Great Ways to Use Cocoa Nibs: Tuesday Tips

I try to give a tip every Tuesday on this blog, and one part of the cocoa bean that I haven't addressed as far as tips go is the Cocoa Nib. I've posted recipes, of course, but today my Tuesday Tip is on What to Do with Cocoa Nibs. 

Cocoa Nibs are bits of fermented, dried, roasted and crushed cacao beans. Cocoa nibs are not chocolate pieces. They are roasted beans separated from their husks.  But, it's just chocolate in a different form--not sweet--since sugar isn't added. Nevertheless, they have a very unique chocolate taste. There are both raw and roasted cocoa nibs. They have different tastes, and I prefer roasted cocoa nibs. If you're going to buy cocoa nibs, go for organic, and definitely choose a chocolatier you like.

I use cocoa nibs in lots of ways, but my best advice is to use them sparingly until you get the hang of them. They're a bit bitter, and you won't want to overwhelm your dish. You'll soon figure out how many to put into your favorite foods. That being said, I use cocoa nibs in both savory and sweet dishes.

SAVORY

Add them to salads for some special crunch.

For an hors d'oeuvre, roll a log of goat cheese in crushed cacoa nibs.

Use as a crust on chicken.

Add them to chili.

Grind them up and use in your barbecue rub.

Add them to mole.

SWEET

Roll chocolate ganache truffles in chopped nibs in place of cocoa or nuts.

Add them to pancake batter.

Add them to granola or bake them into granola bars.

Mix into Greek yogurt (I add a little honey, too)

Throw them on your oatmeal.

Add them to smoothies.

Use them as sprinkles on cupcakes

Use them as sprinkles on ice cream.

Add them to brittle instead of nuts.

Use them instead of nuts or chocolate chips in Chocolate Chip Cookies. (see recipe below)

Add them instead of nuts in brownies.

Candy them with a caramel glaze.

Dip them in chocolate for another great snack.

OTHER

Add some to your coffee grinder for a special blend.

Eat some plain.

And here's a surprising use: Chew some as a Breath Freshener.

And, if all else fails, have some around and just smell them. The aroma is quite heady!

Chocolate Chip Cocoa Nib Cookies  
a variation on the traditional Toll House Cookie recipe

Ingredients:
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup sweet butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups dark chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate chunks)
3/4 cup chopped cocoa nibs

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375° F.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and cocoa nibs. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Dying for Chocolate Cupcakes: Krista Davis

Photo: Krista Davis

My mystery and chocolate worlds collide again. Today I welcome Krista Davis, author of the Domestic Diva Mystery series (Berkley Prime Crime).

Krista Davis's The Diva Runs Out of Thyme and The Diva Haunts the House were nominated for Agatha awards. Her most recent book, The Diva Digs Up the Dirt, joined The Diva Haunts the House in the honor of making the extended New York Times Bestseller List. The Diva Frosts a Cupcake will be released in June. Visit Krista at http://KristaDavis.com and at her blogs, MysteryLoversKitchen h and Killer Characters. Her novels include recipes and entertaining tips, as well as being fun mysteries! Thanks, Krista, for this fabulous recipe and mouth-watering photos!

KRISTA DAVIS: DYING FOR CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

My name is Krista, and I am a chocoholic. When Janet so very kindly asked me if I would provide a recipe for Dying for Chocolate -- I flipped. Just the excuse I needed to play with chocolate. I immediately thought of a triple chocolate mousse cake that I used to indulge in. Those who live near Arlington, Virginia might know of Pastries by Randolph. His cakes are heavenly and the triple chocolate mousse cake has long been my favorite.

So I tried a recipe for a torte with a layer of white chocolate mousse, another of milk chocolate mousse and one of dark chocolate mousse. It wasn’t worthy of Randolph but it came out fairly well. Or so I thought.

Two out of four tasters had complaints. One, a die-hard chocolate lover, even said she could do with just the white chocolate mousse! Clearly, I need to do some tweaking on that recipe, but without a house full of company to eat such a cake, well, I’m sure you see the problem.

