with sea salt caramel.
I love dark chocolate
White Chocolate
I like dark chocolate
I love white chocolate!
I like milk chocolate.
I love dark chocolate with sea salt or chipotle.
I like milk and white chocolate.
I love dark chocolate with fruit (cherries or raspberries are best!)
favorite flavor of chocolate is dark chocolate.
i love chocolate!
I have to say white chocolate but dark chocolate has been moving up the charts for me lately.
I like an excellent quality dark chocolate best.
I love dark chocolate sea salt caramel.
I love chocolate and peanut butter fudge
I like dark chocolate with mint, toffee or caramel the best.
Milk Choc or White I can’t decide which first lol
I love White Chocolate!
I like chocolate with nuts and pretzels.
more like what flavor don’t I like??? Chocoholic household here! maybe only one I don’t love is the really dark, bitter ones.
tvollowitz at aol dot com
Definitely dark chocolate, or dark chocolate with lavender….the darker the better
I love Milk chocolate !
I love white chocolate
milk all the way
I love Milk Chocolate best. 🙂
Milk chocolate is my favorite!
I love milk chocolate with hazelbuts.
Dark chocolate is my favorite.
Milk chocolate
Love dark chocolate
Boy this is good.
I love dark chocolate.
Milk Chocolate with Hazelnuts.
dark chocolate!
I love any kind of dark chocolate.