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Specialty cocoa/cacao powder for Chokladbollar

ChokladbollarTravel with Alainecocoa, chocolate balls, chokladbollar, choklad, best chokladbollar, swedish fika, hembakat chokladbollar, valrhona chocolate, michel cluizel chocolate, swedish sweets, specialty cacao powder, dark cacao, cocoa powder, easy no bake chocolate balls, swedish snacks, svensk godis, bäst chokladbollar recept, matblogg, matskribent, chokladbollar recept, chokladbollar recipeComment
Specialty cocoa/cacao powder for Chokladbollar
Valrhona cacao powder

Confession time: I hoard specialty cacao products

When I am traveling or living in a new country, I like spending time searching for the specialty chocolate shops and purchasing specialty cacao  and chocolate to add to my chokladbollar. After living in Switzerland and Belgium, (a chocolate lovers dream!) I tried all kinds of cocoa powders and different chocolate products to my recipes. It was a bit geeky, but each time I experimented, there would be a new discovery. Currently in my pantry, I have cacao powder from Italy, France, The Netherlands, Vietnam, Indonesia, Sweden, England, and Switzerland.

In addition to a good basic cacao powder, I think it is important to experiment a little with different types of cocoa powder to get varying results. Basic chokladbollar recipes are basic, baking at home should be fun so have a little fun experimenting with different powders. The more you put into the mixture, the more depth of flavor the balls will have. I like my balls to have a bit of complexity.

It is important to note the kind of style and flavor of chokladbollar you want to make. Do you want more of a milk chocolate, white chocolate, dark chocolate, or a mix of all the above! You do not have to just stick to one cacao powder for each batch of chokladbollar you make. I like to experiment a little and mix 2-3 different cacao powders in a mixture. By doing this you are creating a depth in flavor.

I’m a fan of visiting small chocolate shops and trying out their cacao powders. My favorite one so far is in Lund at Hovby no. 9 and their baking chocolates are also high quality

Vit chokladbollar

Vit chokladbollar / White Chocolate Balls

Around Christmas time, a lot of mint, peppermint, cinnamon, and white chocolate products start to show up in stores and specialty chocolate stores. I am not a white chocolate fan because it is usually too sweet for my tastebuds and I am also lactose intolerant so it is rare to find me eating white chocolate. However, I have friends and family who love the taste of white chocolate. I found a white chocolate cocoa powder at my local Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf cafe in a set of three so decided to purchase the set since I really wanted to make a batch of vit chokladbollar for my friends and family. The milkiness of the white chocolate cacao powder from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf really captured the essence of what I wanted in my white chocolate balls.

Bougie balls

Bougie Balls

"Bougie" is short term slang for bourgeois and I have named these as Bougie Balls because I was so excited to use the specialty valrhona cacao powder I purchased from Ahlgrens konfektyr in Lund's saluhallen (food market). This batch also contained truffle sea salt from a trip to Milan and real vanilla bean from a shop in Gothenburg. It was the epitome of my jetsetter life in a chokladbollar! The richness of the cacao powder was really smooth and dark with earthy notes. They are probably the best chokladbollar batch I have made thus far..