So I turned my focus to cupcakes. My next Domestic Diva Mystery will be THE DIVA FROSTS A CUPCAKE, with loads of cupcake recipes. Have you noticed that cupcakes have gotten super fancy? It’s not enough to bake them and add frosting. Now they have to have fillings, too! Plus, I knew the Dying for Chocolate audience would be special. You’re chocoholics, like me. So I embarked on Double Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcakes with Raspberry Cream Filling and Raspberry Tinged Chocolate Frosting. Any recipe with a name that long deserves a special name, and since they were developed just for Dying for Chocolate, I’m calling them Dying for Chocolate Cupcakes.

If you’re not game for lots of steps, skip the raspberry cream. I decorated some with a raspberry (easy!), left some plain (easiest), and dotted some with Callebaut’s Dark Crispearls. If you haven’t tried the Crispearls yet, look for them. They’re terrific!

There’s good news and bad news about this recipe. The good news is that it freezes very well. Just slide the cooled cupcakes into a zip type freezer bag. I usually slide a sheet of waxed paper inside over top of them so they won’t stick to the bag. To thaw, simply remove from freezer to room temperature for 45 minutes or so. The bad news is that they’re actually pretty good frozen should you happen to have a middle-of-the-night chocolate crisis. I would recommend filling and frosting them after they have thawed. I did freeze some filled ones for about a week and the filling, while not as good as when fresh, wasn’t the soggy mess I expected.

Dying for Chocolate Cupcakes

Double Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcakes (makes 18 cupcakes)

16 hazelnuts
1 cup flour
1/4 cup high quality unsweetened powdered chocolate like Pensey’s
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate (1 square)
1/2 cup milk (I used nonfat)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 cup sugar
 2 eggs (room temperature)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400.

Place cupcake liners in cupcake pan.

Toast hazelnuts on a pan for about 4-5 minutes until fragrant. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate. When you take the hazelnuts out of the oven, reduce the heat to 350. Let the hazelnuts cool enough to handle, then rub off the skin. It’s okay if a little skin remains. Grind the hazelnuts fine.

Combine flour, hazelnuts, powdered chocolate, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and blend well with a small whisk or a fork.

Cream butter with sugar. Add each egg and beat well. Add the flour mixture in small amounts, alternating with the milk. Beat in the melted chocolate and then the vanilla. Beat to combine.

Divide between cupcake papers, filling each about 1/2 full. Bake 15 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Cream Filling

1/4 cup sweetened whipped cream
3 tablespoons defrosted frozen raspberries* (set aside the liquid for the frosting)

Mix the whipped cream with the raspberries. Cut a small divot out of the middle of each cupcake. Fill. Replace divot and frost.

Frosting

2 squares unsweetened chocolate
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
liquid from raspberries plus enough water to equal 1/4 cup
3 1/2 to 4 cups powdered sugar

Melt the chocolate with the butter. I do this in short bursts in the microwave. Add enough water to the reserved raspberry liquid to make 1/4 cup and heat. Mix the chocolate with the raspberry liquid. Beat in powdered sugar until the consistency is thick but not stiff, (about 3 ½ cups of the powdered sugar). Refrigerate about 15 minutes until it’s easier to handle and will keep its shape. Frost the cupcakes.

Photos: All photos c. Krista Davis

Retro Pudding Cupcakes in Chocolate Crusts

This Retro Ad from June 15, 1962 for No Bake Pudding "Cupcakes' in a Candy Crust was the spring board for a really delicious pudding cupcake. The Chocolate Crust recipe is simple and elegant, and to fill the cupcake shells, you can use your own recipe for Chocolate Pudding.  Or you can fill these Chocolate Cupcake Crusts with chocolate mousse or something else!

Chocolate Cupcake Crusts 
Makes 6-8 cupcakes

Melt 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate in small saucepan over low heat.
Spoon chocolate around sides and bottom of 6-8 paper baking cups.
Chill about 1/2 hour.
Peel paper cups from candy crusts before filling

National S'mores Day: S'mores Recipe Round-Up

S'mores Pops

Today is National S'mores Day, and there's a lot to celebrate! S'mores are made by sandwiching a toasted marshmallow and a piece of chocolate in between two graham crackers and heating the whole 'sandwich' over the campfire or grill.

