Finding Chocolate & Peanut Butter on/near Long Beach Island - Part Deux
August 17, 2008
Go ahead, call me immature for posting this photo. It looks like she’s analyzing some dog’s unhealthy excrement and it makes me giggle like a 10 year old boy. She’s really making some almond brittle and I had some - it was quite good. But more on treats from The Chocolate Fair in a minute…
Topic #1: Chocolate Chunk Cookie from Chocolate Bar In my last post I said I’d write about that Chocolate Chunk Cookie from Chocolate Bar. It was a good cookie, though I’m not sure it deserves raves. It was soft, but not too soft and had a nice texture that was denser than your average chocolate chip cookie (since the dough had peanut butter in it) but not too dense.
I immediately tasted a bit of an odd flavor on the first bite and motioned to hand the cookie to Taste Tester to try and figure out what it was. Just as he was about to grab it I pulled it away (this was really mean, I know but I had my reasons!) because I realized that the flavor must be sesame seeds or tahini and he can’t eat sesame seeds. Phew! I didn’t get to confirm my suspicion before we left, but I’m fairly convinced.
The reason I said it was good but didn’t deserve raves is that the sesame flavor was really powerful and while it gave the cookie a different flavor than your average peanut butter cookie, I ordered a peanut butter cookie, not a sesame one. It just didn’t quite have what I was looking for, and after the great Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treat we devoured, I expected better.
Topic #2: Chocolate Fair Thursday was the Chocolate Fair at the Long Island Beach Museum. We had absolutely no idea of what to expect from this fair. Was it going to be some kind of chocolate exhibit? Were local businesses going to be selling goodies there?
When we walked up to the door we each received 10 tickets when we paid our $10 admission fee. The room was set up in a loop that you walk all around, exchanging tickets for homemade treats. I’m pretty sure it was an event intended for kids, but that wasn’t going to stop me.
Just about everything was homemade except for some Snickers Eggs and Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie Ice Cream. It was essentially like a giant bake sale, and who doesn’t love those?
There were a couple of businesses there including Ben and Jerry’s and Country Kettle Fudge. I didn’t get a good shot of it, but there was a guy stirring the fudge that was in that big barrel in the back of the photo, which he then poured into the pans in the foreground.
The fudge was (obviously) very fresh. Other fudge I’ve had in recent memory had that unpleasant over-sugared flavor. This fudge was sweet but not in that offensive way - it had really harmonious flavor and texture of caramel, while still being real chocolatey. Mmm.
The only chocolate peanut butter item on our tray of goodies (besides the Snickers) were the little Hershey Kiss cookies. Despite the lack in the presence of peanut butter (which was acceptable since this was a chocolate fair after all, not a peanut butter fair - though that would be awesome!) we still left with satisfied sweet tooths.
This delicious experience was a little nostalgic and made me yearn for the days of middle school bake sales. I have the fondest memories of those tables filled with cake upon cupcake upon cookie. So I think the lesson learned here is that the next time you get the opportunity to attend a bake sale, go get in line! And hopefully there will be some homemade chocolate peanut butter treats there waiting for you!
Incase you are contributing to a bake sale sometime soon, here are some fun recipes from Martha Stewart for “Bake Sale Cookie” Cupcakes including these adorable Peanut Butter Cookie Cupcakes.