Raw Chocolate Bars Recipe

To make this recipe you need a grinder or a mortar and pestle

Ingredients for simple chocolate:

1/2 C whole peeled cacao beans, ground
1/8 C coconut oil
1/8 C melted cacao butter (use coconut oil if not available)
1/4 C raw honey or raw agave syrup
Optional ingredients:
1/4 cup raisins
1 T almonds, finely chopped
1 drop orange, lemon, clove, lavender or other essential oil
Cinnamon to taste
Celtic sea salt to taste

Preparation:

Grind cacao until it is very fine. The cacao will have a consistency like raw almond butter and will stick to the sides of the grinder. Mix ground cacao with coconut oil or cacao butter in grinder. Remove mixture and add honey and other ingredients. Stir well with a fork. The mixture should be able to be poured. If not, add more coconut oil. Pour into ice cube trays or other forms and freeze for 45 minutes. Serve immediately after removing from the freezer.

Chocolate Crepes Recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
6 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Chocolate Sauce:
1 ¼ cup sugar
2/3 cup cocoa
1 cup plus 4 tablespoons evaporated milk
1/2 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon salt



Preparation:
Whisk all the ingredients vigorously until the crepe batter is completely smooth; allow it to rest in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes before making into crepes.

Melt a little butter in a crepe pan or large skillet over low-medium heat. Add 3 tablespoons of batter to the pan and swirl until the bottom of the pan is covered with batter. Cook the crepe for 1 minute, or until the crepe is slightly moist on top and golden underneath. Loosen the edges of the crepe, slide the spatula under it, and then gently flip it upside down into the pan. Cook for 1 minute and transfer the cooked crepe to a plate to keep warm. Repeat with the remaining batter.


Chocolate Sauce:
Stir together sugar and cocoa in small saucepan; gradually stir in evaporated milk. Add butter and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils. Remove from heat.


Makes 12 servings.

Basic Chocolate Truffles Recipe

Ingredients:
2/3 cup heavy cream
12 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped into very small pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup premium cocoa
Preparation:
In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the heavy cream just to a boil. Remove from the heat immediately. Add the chopped chocolate and vanilla extract and stir until the mixture – ganache - is completely smooth.

Chill the ganache until it is hard enough to roll into balls. Measuring out a heaping teaspoon, quickly roll the ganache into a ball. Roll the ball in the cocoa powder and chill.

What are Chocolate Health Benefits?

Grab a bite of chocolate. Chocolate makes you feel good and beats anything else when it comes to giving you a natural high.

Why does chocolate make you feel good?
Aside from the distinct smell and addicting taste of chocolate, it produces serotonin that gives you that euphoric feeling.

Is chocolate good for you?
Several studies have discovered that chocolate has more than 300 substances that may have many health benefits. Eating chocolates has been shown to even lower bad cholesterol and contribute to a longer life.

Food of the Gods

Chocolate makes you feel good not only due to the sugar rush it gives you but also because of the many helpful elements in this food of the gods. Chocolate is made from the tropical cacao tree seeds of Theobroma, a Greek word that means "food of the gods." It was also regarded as a light aphrodisiac and was linked to Xochiquetzal, the Aztec goddess of fertility. Chocolate gives you a feel good aside from the feelings of ecstasy thanks to the chemical tryptophan. Tryptophan is the same chemical that is found in turkey. In addition, it also has phenyllethylamine, which is considered to be the chocolate amphetamine because it gives you a giddy feeling if taken in large doses. Chocolate also stimulates endorphins that give you a warm inner glow like after a good run.

Better Than a Kiss

How does it work? Why does chocolate make you feel good? As mentioned, chocolates induce different chemical reactions in the brain that gives you a relaxing,"feel good" and giddy sensation all over. In addition, studies have shown that the melting sensation of chocolate in your mouth increases activities in the brain and heart rate. It's been said that this feeling is stronger than passionate kissing and the sensation lasts four times longer.

Lower Cholesterol, Natural Appetite Suppressant, & More

With all of these feel good sensations, is chocolate good for you? Yes, it is. Chocolate has health benefits that eating them has now been associated to long life. It was found that many supercentenarians (those that lived beyond 100 years old) were fond of eating a lot of chocolates during their lifetime. Oleic acid which is found in the cocoa butter in chocolate raises good cholesterol while the chemical called flavinoids also found in chocolate help blood from clotting.

These help in the overall promotion of good health especially for the heart. Other health benefits acquired from eating chocolates include increase in antioxidant levels in the blood. Drinking hot chocolate before eating a meal, for example, can decrease your appetite. Furthermore, it slows down the decline in brain function, soothes the throat, and as a result, prevents fits of coughing. New studies now show that chocolate might even prevent cancer.

Chocolates makes you feel good starting from its smell right down to the lasting sensation after it has melted in your mouth. The chemical build up of chocolates not only gives you a certain high but also a way to promote good health. So the next time you feel the need to indulge in a chocolate taste treat - give in!

Enjoyzzz

What Else Can Cacao Do?

