What's Christmas without a little chocolate? Actually, what's a day without a little chocolate? Can I get an Amen??
Today I am sharing my #1 source for chocolate: DAGOBA Organic Chocolate. DAGOBA makes high quality, Rainforest Alliance Certified, and Certified Organic chocolate products. I love everything about DAGOBA from their clean and perfect products to the way they do business. Their mission is to craft deeply satisfying chocolate in a socially responsible way. 100% of Dagoba products are made with cacao from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms. This ensures the highest quality of both environmental and economic sustainability in all products. In sourcing its ingredients, the DAGOBA company forged partnerships with cacao growers and their communities, encouraging farmers to grow organic crops. In Oregon, the DAGOBA factory honors the earth's limited resources by reducing energy consumption, using recyclable packaging and striving for zero waste from farm to consumer.
It's important not to skimp on your source of chocolate in your home, both for the environment and for the purity of the chocolate you're putting into your family's mouths. DAGOBA is my personal go-to brand. Everything they make is delicious and pure! They don't use any filler ingredients and don't water down their chocolate with oils or chemicals. And as I just told a puzzled woman in the chocolate aisle at the store last week, if it's got the DAGOBA name on it you know it'll taste good!
DAGOBA is a staple in my pantry. I get this question a lot -- what do I use for chocolate chips in my baked goods? You guessed it, DAGOBA. I buy their 5lb bags of 74% Chocolate Drops. If I'm out of their Chocolate Drops, I'll chop up a dark chocolate bar, either the 74% or 87% ones usually.
This raises the second most popular question I receive -- why do I recommend using 73+% chocolate and what makes it approved for the Advanced Plan? The more dark the chocolate, the less added sugar, milk, and other ingredients. You want to eat chocolate that is the closest to pure cacao (100% dark chocolate) as possible. A range of at least 73% to 90% cacao in dark chocolate, in my opinion, is still tasty enough to eat on its own. That is why I recommend the 73+% in all of my recipes. To find out which chocolate is okay on the Advanced Plan, I compare the amount of sugar in a 2 ounce serving of the chocolate bar to a handful of blueberries (the lowest sugar berry). 70% chocolate or lower has too many grams of sugar per serving, vs 73% or higher which allows you to have 2 ounces a day on the Advanced Plan. My calculations are on the DAGOBA brand. Please note that I have not done the calculations for other chocolate brands.
DAGOBA has sent me a box of their goodies to sample and review. Take a look at this spread: 2 baking bars (100% unsweetened and 59% semi sweet), 1 bag of 74% Chocolate Drops, 87% Eclipse, Dark bar, 37% Milk bar, 74% New Moon bar, 74% Xocolatl bar (with Mexican chilies), 68% Lemon Ginger bar, and a canister of Chai Drinking Chocolate. Christmas came early for this girl! Okay, okay, I did share with my hubby and son.
How do you pick favorites out of such a delicious variety?! Okay, so the Chai Drinking Chocolate (basically a fancy way of saying hot chocolate) is SO GOOD! I hadn't tried any of their drinking chocolates before, and this was a much appreciated experience. I also never thought to mix chai spices and chocolate, but it's really really good. It tastes like Christmas! You know already that I loved all of the dark chocolates. But, I was really excited to taste the flavored bars. The Xocolatl bar blends in real Mexican chilies. It provides a warmth right at the end before you swallow. It was something I didn't think I'd like as much as I did! And the Lemon Ginger bar is another must try. Yet again, I'd never think to mix ginger with chocolate. REALLY good. This one was Dave's favorite. He loves anything lemon, ginger, or chocolate, so to combine the three made him one happy guy.
You can't go wrong with DAGOBA. I use their baking bars and Chocolate Drops for every chocolatey dessert in my kitchen. Their products melt down well and hold up well when baked in cookies, cakes and bars. Check out all of their products here. (Our other favorite flavored bars are the Hazelnut, Mint, and Raspberry. You can't go wrong with any of those!) You can purchase DAGOBA Organic Chocolates at your local health food or grocery store, on their website, or on Amazon.com.
Now, what you've been waiting for....YOU get the chance to win the exact same mega packed prize package from DAGOBA that they sent me! Enter below. (Must be from the continental USA to win.)
GIVEAWAY RULES
Enter to win a 10-piece Gift Pack from DAGOBA Organic Chocolates! This giveaway will last 24 hours, from midnight EST on Wednesday December 19th until 11:59pm EST the same day. Entering is easy! Simply follow the various options below in the Rafflecopter widget window. This DAGOBA Organic Chocolates giveaway is open to continental U.S.A. residents only. There will be one winner. The winner will be contacted and confirmed within 48 hours after the giveaway ends. All entries are verified via Rafflecopter.
Be sure to come back tomorrow and EVERY DAY through December for a chance to win a new prize! You can win multiple times, so please don't be shy to come back!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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