VALENTINE'S CHOCOLATE RECIPES

Here is this year's list of favorite chocolate recipes for Valentine's Day, aka National Chocolate Day.

Frosted Cream Cheese or Goat Cheese Brownies are easier to make than you think.  You don't need a mixer, just a bowl and spoon.  If you don't want to make your own frosting, just spread the top with Nutella or canned frosting or leave these delicious brownies plain.  

Old-Fashioned Cocoa Devil's Food Cake, made with a mixture of unbleached all-purpose flour and white whole wheat flour, is a denser but very enjoyable creation, especially when it’s covered with chocolate ganache, then trimmed with coconut swiss buttercream frosting and toasted unsweetened coconut chips.  You can make it with just unbleached all-purpose flour for a lighter version.

Almost-Old-Fashioned Whoopie Pies never fail to please.  These are made with butter, not shortening, and nonfat Greek yogurt.  Light, moist and chocolatey, these will get you raves.

Chocolate-Almond Cream Pie is a dessert made in heaven.  A tender and flavorful almond graham cracker crust holds a rich and chocolatey filling with a mild almond undertone.  The whipped-cream topping is spiked with almond liqueur and sprinkled with chocolate shavings.  It has my highest rating and will make any celebration memorable.

Banana Chocolate Cupcakes:  Full of flavor, very light and moist, this one is a definite winner!  The banana flavor comes through, but in a background sort of way.  

Chocolate Hazelnut Pudding is silky smooth and creamy with a mild hazelnut flavor hiding under the chocolate. 

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies are fudgy, tender and flavorful, and hold a wonderfully light peanut butter-mallow filling that really steals the show.  These cookies are sweet, rich-tasting  and utterly delicious.

Chocolate Guinness Cake is everything you ever wanted in a chocolate cake.  The ale bumps up the chocolate flavor and delivers moistness as well.  This is one cake you’ll remember for a long time.

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins are moist, chocolatey, flavorful and even have fiber and some food value.   One muffin will definitely fix your chocolate craving, and you won't blow all your calories.  They have my highest rating and they don’t taste healthy!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Icing are sure to please almost everyone.  Moist, tender, velvety and not-too-sweet chocolate cupcakes are topped with fluffy peanut butter frosting.  Buttermilk and sour cream make the cupcakes tender and moist; coffee and brown sugar enhance the chocolate flavor; and the peanut butter icing is creamy, sweet and delicious.

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip-Heath Bits Cookies are delicious cookies with a nice peanut-butter flavor.  The pecans and semisweet chocolate chips tone down the almost cloying sweetness of the Heath bits.  Just enough crunch, just enough sweetness.  With crispy edges and insides that are soft and almost chewy, these are sure to become a favorite.

100% Whole-Wheat Chocolate Cupcakes with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting are light and moist.  And no one is the wiser…..unless you tell them.  You can make these even healthier by using a sugar substitute and nonfat Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream.

Nutella Mascarpone Cheesecake with Chocolate Graham Cracker Crust is a rich, creamy, firm, New York-style cheesecake that delivers a subtle Nutella flavor from Nutella that is spread over the cooled crust before adding the cheesecake filling.  The filling, itself, has hazelnut liqueur added, and the cheesecake can be topped with shaved chocolate or more Nutella.  Either way, it’s absolutely delicious.

Lava Rocks are chocolatey, chewy delicious little morsels that are also low-fat.

Happy Valentine's Day to all; be sure to spread the love with or without chocolate.

CHOCOLATE LOVE RECIPES FOR YOUR VALENTINE’S DAY

Chocolate Almond Cream Pie is dessert made in heaven.  A tender and flavorful almond graham cracker crust holds a rich and chocolatey filling with a mild almond undertone.  The whipped-cream topping is spiked with almond liqueur and sprinkled with chocolate shavings.  It has my highest rating and will make any celebration memorable.

Banana Chocolate Cupcakes are easy to make.  You don’t even need to get your mixer out, because these are mixed like muffins, with one quick mix by hand.  Full of chocolate flavor, very light and moist, this one is a definite winner!

Chocolate Hazelnut Pudding  is silky smooth and creamy with a mild hazelnut flavor hiding under the chocolate. You can certainly dress this up with some lightly sweetened, whipped heavy cream that’s spiked with hazelnut liqueur.  You could even shave some dark chocolate or chopped toasted hazelnuts over the cream.  I chose to eat the pudding as is and savor every sweet, delicious mouthful.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies are fudgy, tender and flavorful, and hold a wonderfully light peanut butter-mallow filling that really steals the show.  These cookies are sweet, rich-tasting  and utterly delicious.

Chocolate Guinness Cake is everything you ever wanted in a chocolate cake.  The ale bumps up the chocolate flavor and delivers moistness as well.  This is one cake you’ll remember for a long time.

