Chocolate for Chanukah

Chanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, starts tomorrow. When I think of Chocolate and Chanukah (Hanukah/Hanukkah/ so many ways to spell this holiday), I always think of Chanukah Gelt, those chocolate candy coins wrapped in gold foil that are given to the children.

Oh!Nuts sells a 24-Pack Elite Bittersweet Chocolate Coin Bags, a 24-pack Nut-Free Chocolate Coin Bags and a Dark Chocolate Coins case of 24 bags, as well as Milk Chocolate, a Chanukah Gelt Treasure Chest and more!
Divine Chocolate has fair-trade Milk Chocolate Hanukkah Coins.
Chocolate.com has lots of different chocolate products from wonderful chocolatiers tht include Chanukah Dreidels, Chocolate Covered Oreos w/Dreidle Design from Sweet Expertise, Coins, Bars and more.

Check with your local chocolatier and discover what they may be offering this year.

Want to bake something? You have eight days, so you can interweave some of your own chocolate desserts into traditional Chanukah fare. The Chocolate Chip Mandelbrot recipe I wrote about for Rosh Hashana would be a star for Chanukah.

And, here's a chocolate recipe the kids will enjoy--and maybe you, too. Chocolate Latkas. Note: these are not 'real' potato pancakes, but they look like them.

Chocolate Latkes from Cooking Jewish, originally from Chocolate Holidays by Alice Medrich: Yield: 2 dozen 2 1/4-inch cookies

4 large egg whites
3 cups sweetened shredded coconut
3 1/2 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (organic and fairtrade)
6 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla (I use Madagascar)
Scant 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Position racks in upper and lower thirds of oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or foil. Put some water in skillet and bring to low simmer.

2.Combine all ingredients in large heatproof mixing bowl, preferably stainless steel (ingredients heat up faster in stainless steel than in glass). Set bowl in skillet of barely simmering water and stir mixture, scraping bottom to prevent burning, until sticky and hot to touch.

3. Scoop rounded tablespoons of mixture about 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Flatten each cookie slightly with fingers to resemble miniature potato pancakes.

4. Bake until cookies feel dry on surface and edges and protruding coconut shreds are dark golden brown (despite chocolate color) and interior still looks like melted chocolate, 13 to 15 minutes. Rotate sheets from front to bake and upper to lower about halfway through. Slide parchment paper onto cooling rack. Cool cookies completely before removing from parchment. The cookies are most delicious on day they are baked – the exterior is crisp and chewy and interior soft and moist. Cookies may be stored, airtight, 4 to 5 days.

You have 8 Days to enjoy Chanukah: Add some chocolate.