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!
I love white chocolate.
My favorite flavor chocolate is all chocolate! Milk id my favorite than dark than white
My favorite chocolate is milk chocolate!
I love….love….love dark chocolate!
My favorite flavor of chocolate is milk chocolate but my favorite combination is chocolate & orange. Yums!
My favorite flavor of chocolate is milk chocolate but I am intrigued by all the exciting additions in your Toffee Chocolate bars.
I like dark chocolate the best
loving that dark chocolate!
Milk chocolate is my fav
I love Milk Chocolate
Ideally dark chocolate with nuts.
I have just started to get into the dark chocolate, Carmel and sea salt
I love Milk Chocolate.
I like dark chocolate.
I like milk chocolate best.
I really love dark chocolate!
I love white chocolate. Thank you
I love raspberry with some dark chocolate
Milk chocolate is the best!
Dark chocolate is the best
I love dark chocolate the best.
Vegan, gluten free, kosher and pareve? Can’t get any better than that. Any flavor would be delicious but I happen to be partial to chocolate with almonds.
Dark chocolate with raspberry…..to die for:)
i like milk chocolate
I love dark chocolate, especially with caramel in it 🙂
I love milk chocolate with salted caramel
I love dark chocolate, but the curry one sounds fascinating – I’d love to try it! Thanks for the great giveaway! — Laura @ Frugal Follies
I LOVE white chocolate
I like dark chocolate with sea salt.
dark chocolate is the best
Dark chocolate!
Dark Chocolate for me.
I like milk chocolate
I like semi sweet chocolate.
I love milk chocolate the best
I love dark chocolate the best
Dark chocolate
I like caramel 🙂
Milk Chocolate. Mmmmmm
dark
Good quality white chocolate.
I love plain dark chocolate, but chocolate with raspberries or with hazelnuts make me happy too.
I love milk chocolate with salted caramel
Thank you for the nice giveaway!
i like dark chocolates, esp those with a hint of spice
I love dark chocolate with toffee or caramel. So hard to find that pareve!
Would love to try every flavor.I love anything with dark chocolate!
I love any chocolate. I love rum balls but as comfort food, I want milk chocolate
My favorite is milk chocolate.
I love mint chocolate!
I love dark chocolate with raspberries inside.