Recipe Collections

Our Favorite Chocolate Recipes From Around The World

Team Salt & Wind Travel

Contributor

In case you missed it, Salt & Wind is a pro-chocolate territory.

When any of us travel, it is fully expected we return to the office with chocolate from wherever they journeyed. That anytime we check out the scene in a new city, a search for the best chocolate will be a major part of that r&d.

Some work cultures revolve around a lunch break -- ours is a chocolate break -- aka a moment each afternoon when we sit around and have a coffee and a little chocolate. Most of the time we show restraint and just have a square or two of our favorite chocolate bars.

But then there's the chocolate season: that magical stretch from Halloween to Easter where almost every food holiday involves some sort of chocolate. That time of year when we can let our chocolate freak flag fly with abandon. That's when we cook these, our favorite chocolate recipes from around the world. Some of these chocolate recipes are as classic as they come while others are inspired by a travel experience we had.

From Austria to Italy and Mexico to Brazil, here are our 11 favorite chocolate recipes from around the world:

United States: Thousand Layer Chocolate Chip Cookies

The classic chocolate chip cookie gets a chic overhaul thanks to one simple step: rolling the chocolate into the cookie dough almost like you're making croissants. It makes for a cookie with layers and layers of chocolate and is our hands-down all-time favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Mexico: Spiced Mexican Hot Chocolate Pie

Okay, this isn't really Mexican in the sense it's by no means traditional. However, it is inspired by the seriously classic Mexican hot chocolate that's so good we'd travel to Mexico just to drink it. Here a chocolate cream pie gets a modern twist thanks to cinnamon and chile spiced chocolate filling and a spiked whipped cream topping.

Spiced Mexican Hot Chocolate Pie Recipe

Mexico: Spiced Sweet Potato Tamales With Chocolate Sauce

Here in the United States, you don't come across sweet tamales as often as you do savory ones but it's one of our favorite things to order when we travel to Mexico. Even if you've never made tamales before you can make these because you simply mix together mashed sweet potatoes with spices and you're ready to go.

But what makes it is the Chocolate Sauce that's a bit sweet, a bit bitter, and a tad spicy. This is by no means a traditional tamale recipe but it sure is delicious!

Sweet Potato Tamale In A Dish With Chocolate Sauce

Cuba: Iced Chocolate Frappe

What we don't know: how common this drink is in Cuba. What we do know: that we liked it so much when we visited Cuba that we went back to the cafe multiple times just to have more. Basically, a blended, iced version of hot chocolate, is the kind of drink you could get obsessed with.

Glasses of Iced Chocolate On Table

Brazil: Fudgy Coconut Chocolate Brigadiero Brownies

Think sweets and Brazil and the fudgy cocoa-y truffle-like treat that is the brigadiero comes to mind. In this fudgy brownie recipe, those flavors get baked and layered for a twist on the tradition that's just as good as the original (if not better).

Brownies On A Table

Ireland: Whisky Chocolate Chunk Coffee Milkshake

Okay, okay, this is not a recipe you'd EVER find in a classic Irish book. But what it is? A milkshake version of Irish coffee with chunks of chocolate, a little coffee flavor, and a good dose of whisky.

Italy: Chocolate Chunk Orange Biscotti Cookies

If we were to bet, we'd say the best known Italian cookie is the biscotti and our favorite version of the iconic recipe is this one loaded with orange zest, vanilla, and chunks of chocolate.

Biscotti With Espresso On Table

Italy: Hazelnut Chocolate Baci Ice Cream

If we had to pick one chocolate flavor combo that we'd pledge allegiance to? It'd be that chocolate hazelnut flavor that hails from Turin, Italy, and that you find in Italian sweets as common as Nutella or Baci candies to the classic gianduja truffle.

This double chocolate ice cream gets swirled with hazelnut chocolate spread and topped with Baci candies for four times the chocolate flavor!

Italy: {Bicerin} Layered Mocha Coffee

Yes, this is insanely over-the-top as a coffee drink but that's why we love it. Made by layering liquid chocolate ganache with espresso, and whipped cream, the bicerin is a coffee drink from Turin, Italy that, in our minds, should be wayyyyy more popular!

Mocha Coffees On A Tray On A Table

France: Chocolate Cornflake Clusters

When it comes to making chocolate desserts, there might not exist a simpler recipe than these three-ingredient cornflake clusters. So simple they look like a bake sale recipe, the reality is these bites are a classic French treat that you'll find in numerous chocolate shops around the country. We say make them yourself because they're absurdly easy to make and take just a few minutes.

Chocolate Candies On A Gold Tray

France: Classic Chocolate Mendiants

Another simple chocolate recipe that proves French food doesn't have to be complicated? These classic chocolate coins are known as mendiants. Our version is topped with superfood ingredients like coconut, flax, cacao, and goji so you can actually feel good about treating yourself.

Austria: Hazelnut Chocolate Linzer Cookies

Inspired by the lattice-crusted fruit tart from Austria, Linzer cookies are some of our favorite classic cookies around. Here that recipe gets a hazelnut twist because, well, we already told you how much we love that flavor, and because it makes these super classic cookies suddenly feel thoroughly modern.

Start Cookies On A Red Napkin

Austria: {Sachertorte} Chocolate Apricot Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache

In a tie for the most traditional sweet from Austria is Sachertorte. This decadent chocolate cake goes all in with a topping of silky dark chocolate ganache. Proof that sometimes the classics are perfect as is.

Cut Chocolate Cake On A Cake Stand