Appetizers
Dark Chocolate Mushroom Arancini
These fried appetizers are a traditional way to use up leftover risotto – given a chocolaty twist. And the Italian herb blend in the coating gives it an extra kick of flavor. The mushrooms in the risotto highlight the earthy nature of chocolate.

Brunch
Chicken Chilaquiles with Cocoa Red Sauce
This is another traditional dish designed to use up leftovers: in this case tortillas and salsas, which make for a delicious layered dish. The dark chocolate in the red sauce in our version shows how chocolate can be subtle, adding a depth of flavor and notes that you won’t necessarily recognize as “chocolaty.”

Entrees
Pumpkin Ravioli with Cocoa Brown Butter Sauce
Making your own pasta dough is a fun way to elevate your cooking, and we’ve stuffed the herbs for this recipe inside the ravioli. The cocoa powder in the brown butter sauce speaks to the bitter side of chocolate, which balances the rich and slightly sweet pumpkin.

Breads
Rosemary Honey Butter Roll with Dark Chocolate
In these rolls, the surprise ingredient is the Colby jack cheese, which goes well with rosemary. And here, the chocolate is left in chunks, so you can really taste it in contrast to the dough. Use a single origin dark chocolate from Madagascar (or anything that says cherry or raisin in the flavor notes), and you can taste the bright berry notes that show chocolate has a fruity flavor palate.

Beverages
Lavender and Roses Hot Chocolate
This is a French-style hot chocolate, which is basically a drinkable ganache. It highlights how neutral-flavor chocolate (usually a blend of chocolates from different origins) can be just what you think of as “chocolaty,” which lets it be a good base to let other flavors be the star – in this case the delicate floral flavors imparted by the lavender and rose.

Ice Creams
Cocoa Nib, Cinnamon and Bay Ice Cream
Cocoa nibs are broken up pieces of roasted cacao beans. They have a nutty flavor, something like pecans with a hint of coffee and chocolate. This ice cream uses them to show off chocolate’s nutty flavor palate. Cinnamon and bay go together to create a warm-noted backdrop for the nibs.

Cakes
Chocolate Cinnamon Cupcakes with Lemongrass Frosting
A number of these recipes have one component that incorporates the culinary herbs (in this case, frosting infused with lemongrass and cinnamon whiskey) and another that includes the chocolate (the rich cinnamon-chocolate cupcake sponge).Alone, they each taste good, but when you put the components together, you get something special.

Confections
Pistachio and Cardamom Bark
Of course, chocolate also hits sweet notes, especially milk and white chocolate, which contain more sugar. This bark has a bitter-sweet chocolate base, with white chocolate spread on top of it. The flavors layered onto the bark are inspired by kheer (Indian-style rice pudding) and include saffron, cardamom and rose.