Cacao Nib

Destined to be your go-to chocolate pie recipe for any and all occasions.

And what's a nib, anyway?

Testing these healthy candies was hard, but we stepped up.

You can eat pretty much every part of this crazy-good-for-you plant.

Jenelle Manzi's a New York City Ballet veteran with a killer recipe for matcha squares.

For a more caramel-y depth of flavor, toast the coconut flakes first.

Cacao nibs are unprocessed bits of the cacao pod. They are intensely flavored, not at all sweet, and give a wonderful depth and crunch to meals. Try blending them into smoothies, or use them to top a long-braised stew.

Because it contains more essential oils, whole grain rye flour can spoil quickly. Store the unused portion in the fridge or freezer.

This mixture gets pretty sticky in the food processor. Don’t be alarmed if you have to scrape and pulse and scrape and pulse to keep the machine moving.

Dates get even more Middle Eastern, dunked in tahini.

This bark combines unprocessed cocoa nibs, toasted coconut, and chopped pistachios for a crackly texture and bittersweet chocolate for its antioxidant virtues. Storing it in the fridge will give it extra snap, though the chocolate may acquire a dull bloom in there.

If a fudgy brownie and chewy chocolate chip cookie had a baby, it would be this decadent creation.

Silkier, lighter, and more sinfully good than anything you've ever tasted before.

Raw cacao powder retains a higher portion of nutrients than more common cocoa powder, which is usually heated during manufacturing. Swap the almond meal here for hazelnut meal, if you prefer.

Inspiration can strike at the strangest times and in the most unlikely places. I was in the men’s room at Racines, a restaurant in Paris. While I was momentarily preoccupied with other things, my mind wandered and I scanned the wall facing me, which was plastered with poems and drawings from local artists. Much to my surprise, in the midst of it all was a recipe for chocolate cake. When I returned to my table, I noticed a chocolate cake with the same name on the menu, so I ordered it. It was so delicious that I excused myself again, this time taking a pad of paper and pen with me. At the restaurant, the cake is baked with a handful of cocoa nibs strewn over the top. Cocoa nibs are unsweetened roasted bits of cocoa beans; they’re pretty widely available nowadays. Their slightly bitter chocolate crunch makes a big difference in the flavor and texture of the cake, but you can leave them off if you can’t find them.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from The Essence of Chocolate: Recipes for Baking and Cooking with Fine Chocolate by John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg. _ Contributed by Arnon Oren. Café Cacao, the restaurant in our factory, surprises some visitors. Many expect a coffee bar that serves nothing but chocolate cake and cookies. While we do serve many kinds of desserts, Berkeley residents come more for the savory foods made with cacao nibs. Arnon Oren, our first executive chef, created this fresh, memorable dish. Combining roasted squash with pancetta and crunch cacao nibs brings out the depth and sweetness of the squash, making it taste almost creamy. Prosciutto or any salty cured meat works well in this recipe. _