Some time ago I asked you, the loyal Patric Chocolate blog readers, to speak up and let me know what you would like to see me write about. Those who responded had many great suggestions, and they have been heard! Here is just one of the suggestions:


"I know we get chocolate from cacao beans and [...] alcoholic drinks are possible from the pulp. I�ve even had a pulp fruit spread. What else can the fruit (berry) be used for? Do we always discard the large outer shell?"

--D in NYC


Many parts of the cacao fruit are delicious, from the unique "chocolate" notes of the fermented and roasted cacao seed to the sweet-tart floral qualities of the seeds' fresh pulp; the cacao fruit truly has a lot to offer. The one exception seems to be the exocarp of the fruit--normally referred to incorrectly as the "pod"--from which no food or beverage seems to be derived. I have tried to keep things reasonably simple, so I haven't touched upon foods such as chocolate pastries and candies for which many ingredients are needed, and in which chocolate often plays only a supporting role. Here are just a few of the uses to which people have put cacao throughout the years:

How To Read The Chocolate Bar Wrapper?

The non-stop good news about the health benefits of dark chocolate has top quality chocolate sales increasing while commercial grade bars sit idle on the shelf awaiting their expiration date. But all dark chocolate is not the same. In fact it's not even close. But don’t worry, guides below will have you on top of your bar trek in just a few minutes.

1. Top quality chocolate contains only three to five ingredients at most. Also, focus on pure chocolate bars with infusions like nuts, spices and dried fruits as opposed to sugar-laden filled chocolates. Bar chocolate is the new boxed chocolate.

2. The first ingredient should be chocolate or some rendition there of such as cocoa, cocoa beans, cocoa liquor (this isn't alcohol-just pure cacao), cocoa solids, cocoa mass.

3. Look for non-alkali cocoa, or non-dutched. Dutching darkens chocolate and mellows its naturally acidic flavor, but unfortunately it also removes many of the antioxidants and health benefits of chocolate. Non-dutched is healthier.

4. Cocoa butter. You won't have cocoa butter if cocoa liquor is on the wrapper (as it's included in the liquor), but you'll see it when the ingredients list unsweetened cocoa or cocoa powder. Animal products like milk fat and regular butter are not as healthy as cocoa butter.

5. Sugars are up next-organic or raw sugar cane, pure cane sugar, evaporated cane juice, beat sugar, sugar, raw sugar cane. Not as healthly-corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, glucose, maltose and other things that end with "ose."
6. Soy lecithin. Most bars contain this ingredient as an emulsifier-it helps chocolate maintain its form and consistency. However, a number of companies don't put lecithin in their bars, so it isn't absolutely necessary.

7. Vanilla. Look for vanilla beans, vanilla, organic vanilla. Vanillin (with the "n" on the end) is an artificial flavoring, so look for the "a" on the end for the real deal.

8. Fair trade: This means the manufacturer has paid higher-than-market price for the cocoa beans to help support the indigenous farmers who grow it. Always a good choice when available-invest in the future of quality chocolate.

9. Sugar-free chocolates...not recommended as most sugar-free sweeteners are unhealthy. Many contain aspartame, surcralose, saccharin and maltitol, products that tend to upset the stomach and cause gas. Eating dark chocolate with nuts (only 33 on the glycemic index, raising blood sugar less than a handful of grapes) is healthier than eating sugar-free chocolates. Diabetics should look for evaporated cane juice, a low-glycemic sweetener.

10. Shop for 70%+ dark chocolate. All the health benefits of chocolate (antioxidants, vitamins, mineral, protein, fiber, etc) are in the cocoa powder. The higher the percentage of cocoa, the more value to your health.

Best Chocolate Dessert?

What may possibly be measured as the best chocolate dessert?
How does a person reply that question?
Maybe, the way we do it is by analyzing what we mean when we say best chocolate dessert.

The main key here is chocolate. A lot of desserts may contain chocolate in them, but it is a secondary flavor. A true chocolate dessert has chocolate at the heart of the whole thing. It is the base item from which the rest of the dessert is built.

We have to reduce desserts that do not feature the chocolate as the main ingredient. Chocolate is used as flavor in desserts, but is not the main source. Ice creams, donuts, unless completely chocolate, sauces, fruit dishes with chocolate sauces, cakes with the frosting, etc, would not be considered as best chocolate desserts. I have one for you, though, I think I only finished one whole piece in one setting, it was so rich.

I know there are many desserts that could jump and say they are the best chocolate dessert, but find themselves voted out of the contest, because chocolate is not the main ingredient. It has to be chocolate in its origin, and through the whole creative process, and stand alone as a chocolate heavyweight contender.

Ok, so here is my choice. It is called Chocolate Suicide. If we want to consider the chocolate of all, for me, it is Chocolate Suicide. It is a triple layer deep chocolate cake, with chocolate cream, like fudge, but creamier, between each layer, and topped with the same, and, if that's not enough, a wedge of chocolate bar in the top of each piece. The text messaging people would now write OMG!

This wins for me as the best chocolate dessert. I have tasted many chocolate desserts in my lifetime, believe me, but I am yet to find anything that represents pure, unadulterated chocolate to this day. Perhaps there is some lonely chocolate dessert waiting for me to discover it somewhere in thru frontiers of chocolate discovery, but until then...

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