A few weeks ago I got a private tour of the TCHO in Berkeley with a few other bloggers. A Saturday afternoon filled with chocolate and good food? How do you say no to that? While the other bloggers were busy being chocolate paparazzi, I was listening intently, hair net and all…. learning about chocolate from the ground up. It’s not everyday that you get invited to tour one of your favorite local chocolate makers to see how their chocolate is made. One of the things that sets TCHO apart is that they partner directly with their growers in order to produce the highest quality product.
They provide the tools and training to improve the farmer’s skill set, so they can produce better beans, charge higher prices, and consequently better provide for their families and communities.
You can read more about that here. It’s as fascinating as it is inspiring. Their chocolate is exceptional and you can see why!
I left with an array of their new chocolate line- My favorites oscillate between Hazelnut Chunk, Toffee + Sea Salt & Almond+ Sea Salt. As you can tell I like the combination of nuts, salt and chocolate.
It was raining on Saturday and we had a play date scheduled, so I decided to start the evening off with an indoor s’mores party. You know…. get all the kids hopped up on sugar at 3PM so they can burn it off/eat dinner and then go to sleep at a reasonable hour so us parents can binge watch TV with bourbon after the play date is over 🙂
The best part? Trying all the different flavors together and making fun concoctions. I mean…have you ever had Coconut Crisp chocolate in a s’more WITH toasted coconut & bananas? You really should. I’m thinking that the Mint Chocolate Chip Gelato would be amazing with a toasted marshmallow…sandwiched between two chocolate wafer cookies. Just saying!
Let’s get our ingredients together:
What’s involved:
Unwrap your chocolate.
I wanted people to be able to tell the difference between chocolates.
So, I cut out the wrappers (which are beautifully- I love the polka dots!) and put them alongside the chocolate.
We assemble.
Two squares is the perfect amount for your standard graham cracker.
One fun fact I learned on the tour: The “guilloche” pattern in TCHO chocolate is meant to evoke designs of paper currency from around the world, because the ancient Aztecs and Mayans actually used cocoa AS CURRENCY.
OK. Let’s talk about this toasted marshmallow part.
There are a few different ways that you can do this if you don’t have a campfire.
Oven toasted-
Pop in the oven at 350F for about 6-8 minutes, or until marshmallows get nicely browned.
I put the marshmallows on top of the graham so I don’t have to deal with moving them.
If you did this with the Broiler on, you have to make sure you don’t burn the cookie part.
Or we can go the torch route! This is my preferred method.
Fire is fun.
Other ways to do it:
- Toaster Oven
- Gas Stove + skewer
- Flame of a candle + skewer
Let’s top it off!
Next time I might go crazy and add bacon….
Smoosh!
Let’s see what my friend Annie thinks of our s’mores party…
TRUE LOVE. Cooper and Henry were too busy running around with chocolate on their hands for me to get a pic. BOYS. Chocolate! Ugh!
Hope this inspires you to take your regular s’mores up a few notches.
Add fun flavor to traditional s’mores WITH your chocolate.
Why wait until Summer to have s’mores when you can have a little party in your kitchen when it’s raining cats & dogs outside?!?
This post was produced in partnership with TCHO Chocolate. As always, all opinions are my own.
