Let's Spice Things Up A Little | Life Love and Hiccups: Let's Spice Things Up A Little
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Wednesday 13 May 2015

Let's Spice Things Up A Little

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Baby it's getting cold outside so what better time is there than now to spice things up a little? 
Make a Chilli Chocolate Cheesecake and turn the heat up in the kitchen.

Brought to you by Coles

Do you know that up until I made this Chilli Chocolate Cheesecake, I had never actually tried chilli chocolate?

I know right!

Clearly I have been missing out on something pretty special.

Chilli and chocolate is one of those combinations that sounds so many kinds of wrong (well it did to me), but somehow it just works in a strange and hard to believe it kind of way.

Think Julia Roberts and Lyle Lovett, Brooke Shields and Michael Jackson or how about Courtney Love and Edward Norton? We all raised our eyebrows in an 'as if' gesture at the thought of them together, but for some bizarre reason the couplings worked... if only for a while.

The team at Coles suggested I might like to road test the ChilliChocolate Crème Brule Recipe from Taste.com.  and I was keen as mustard to give it a whirl.




Chilli Chocolate Creme Brulees Recipe Here

And so attempt it I did... but failed miserably. 

Try as I might I could not stop the egg from curdling in the chocolate and cream mixture.

I honestly have no idea what I was doing wrong - but after stuffing up two batches and running out of ingredients, I headed to Coles for some more supplies... and this time I settled on making a Chilli Chocolate Cheesecake.

Having made cheesecake before, I was pretty confident I wouldn't screw this one up and I am proud as punch to say - I didn't screw it up at all.



When I told the kids I was making Chilli Chocolate cheesecake, all they heard was chilli chilli chilli and so commenced the moaning... only silenced by a little white lie from me in the form of a ‘fingers crossed’ promise that I would leave the chilli out when I made the recipe.

Of course I didn’t leave it out.

Because I am evil!

Joking! But honestly, whilst this cheesecake has a bit of a kick it is by no means a mouth burner and I am happy to say that the kids didn’t even notice that there was chilli in it.



Apart from the fact that Chilli taste so darn good, did you know that it contains up to seven times more vitamin C than an orange has? 

It is a great source of vitamins A and E, folic acid and potassium and it aids digestion.

Yep, it boost the metabolism which is just what you need if weight loss is your goal… alright maybe skip chocolate cheesecake part if that is the case.

Among other health benefits, it is great at fighting nasal congestion and can also help to relieve muscle, joint and nerve pain.


I’m telling you – it’s good stuff!


If you are game for a little bit of chilli experimentation; here's a guide to who's who in the chilli family and the best way to use them.

Red Cayenne - Very versatile chilli which is amazing with all types of cuisine but why not try with a dark chocolate mousse as something different.

Green Cayenne - Great in Italian dishes, especially good on pizzas

Birdseye - Great with Thai cuisine, adds spice to your soups and stir fry dishes

Jalapeno - Great with hot salsa’s but also Mexican foods such as tortillas, tacos, burritos etc

Habanero - Use with curried dishes to add extra spice, Malaysian, Indian

Poblano - Typical mild Mexican chilli, works well as a stuffed variety – good introduction to chilli skeptics

Bullhorn Chilli  - A large red or green chilli with a mild flavour, lends itself well as a replacement  to raw capsicum in salads and dips, also works well stuffed

Ball Chilies - Versatile mild chilli for use in modern Australian cuisine, for the chilli novice

Ghost Chilli - Extreme chilli – only for the chilli lover

Carolina Reaper - Extreme chilli – only for the chilli lover

You can get all of these chillies at your local Coles store and if chilli and chocolate is not quite your thing, here are my pick of some of the chilli recipes from the Coles recipe site.

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Tell me - are you a Chilli lover?

How hot can you handle?