milk chocolate

Florentine cookies make excellent gifts. Wrapped in plastic baggies and tied with a festive ribbon, who could deny such a tasty treat? Despite their name — which hints at an Italian heritage — florentines were originally created by Austrian bakers. These flat cookies are wonderful alone, but taste even better with chocolate sandwiched between two layers. If you prefer dark chocolate over milk, use that instead. For this scrumptious recipe, read more

On June 5, 1883 the Horlick's company developed the process to dehydrate milk - they mixed it with some malted barley and voila! malted milk was born. Although it was originally intended for babies (as an early version of formula), malt powder became a cornerstone in American culture. In honor of the Horlicks' creation, I thought I'd dig up a great recipe for a simple malted milk. However, my search resulted in something better: A recipe for milk chocolate-malt brownies! I don't know about you guys, but I'm mixing these up tonight! To check out the recipe, read more

Are you a little bummed because you would love to get the benefits of chocolate but you just don't dig the bitter taste of dark chocolate? Fret no more...

We have all been told the darker the better the chocolate when it comes to heart health. The truth is it's really not about dark vs. milk chocolate. Heart health benefits are not totally related to type of chocolate, it's the amount of cocoa flavanols that counts, and that's determined by how the cocoa is processed. The makers of CocoaVia ($4.99/5 pack) chocolate bars guarantee high flavanol levels through their patented process. Additionally, CocoaVia contains plant sterols which are proven to lower LDL (bad) cholesterol. The best part? The choice is yours: dark chocolate or milk chocolate. Whichever taste you prefer -- They're all yummy and you get the same benefits and with only 110 calories per bar, you won't be breaking your diet either.

Look for CocoaVia in grocery and drug stores near you or buy directly online from Walgreens.com.

You're working on your latest baking project and you've headed to the baking aisle to pick up all of your ingredients. You look at the chocolates and see semisweet, bittersweet, milk, white, unsweetened. The choices can be overwhelming, but what's the difference? Is bittersweet sweeter than semisweet? Is white chocolate even chocolate? How can chocolate be unsweetened? If any of these questions have ever crossed your mind, you're not alone. To check out my mini-chocolate primer, read more