3 Decadent Chocolate Recipes to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth

For a city known for coffee, Seattle’s got a surprisingly sweet side. Make the most of it by trying out these three recipes, courtesy of Fremont’s Theo Chocolate. Here are three delicious recipes from Theo Chocolate: Recipes & Sweet Secrets From Seattle’s Favorite Chocolate Maker.

Dark chocolate stout Bundt cake

Beer’s generally low alcohol content makes it very flavor-forward, and craft brewing tends to highlight the ingredients even more intensely.

Stouts and porters are thick, dark beers with flavor notes tending toward sweet roasted coffee, chocolate and cola, which make them tempting to incorporate into baking. And we’re pros at giving in to temptation at Theo, especially if we think it will taste good! Tender and moist, this cake is very, very chocolaty and not overly sweet.

When you take a bite, the beer’s malty, roasted flavor comes through at the start, and then the chocolate takes over. Although you only need one cup of beer for the cake, before you drink the rest of the bottle, please note that you’ll need to save two tablespoons for the glaze.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup (3/4 ounce) plus 
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder, divided
• 2 cups (9 ounces) plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
• 1 cup stout, chocolate stout or porter beer
• 6 ounces Theo 85 percent dark chocolate, chopped
• 2 cups packed (14 ounces) light brown sugar
• 1 (8-ounce) container sour cream
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons baking soda 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

For the glaze:

• 5 ounces Theo 45 percent milk chocolate
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons stout, chocolate stout or porter beer
• Generous 1 teaspoon honey
• 1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter

How to make it:

Makes one 10-inch Bundt cake

• To make the cake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a small bowl, stir together 1 tablespoon of the cocoa powder and 1 tablespoon of the flour. Lightly coat the inside of a 12-cup Bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray, then dust with the cocoa mixture. Tap the pan upside down to remove the excess and set it aside.
• In a medium saucepan, combine the remaining 1/4 cup cocoa powder, the beer and chocolate, and whisk gently over medium heat until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove the pan from the heat, then whisk in the brown sugar, sour cream, eggs, vegetable oil and vanilla, one ingredient at a time.
• Sift the remaining 2 cups flour, the baking soda, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add the liquid ingredients and whisk well to blend. Make sure there are no lumps.
• Pour the batter (it will be very liquid) into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 45 minutes.
• Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn it out of the pan onto the wire rack and let it cool completely before glazing.
• To make the glaze, put the chocolate, cream, beer and honey in a double boiler. When the chocolate starts to melt, whisk the mixture until it’s perfectly smooth. Remove the glaze from the heat and whisk in the butter. Let the glaze cool slightly at room temperature until it begins to thicken, whisking it occasionally. When it’s thick enough to leave a trail when you lift the whisk, slowly pour it over the cake, letting it run down the sides in an aesthetically pleasing way. When the glaze has stopped dripping, transfer the cake to a serving plate. 
   

Mackles’mores

This cookie was created by Robin Wehl Martin, owner of Hello Robin, to honor Seattleite Macklemore, the rapping half of musical artists Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Martin’s little cookie shop on Seattle’s Capitol Hill is the kind of place every neighborhood should have. It’s a really happy place, bursting with warmth and personality, and a constant stream of decadent treats like this one coming out of the oven. Martin tops these cookies with half a square of Theo chocolate, but feel free to use a whole square.

Ingredients

• 2 and 3/4 cups (12 and 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 cup (1 and 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 cup packed (7 ounces) light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (3 and 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 ounces Theo 70 percent dark chocolate, cut into chunks
• 1 cup packed mini marshmallows
• 36 store-bought graham crackers
• 7 and 1/2 ounces Theo 45 percent milk chocolate, each square of chocolate halved

How to make them:

Makes 3 dozen cookies

• Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt, and set the bowl aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and both sugars on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing on medium speed for 15 seconds after each addition. Add the vanilla and mix until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Fold in the dark chocolate chunks and marshmallows.
• Using a medium cookie scoop (about 1 tablespoon), scoop the dough into balls, and put them close together on one of the prepared baking sheets. Freeze the dough for at least 1 hour.
• When you’re almost ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and put the graham crackers side by side on the second prepared baking sheet.
• When the dough is frozen and the oven is hot, put 1 ball of cookie dough on each graham cracker, and bake until puffed and just turning golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and immediately press 1 piece of milk chocolate onto each hot cookie. Be sure to really press the chocolate into the soft cookie so when it melts, it puddles on the cookie and doesn’t run off. (For an extra-rich cookie, you can use a whole square of chocolate.)
• Try to let the cookies cool for a few minutes before you eat them. They’re just about as messy to eat as a real fireside s’more!

Roasted baby carrots with balsamic-bitter-chocolate syrup

Ingredients

• 3 pounds baby carrots (about finger-width thick), green tops trimmed to about 1 inch
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 5 or 6 (4-inch) sprigs of fresh thyme

For the syrup:

• 1/2 cup aged balsamic vinegar (5- or 10-year aged is fine)
• 1/2 ounce Theo 85 percent dark chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon honey
• Generous pinch kosher salt

Real baby carrots, the kind with lacy green tops and delicate peel (as opposed to the factory-shaped cylindrical ones that come in a bag), are tender and sweet and practically worth the trip to the farmers’ market just for them alone. They’re so delicious they don’t really need anything at all.

But hey, sometimes we like to gild the lily, and as much as we honor the perfection that is the real baby carrot, this surprisingly simple syrup steals the show here, elevating an already perfect vegetable into an elegant, dramatic, delectable side dish.

The syrup goes equally well with roasted beets, and it’s also sublime drizzled over a well-seasoned grilled steak. Let your imagination run wild with this sauce — it will enliven a wide range of dishes.

How to make them:

Makes 6 to 8 side-dish servings

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Put the carrots on a sheet pan, drizzle them with the olive oil and spread them in a single layer.
• Sprinkle the salt evenly over the carrots, and lay the thyme sprigs on top. Roast until the carrots are tender and brown in spots, shaking the pan and turning once or twice about 35 minutes total.
• While the carrots are cooking, make the syrup. Put the vinegar in the smallest saucepan you have and simmer over medium-low heat until reduced to one-quarter cup. Remove the pan from the heat and add the chocolate. Let the chocolate melt for 30 seconds, then use a small spatula to gently stir the syrup until the chocolate has melted completely and the syrup is smooth. Add the honey and salt and mix well. Cover the pan to keep the sauce warm until you’re ready to serve the carrots.
• To serve, discard the thyme and arrange the carrots on a serving dish. Drizzle them generously with the syrup, and serve immediately.