Chocolate "With" Stuff

DCD came out with a new mix for fall: Gingerbread Mix with chocolate chips in it and a little packet of vanilla sugar in which one rolls the cookies before baking. Mind you, they introduced this product at our conference in August, and to say I considered that particular moment anticlimactic doesn't come close. I don't get excited about gingerbread. I once made a gingerbread house (notice I said once) and discovered that the reason we make candy-covered mini dwellings from gingerbread (as opposed to shortbread, sugar cookies, or something chocolate) is that the house has better-than-average odds at NOT being consumed. Gingerbread is yukky.

...Or so I thought.

Fast forward to Monday night last, when I decided to venture into gingerbread territory with my little box o' mix and the other required ingredients (including molasses, which I think partly accounts for my low heretofore low opinion of gingerbread). I mixed the dough as instructed, and as is my custom, tasted a wee bit. Not impressed. Even when I tasted a bit with a chocolate chip in it, I think I still said something like "meh." Having come this far, though, I soldiered on. I scooped the dough into balls and rolled them in the vanilla sugar. I put them in the oven to bake and remembered that I do appreciate the smell of gingerbread, just not its deceptively bitter taste and cardboard texture.

I took them out of the oven amid much fanfare (kids don't usually seem to care what kind of cookies are baking; they'll gather 'round the kitchen regardless) and waited for them to cool a little bit before I tasted them. I cut one into quarters to check out the inside, then popped a quarter of a cookie in my mouth.

Wow. These little suckers are actually good! I'll admit that I hoped they'd be good, I just didn't go so far as to expect it. I don't know why; I should know by now that DCD just makes yummy stuff. The kids liked them too, and even my non-gingerbread-fan husband (whose arm I had to twist before he'd even try one) said they were good - "not something I'd go out of my way to get, but good." Can you believe it? I liked them even more the next day (after the flavors had all made friends with each other), and just about came unglued when I dipped one into some Spiced Chai Dip. Oooooh.

Who knew? Chocolate and gingerbread actually taste good together. This got me thinking about why they taste good together and what other things go well with chocolate. I started compiling a mental list, and decided I may as well make it a literal one:

• Caramel and pecans (I usually refer to this combination as "the Holy Trinity," hence its prominent placement on the list)
• "Just plain" caramel
• Peanut butter
• Strawberries
• All kinds of nuts: almonds, cashews, walnuts, macadamias, hazelnuts, pistachios...
• Bananas
• Marshmallows
• Pretzels
• Raspberries
• Coffee (Oooh! Coffee!)
• Red wine
• Milk
• Gingerbread (but it has to be soft and rolled in vanilla sugar!)
• Popcorn
• Graham crackers
• Vanilla Wafers, shortbread cookies, etc.
• Cinnamon
• Blueberries
• Cranberries

I know the list goes on and on...no wonder I love chocolate. It's so versatile! It's like that pair of very comfy shoes that go with everything you own - even the gingerbread outfit you never wear. What else? Leave comments and tell me what else YOU love with chocolate!

And a little side note: to date, I've lost 33 pounds - and I still eat a little bit of chocolate every day...