30 Chocolate Favorites from Me and My Friends

Like many of you I am in full production for Thursday’s festivities. The house is getting reorganized and cleaned, the shopping done and refrigerator packed. The turkey is being dry brined, the rest of the menu prepped for cooking all week, the table set and serving dishes set out and labeled. My favorite holiday is just four days away! 

Because I am running at top speed, I know you will forgive me a bit a reprieve this week from posting new recipes. I have gone to some of my favorite friend’s websites and collected a few of their most fun chocolate treats to share with you along with some of my own favorites.

If you haven’t heard of these food blogs, you are in for a wonderful time and if I were you, I would grab a cup of coffee and settle in for a while. Once you start reading these folk’s stories and recipes, you will be enchanted just like I am!

Let’s start with Irvin Lin, the author of Eat The Love. Irvin is a designer, font guru, extraordinary baker and heck of a great guy. He takes ordinary recipes and spins them into new and unusual combinations of flavors and textures. I am constantly impressed and inspired by his creations.

Dark Chocolate Sweet Potato Bread Pudding

Dark Chocolate, Butterscotch & Vanilla Bean Ombre Cake (GF)

Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake Bars with White Chocolate Vanilla Swirl

Next I would like to introduce you to Sabrina Modelle, author of The Tomato Tart. Fun, sassy, sweet and incredibly talented, Sabrina is a web designer in real life and a lovely lady baker and cook extraordinaire. And her photographs always have me wishing I could make whatever her latest creation is.

GF Brownies with Spicy Mexican Caramel

Chocolate Tart with Blood Orange Caramel (GF & Vegan)

S’Mores in a Jar with Homemade Bourbon Marshmallows (GF)

Up next we have Shulie Madnick of Food Wanderings. I had the pleasure of meeting Shulie for the first time in person this September at IFBC in Seattle. She is absolutely delightful and even more fun in person than her online persona. The only thing better than her recipes are her photographs, always stunning!

Chocolate, Chocolate Chip ‘Sable’ Cookies

Coconut-Meringue Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Yeast Cake and Roulade

Another wonderful person I got to meet at IFBC (see, you need to go next year!!) is Robin Ove, the author of What About the Food? Robin lives in Santa Cruz, one of my favorite places on the California coast just South of San Francisco. She should be a professional photographer – take one look at the shots of her food and you will be drooling. And her recipes are just as perfect!

Coconut Porter Chocolate Cake with Toasted Coconut Frosting

Tiramisu Cheesecake with Mocha Ganache

Best Brownie Sundae with Irish Whiskey Caramel Sauce

I have followed Cathy Pollak’s blog, Noble Pig for years and got the chance to meet her at BlogHer Food in Austin this June. I also had the opportunity to taste her family’s incredible wines – Oh My they are delicious! Cathy is one of the most creative mom’s, constantly coming up with inspired ways to feed her family and thankfully sharing all of her inventions with us.

Reese’s Chocolate-Oatmeal-Cake Batter Cookies

Coconut Milk-Nutella Swirl Bread

Six Minute Chocolate Cake with Chocolate-Balsamic Glaze

If you love words and the people who can spin them into stories, you are going to fall immediately in love with Annelies Zijderveld’s The Food Poet. With the first sentence she captures me and holds my attention (quite an achievement) right to the end. I love the way she tells a story and weaves her recipes into them. I dream of being that talented one day!

Stumptown Coffee Bean Chocolate Bark

Rocky Road Popsicles

Peppermint Chocolate Rochers

Another of my talented friends is Jeanette Chen of Jeanette’s Healthy Kitchen. We met at the IACP conference in New York and she is absolutely delightful. Jeanette learned to adapt her favorite recipes to accommodate her family’s dietary restrictions and found a whole new career. She now helps others with dietary issues, creating delicious and healthy meals all of us can enjoy.

Chocolate Mousse with Pomegranate Gelee

GF Peanut Butter Cookies with Dark Chocolate Drizzle (Vegan)

Dark Chocolate Almond Cranberry Trail Mix

 

Rhonda Adkins of The Kitchen Witch is an accomplished photographer who helped me out while I was traveling by writing an article for me and creating a beautiful Chocolate Monday recipe – still one of my favorites of all time! Rhonda was standing behind me at an IACP session and we met in person. We instantly clicked and had a chance to spend more time together before she headed back home to Montana. I would love to climb on the back of her motorcycle and see the country through her eyes. Make sure you check out her delightful recipes and stunning photography!

Chocolate Candy Cane Pie

Nutella-Stuffed French Toast

Cocoa-Covered Tiramisu

I am incredibly grateful to the food industry for giving me multiple opportunities to meet these incredible people in person. Some who live near me, and others I keep in touch with online. If there is one common thread going through today’s post it is the value of attending food conferences and meeting truly amazing people. I constantly learn from them, am inspired by their creativity, and follow their ascending careers with joy.

Enjoy your holiday week and the time spent with each of these incredibly talented writers. I am thrilled to have this opportunity to introduce you to them and share some of my favorite recipes from their collections.

Have a wonderful time this week and enjoy your family celebrations!

Here are the links to my favorite recipes pictured above. All my recipes have gluten-free options.

Homemade Snickers Bars

Chocolate Brownie Bourbon Gelato

Mini Baked Chocolate Cake Donuts

Chocolate Mocha Tart with Kahlua Mascarpone Cream

Boston Cream Pie

Double Chocolate Bourbon Milkshakes

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