The name S'mores (alternatively Smores) comes from the two words "some more," because everyone always want s'more. This American treat was developed by the Girl Scouts in the early part of the 20th century, making use of the newly mass-produced marshmallow. Marshmallows were easy to transport, as were candy bars and graham crackers, and the marshmallows could be toasted over a fire to make a fabulous campfire treat in a situation where other types of sweets would have been difficult to come by. Of course, the quality of the chocolate and marshmallow, and even the graham crackers (if you make your own) will vary, but S'mores aren't about haute cuisine, at least not in my house.

The true origin of the snack is unknown, as camping recipes were passed from family to family - often over the campfire itself. The  first printed record of the recipe was in 1927 in a girl scout manual "Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts".  Read more HERE.

The Original 1927 Girl Scout Recipe for S'mores

Some More:
8 sticks (for toasting the marshmallows)
16 graham crackers
8 bars plain chocolate (any of the good plain brands, broken in two)
16 marshmallows

Toast two marshmallows over the coals to a crisp gooey state and then put them inside a graham cracker and chocolate bar sandwich. The heat of the marshmallow between the halves of chocolate bar will melt the chocolate a bit. Though it tastes like "some more" one is really enough.

I have a Round-Up of S'mores Recipes at the end of this post, but I wanted to post another fun recipe. Maybe you've already tried this on your own. Let's face it, S'mores are pretty versatile!

One of the newest ballpark foods at AT&T Park (Go, Giants!) is the S'mores Sandwich. This ooey-gooey delight is an excellent way to eat your s'mores. Marshmallows and Ghirardelli chocolate are sandwiched between two pieces of fresh buttered bread and grilled. Yum! The closest I've been able to come up with a recipe to match this treat. I love using my Panini Press! Depending on the bread, chocolate and marshmallows, you'll have a lot of variety in this easy recipe! 

S'mores Panini 

Ingredients

Sweet butter, room temperature
4 slices sourdough (or buttermilk bread)
8  large marshmallows (or 1/2 cup marshmallow creme)
2 Tbsp. dark chocolate chips or 3 ounces dark chocolate, broken

Directions

Butter one side of the bread.
Place 2 slices on a plate, buttered side down.
Put 4 marshmallows on each piece of bread--(or divide marshmallow creme among bread slices, spreading evenly and leaving a 1-inch border).
Sprinkle chocolate chips or broken chocolate pieces over marshmallows, dividing equally (leave an inch margin if you can).
Cover with remaining bread, buttered side up, pressing slightly.
Preheat panini press to 375 degrees.
Put sandwiches on press; close press.
Cook sandwiches until golden brown and heated through, about 3 minutes.
Transfer to a work surface. Cool for 1 minute.
Cut in half and serve.

And in celebration of National S'mores Day, here's a Round-up of Recipes for S'mores that I've shared here on DyingforChocolate.com over the years. 

Traditional S'mores on the Grill

S'mores Brownies using a Brownie Mix

Brownie S'mores from Scratch

S'mores Cupcakes

Chocolate Chip Cookie S'mores (2 recipes)

Chewy S'mores Bar Cookies

S'mores Pie 

S'mores Ice Cream Sandwich

S'mores Ice Cream Pie

S'mores in the Microwave

Wacky Candy Bar S'Mores 

Peanut Butter S'mores  

S'mores on a Stick (S'mores Pops)

Want to drink your S'mores? 

Make a S'mores Martini! Two recipes

Novelty S'mores Recipe: 

S'mores Keyboard 

Girl Scout S'mores Merit Badges

Howard Johnson's Retro Ad

I remember long summertime car trips on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. We'd always stop at Howard Johnon's for ice cream.  This advertisement is from July 2, 1951. With 28 flavors, I find it fun that the cone in the ad is chocolate!