Chocolate, Cookies and a Few Kisses

I’m popping in to quickly visit Valentine’s Day with a few vegan chocolate ideas...but I won’t be staying long.

Feb 10, 2023

A plate of vegan chocolate chip cookies - Photo by Jack McNulty

February 14^th is typically just another day in my life, and chocolate is an ingredient I rarely put in my mouth anymore.

I grew tired of Valentine’s Day a long time ago, which probably began during my shy teenage years and blossomed into a permanent divorce while living in Berkeley, California, and embracing all things counterculture...including corporate-birthed special occasions. Valentine’s Day simply didn’t have an appeal. It felt like a giant popularity contest, and I never liked how I felt when the results came in – it became a spotlight on my fragile self-esteem. I finally felt free from the burden of participation once I ignored February 14^th.

My chocolate journey was different.

Chocolate was a mystery to me early in my life. I knew I liked it – who didn’t? But like most people, I didn’t know much about chocolate apart from what I learned from commercials. I felt satisfied living in chocolate ignorance. After all, did I really need to know the melting points of the 10 fatty acids typically found in chocolate?

That all changed when I unplugged from the customary American life I was leading and enrolled in culinary school. Suddenly, I started to appreciate chocolate on an entirely different level...and yes, understanding those melting points helped me create chocolate with a shiny exterior and snappy consistency...and that was a coolness vibe I embraced.

Learning to master chocolate became an exclamation point in my immature chef life – a skill I could demonstrate to others that would create a kind of wow moment. It fed me. It defined me. It gave me purpose. Making and sharing my chocolate creations allowed my ego-driven sensation to swell.

And then I grew tired of all things chocolate.

Spending all day melting chocolate...tempering chocolate...dipping chocolate...forming chocolate into a multitude of geometric configurations...baking chocolate cakes and cookies...making chocolate mousse...well...the air eventually became chocolate, and that was a step too far for me.

Chocolate was no longer a mystery. I exposed the hidden secrets of chocolate, and it transformed rapidly into a burden...something forced upon me. It felt commercial. It felt similar to celebrating misguided love on Valentine’s Day.

So, I stopped all things chocolate.

Love and Chocolate

My feelings of love for anything behave strangely once they enter my veins. I’ve found that those things I love never really leave...they just wait patiently for my ego to stop trying to manipulate them. And when that happens, there’s a sort of purity left behind...a love that is immune to any outside influence and left free to grow and define a more honest version of who I am...and what I love.

Offering a slice of anything chocolatey to my small corner of the vegan world feels more authentic these days. I feel a genuine love when I head into my test kitchen to work on my latest iteration of brownies...or chocolate chip cookies. I look forward to getting the right ingredients and amounts worked out so someone on the other side of the world can explore the recipe on their terms...and perhaps feel a sense of satisfaction in creating a simple cookie...or brownie...to share with someone special. To vicariously feel that sense of joy... possibly love... at that precise moment – well, that is all I need and why I offer a bit of chocolate...brownies...and a few kisses.

This Week’s Recipes…

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Vegan Fudge Brownies

The moment I realized I had turned into a brownie snob was the first time I saw a vegan brownie recipe made with black beans. I recall a deep sense of skepticism brewing inside of me, but at the same time, I was intrigued. I made a batch. Predictably, I was disappointed with the results.

I studied chocolate in Switzerland…and even produced chocolate for a time. Brownies were always part of my offering, and I made some insanely delicious and moist fudge brownies.

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Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

I will freely admit I have a weakness for a good cookie…and a well-executed chocolate chip cookie rises to the top of my list of foods I crave but wish I didn’t.

I was eventually faced with an important decision after giving up consumption of all dairy products many years ago…either give up chocolate chip cookies or figure out how to make them completely vegan… without using coconut oil, vegan butter or any other high-saturated fat butter replacement. I guess you can tell by now that I figured out how to make a delicious vegan chocolate chip cookie.

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Baci di Dama

Baci di dama translates into lady’s kisses, probably because they resemble two lips coming together to form a kiss – or at least that’s my imagination as to what an Italian man from the 1800s must have imagined.

I first encountered these little hazelnut shortbread delights while working and studying Italian food near Alba in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy. I was lucky enough to learn many little confectionary delights from Ugo Alciati, who was considered one of Italy's premier chefs at that time (ca. 1999).

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