Thursday 11 November 2010

American chocolate:a disgrace to the world


Today I got attacked by potcakes as I cycled home from work. Potcakes are the name given to mixed breed dogs down here in the Caribbean, they are usually kept outside and are trained up to be watch dogs over peoples homes. However the neighbourhood I work in, the potcakes roam the streets and the Kids that live there have trained them to chase after cars, bikes and people. So tonight a group of kids set their gang of pot cakes on me, they chased me biting at my heels and getting some good scratches in too. I ended up out cycling them in the end, but as I turned the corner two more potcakes emerged from a different house and started sprinting towards me so I stopped where I was, burst into tears and ended up getting my husband to come and pick me up!

So how do you recover from a potcake attack? by making some delicious Snickers Rocky Road! This is one of my favorite treats to make, but unfortunately it wasn't as good as it is when I make it back in the U.K and the reason for that is because of the chocolate I used! The title of this blog post is a direct quote courtesy of my husband...there is no chocolate here that even comes close to the tastiness of chocolate back home, it's definitely one of the things I miss the most! I guess on the upside it's helped me kick my daily chocolate fix, back in the U.K I had to eat chocolate every day but here I don't even get tempted because the chocolate just doesn't taste good! What's strange is even chocolate bars that we have back in the U.K like snickers and twix taste bad here! But luckily it's less than 4 weeks until my sister comes to visit and I know she's going to cram her suitcase with English chocolate for me...hooray! Don't get me wrong...I don't wish to offend any Americans, in fact if you follow my blog then you should know I am America obsessed and just love that country...in my opinion most things are bigger and better in the U.S! Most of my fave desserts and restaurants originate in the U.S but that's what surprises me most about the poor effort for chocolate they put forward! If indeed there are some amazingly delicious chocolates I have missed out on then feel free to tell me about them and I will gladly try and track some down to prove myself wrong!

So back to the rocky road, luckily the white chocolate drizzle on top saved the day because it was a bar I had brought over with me from England.  I melted it down and when I was finished with what I needed I didn't just lick the bowl it was in, I devoured it! Chocolate has never tasted so good!


If you want to make Snickers Rocky Road here is the recipe, it is super simple:

400g Milk chocolate for eating (Dairy Milk if in the U.K is what I usually use)
2 tsp Vegetable Oil
1 cup Rice Krispies
150g Chopped Marshmallows
4 x Snickers (chopped up)

1. Melt the chocolate over the hob or in the microwave
2. Add the vegetable oil
3. Chop up marshmallows and Snickers into bite size pieces
4. Add those and Rice Krispies into the bowl of melted chocolate
5. Pour into dish and refrigerate for 1 hour
6. Cut into pieces...and devour!

If you fancy turning this Rocky Road Delight into cupcakes you can see how I did it here: a chocolate cupcake with a peanut and caramel filling, topped with pink marshmallow frosting and topped off with a mini piece of Snickers Rocky Road (or not so mini in my case!)

7 comments:

  1. Yum how good does that look? I'd love to get my teeth into that!

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  2. I hope you're not trying to melt a Hershey bar and use it! You should really use a baking chocolate since they will be more likely to have more cocoa (and flavor). They might not have much in the Caribbean but maybe try Ghirardelli or Green & Black's?

    You shouldn't be baking with Dairy Milk either! That stuff is pretty awful too. You probably don't need chocolate that sweet for baking.

    I haven't compared the taste of Twix's but they either make them to local "tastes" or if anything is made in the Caribbean it is probably made with a formula where the chocolate doesn't melt as easily (When I lived in India Cadbury's made it that way and it tasted a little waxy but no shops have AC so it stops them from being all gross and melted).

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  3. I feel like I may not know chocolate at all. All I've ever known is American chocolate!

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  4. I'm not looking forward to meeting the potcakes! sounds terrifying ! that would be my worst nightmare what happened to you! The snickers rocky road looks delicious - don't worry I'll be coming soon laden down with all kinds of goodies :) xxxx

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  5. Whenever anyone from my office goes to the States they always bring back Hershey's kisses - even though they know people here don't like them. All the other treats go the first day, but the Hershey's chocolate will stick around for at least a week.

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  6. Hi there! I'm American, and I agree, most American chocolate is crap! BUT, it's getting better over here. Just as it took a while for brewery's to catch on an make good micro-brews, wonderful chocolate is catching on too. If you can find it, try E. Guittard-that's one of my favorites for baking and Scharfen Berger is also very good, but I prefer Guittard. I had a British friend who likened the taste of Hershey's to vomit-I couldn't agree more!

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  7. I agree with you about American chocolate and I am a huge fan of most things American. European chocolate is much better. Your rocky road still looks good :)

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