A Suitcase Full of Nibs: The Sugar High Friday #29 Recipes

In the internationally-recognized, Latin-infused spirit of mañana, I am posting my Sugar High Friday roundup on Saturday.

Cacao nibs are everywhere. I traveled around the US this month with a bag of them, which burst. Since I haven't gotten around to unpacking yet, there's a suitcase full of unfolded clothing and scattered nibs in the middle of my living room. But I was able to parlay some of the contents into my Border Patrol Trail Mix. Over twenty other bloggers joined me this month, accepting my invitation to play with unprocessed cacao.

Jessica of Su Good Eats in New York pulverized her nibs to make a sultry Hot Cacao drink.

Bittersweet's savvy San Francisco-based chocolate entrepreneur Seneca came up with a chocolate drink of his own, the wacky Gulf Coast Mocha.

And Carolyn of 18thC Cuisine, off the shores of Lake Huron, mixed her nibs with vanilla and came up with Eau de Chocolat.

Eliza, who regularly shares Notes from My Food Diary in Oregon, found Banana Nibby Bread to be terrific.

Amusing Bouche's Krys in Brooklyn found some crunch with PeanutNib Brittle.

Another New Yorker, Samantha of InfraredHerring is involved in an Ongoing Love Affair with Alice Medrich, which lead her to some pistachio and cocoa nib cookies.

Pro-baker Monica from the Gilded Fork (now a New Yorker too) made her own batch of nib-studded Chocolate Chip Cookies.

British food bloggers Paul and Freya devised cacao nib cookies and ambrosia-like nib truffles while Writing at the Kitchen Table.

Jeremy, the Roasting Rambler from Ames, Iowa, turned out a Raw Nib Panna Cotta. [Substitute "Cocoa" for "Coca" in the recipe title, unless you want to use this dessert for an exceptionally uplifting experience.]

Anita from Dessert First in San Francisco worked her way through some Nibby Cookies.

Ohio-based Becke of Columbus Foodie invented the Cacao Nib Ice Cream Sandwich.

Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything in Melbourne made Meringue Kisses with Roasted Cocoa Nibs, with ingredients supplied by the Australian chocolate activists at Tava.

Helen of Tartelette in Charleston channeled her southern hospitality into Cocoa Nib Pavlovas.

Brilynn of the Canadian blog Jumbo Empanadas drizzled a few nibs over her tiramisu and declared You Can Pick Me Up Anytime!

No one took up the charge of extracting the pulp from a just-picked cacao pod or pressing the butter out of a sack of beans, but a few bold bloggers took on raw cacao in other forms. Ulrike of Küchenlatein in Kronshagen, Germany, gave her recipe a dab of powder. She compared treated and untreated cocoa and came up with a hearty Homemade Chocolate Pudding.

Industrious Portland blogger Michelle of Je Mange la Ville used ingredients on hand to adapt a recipe for Meyer Lemon and Thyme Truffles.

Devra of Puu's Cookbook in Washington, DC, struggled with her oven but used her borrowing privileges at the Library of Congress to uncover a Chocolate Macaroon recipe. She used the nonalkalized cocoa powder from my favorite chocolate maker, Scharffen Berger.

Novice cacao-user Jessica of Small Time Cooks in Fort Worth loaded herself up with the powdery stuff and test drove Dorie Greenspan's recipe for Chocolate Biscotti.

And then there were the real beans. Canadian Jasmine, in her Confessions of a Cardamom Addict, reveals how she whisked home-grown cacao beans into her Bread Pudding for My Mummy.

Alanna of A Veggie Venture in St Louis also started with the whole bean. She ground some Salvadoran cacao into a homemade powder for her Chocolate Sauerkraut Cupcakes.

And though Eva of the Golden Shrimp could never locate cacao nibs in Basel, she did something very clever with the handful of whole roasted beans she Finally Found.

Thanks:
Jennifer, the Domestic Goddess and founder of Sugar High Friday, deserves a special mention for her Chocolate Crepes. She added a healthy dose of cocoa powder to a recipe that she admits once had a food-poisoning-like result. This time, the Toronto-based food blogger served the crepes to her in-laws, with no ill effects.

And Apologies:
An anonymous commenter (who revealed herself to me as powerhouse chocolate consultant Chloé Doutre-Roussel) asked if the term "Raw Chocolate" is appropriate, since heat is applied in the production of roasted beans, nibs, butter, powder, etc. But I use the word "raw" loosely, to refer to cacao ingredients before they're turned into smooth and refined chocolate. I hope Woody Harrelson will understand.

Belated Note:
Monisha of Coconut Chutney will be hosting April's installment of Sugar High Friday.