What's the skinny on dark chocolate? They say dark chocolate is a potent antioxidant - great for combatting high blood pressure and other diseases. (You don't have to twist my arm!) Of course, pay attention to sugar additives and avoid milk chocolate or white chocolate. Those don't count. Trader Joe's now sells organic free trade dark chocolate bars. Also check out Whole Foods, Kristina's Market and some conventional grocery stores.
Here's a twist on Ghirardelli Chocolate Lava Cakes - great for Valentine's Day treats, Saturday desserts or anytime you want to impress your guests. You will need ramekins or other small pyrex dishes to bake them in. I bought heart-shaped foil pans at Dollar Tree to give them a Hearts Day flair for the fam. Serve them up warm and you will be the new queen or king of the house.
Makes 8 cakes
Ingredients:
Center:
1/2 (2 oz.) dark chocolate (60% bittersweet Cacao or more)
1/4 cup heavy cream or raw milk
Cakes:
olive oil cooking spray
1 bar (4 oz.) dark chocolate (60% bittersweet Cacao or more)
8 tablespoons organic unsalted butter
2 whole cage-free eggs
2 cage-free egg yolks
1/3 cup sucanat (available at health food stores like Whole Foods) or 1/4 cup organic raw sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
Garnish:
Fresh organic raspberries or strawberries
Mint leaves
Organic Chocolate Moo sauce (available at Trader Joe's)
Directions:
1. To make centers, melt chocolate and cream in a double boiler. (If you don't have a double boiler, set a sturdy glass bowl on a top of a small saucepan 1/4 filled with water.) When chocolate melts, whisk gently to blend. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm. Form into 6-8 small balls, depending on how many cakes you want to make.
2. To make cake, heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray ramekins or tins with olive oil spray.
3. Melt chocolate and butter in double boiler and whisk to blend.
4. With an electric mixer, whisk yolks, sugar and vanilla on high speed about 5 minutes or until thick and light. You will notice the change in consistency.
5. Fold melted chocolate into egg mixtures until combined.
6. Spoon batter into ramekins or tins. Place one chocolate ball in the middle of each ramekin.
7. Bake about 15 minutes until cake is firm to the touch.
8. Cool for 5 minutes then invert onto your serving plate and garnish.
Another new recipe I stole from my mom is for Chocolate-Dipped Granola Cookies. She served this one for guests with chocolate-dipped strawberries - another family fave with a healthy twist. We all were fighting over these cookies. This is from the 101 Cookies recipe book and we tweaked it to add more healthy ingredients. Enjoy!
CHOCOLATE-DIPPED ORANGE GRANOLA COOKIES
Ingredients:
2 cups organic uncooked oats
1/2 cup organic brown sugar
1/2 cup organic butter, melted
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
2 cage-free eggs
2 teaspoons orange peel, grated
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 12-oz. package semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
Makes 2 dozen cookies
1. Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips until blended.
2. Cover & refrigerate overnight.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
4. Lightly grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
5. Use a tablespoon or (Pampered Chef) cookie scoop to shape oat mixture into golf ball-sized mounds.
6. Place 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets.
7. Bake 10-12 minutes until golden & crisp.
8. Cool 10 minutes on wire racks.
9. Melt chocolate chips
10. Dip tops of cookies one at a time into melted chocolate or spoon a small amount of chocolate on top of cookies to form a small circle of chocolate.
11. Place on wax paper until chocolate is set.
Here are some links to some other Healthy Chocolate Dessert Recipes from Eating Well magazine.
Also, here's a great article about "Chocolate Essentials" from Cooking Light magazine if you want to learn more about how chocolate is made and different types of chocolate used in baking.
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