Sunday Scribblings: Deepest, Darkest....

When I hear the words "Deepest, Darkest...." , I can only think of one thing: chocolate! My whole family loves chocolate, and my husband is a confirmed chocoholic, especially dark chocolate (or plain chocolate as they say in England). And with all these studies touting the benefits of the antioxidants in dark chocolate, his chocolate fix has become almost a guilt-free pleasure. At least the way he eats it is ok: just one square of deep, silky dark chocolate per day. Just a 1/2 inch square. I don't know how he does it, I can't stop till I eat the whole bar.

Anyway, just for fun, I thought I'd share with everyone some of our family's favorite chocolate treats. Before I start, it must be noted that we are not gourmet chocolate connoisseurs. No doubt serious critics would laugh at this list; it's just the stuff we find the yummiest.

Also, our experience is mainly limited to US and English chocolates. Unfortunately we don't have the opportunity to sample Belgian, Dutch, Swiss or other European chocolate very often, so we can barely recall their names, much less rate them. (But we have eaten enough to say that Europeans and English take the business of chocolate a lot more seriously than the US). OK, on to the deep, dark stuff...

Presenting the Bongga Awards for Best Chocolate:

Best all-around chocolate maker: Cadbury's chocolate -- but it must be genuine English chocolate because Cadbury's chocolate made in the US actually wins our award for worst chocolate!

Best drugstore chocolate candy: There are so many, it's hard to say!!! It would have to be a tie between Cadbury's Turkish Delight, Nestle Aero, Galaxy, Ritter Sport dark chocolate hazelnut, and of course, good ol' Twix! Honorable mention goes to Trader Joe's for making a great economy sized and priced slab of chocolate.

Best chocolate ice cream: Haagen Dazs. Runner-up, Dreyer's.

Best chocolate truffle: Champagne truffles and port truffles from Anette's chocolates . Runner-up, Champagne truffles from Joseph Schmidt.

Best chocolate baked treat: Mrs. Fields (or any moist, chewy) chocolate chip cookie. Runners-up, any chocolate-covered biscuit such as McVitie's plain chocolate Digestives, plain chocolate Hobnobs, or Cadbury's fingers (again, it must be genuine English Cadbury's!).

Best guilt-free chocolate treat: Melted strawberries dipped in dark chocolate. Runners-up, Jello sugar-free chocolate pudding or sugar-free/ fat-free Fudgsicle pops.

Mmmm.... all this talk of chocolate has made me want to drive over to the nearest British foods store! So tell me, what's your favorite deep, dark chocolate indulgence?



For more things deep and dark, click here.