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins are moist, chocolatey, flavorful and even have fiber and some food value.   One muffin will definitely fix your chocolate craving, and you won't blow all your calories.  They have my highest rating and they don’t taste healthy!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Icing are sure to please almost everyone.  Moist, tender, velvety and not-too-sweet chocolate cupcakes are topped with fluffy peanut butter frosting.  Buttermilk and sour cream make the cupcakes tender and moist; coffee and brown sugar enhance the chocolate flavor; and the peanut butter icing is creamy, sweet and delicious.

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip-Heath Bits Cookies are delicious cookies with a nice peanut-butter flavor.  The pecans and semisweet chocolate chips tone down the almost cloying sweetness of the Heath bits.  Just enough crunch, just enough sweetness.  With crispy edges and insides that are soft and almost chewy, these are sure to become a favorite.

100% Whole Wheat Chocolate Cupcakes with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting are light and moist.  And no one is the wiser…..unless you tell them.  You can make these even healthier by using a sugar substitute and nonfat Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream.

Nutella Mascarpone Cheesecake with Chocolate Graham Cracker Crust  is a rich, creamy, firm, New York-style cheesecake that delivers a subtle Nutella flavor from Nutella that is spread over the cooled crust before adding the cheesecake filling.  The filling, itself, has hazelnut liqueur added, and the cheesecake can be topped with shaved chocolate or more Nutella.  Either way, it’s absolutely delicious.
Lava Rocks are chocolatey, chewy delicious little morsels that are also low-fat.

Happy Valentine’s Day, y’all

CHOCOLATE LOVE, A HISTORY

The cacao tree has been around for a long time; but chocolate, derived from cacao beans, is another story.  The credit for finding chocolate goes to the Mayas, but their discovery was limited to a liquid -- the Old World’s “energy drink.” The Aztecs dubbed the thick, cold, unsweetened drink xocoatl (“bitter water”), and they flavored it with spices and hot chili peppers. It was a drink only for royalty, believed to impart wisdom and health.

About 1,000 years later, Columbus found the New World and discovered that cocoa beans were being used as currency and to make an exotic drink, but failed to see the potential that had fallen into his lap.  A later explorer, Hernando Cortez, was underwhelmed with the bitter, spicy beverage, but enthused about converting cocoa beans to golden doubloons.  On a return trip to Spain, Cortez established a cocoa plantation, thinking he would be cultivating money.  He also started mixing the brew, then called “chocolatl,” with sugar, vanilla, and spices, starting a new culinary trend in Spain for the nobility.

Eventually, chocolate swept through Europe, becoming the prize of European aristocracy for centuries, while cocoa beans continued to be used as currency till the 17th century.  It wasn’t until the 18th century, after the steam engine was invented, that chocolate became affordable for the masses.  But it was still used mostly as a drink, until the 19th century when the chocolate bar was created.

The Mayans would be amazed at how far the cocoa bean has come. Chocolate is a worldwide industry; one of the most affluent. And now we’ve come full circle, right back to the Mayan/Aztec belief that it’s healthful -- dark chocolate, that is.  But don’t get carried away yet; there are some downside risks.  While dark chocolate acts as an antioxidant, reduces blood pressure, increases circulation and energy and enhances mood, it also contains theobromine, an energy lifter that can overstimulate some people, especially diabetics and the chemically sensitive.  Ever eat a chocolate dessert only to stay awake all night?  Blame it on theobromine.  There’s also a question about how much lead is in chocolate, and how much of it can be absorbed into the human system.  So, no matter how good you think it is for you, exercise temperance.  And listen up:  if you have a family pet, please don’t share the love – chocolate is known to be toxic to many animals.

Find some of my older chocolate recipes in this 2010 post on Valentine's Day.  How will you be celebrating National Chocolate Day this year?

CHOCOLATE, CHOCOLATE, CHOCOLATE

Last February, I wrote about the history of chocolate and listed chocolate recipes on this site.  Below is my 2010 revised list of favorite chocolate recipes to help you prepare for Valentine's Day, which is less than a week away.  All of these recipes have been tried and tested and are top notch.

1. Chocolate Guinness Cake          

2. Cook's Country Red Velvet Cake and Cream Cheese Frosting

3. Cream Cheese Brownie Cupcakes and Rocky Road Squares

4. Peanut Butter Mousse Brownies

5. Chocolate Lovers' Muffins

6. Zucchini-Brownie Cupcakes

7. Eating Well's Lava Rocks

8. Penzey's Chocolate-Zucchini Muffins

9. Copycat Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies

If that's not enough to choose from, my next several posts, which will follow quickly, will be chocolate recipes that I think you'll very much enjoy. 

I'm trying to make up for lost time.  Please forgive me for not visiting your site, I do want to get there, but this catch-up is horrendous.  Will be posting an update on Jim's condition tomorrow, at which time I'll know when I'll be traveling.

A VALENTINE PRIMER

The cacao tree has been around for a long time; but chocolate, derived from cacao beans, is another story. The credit for finding chocolate goes to the Mayas, but their discovery was limited to a liquid -- the Old World’s “energy drink.” The Aztecs dubbed the thick, cold, unsweetened drink xocoatl (“bitter water”), and they flavored it with spices and hot chili peppers. It was a drink only for royalty, believed to impart wisdom and health.

About 1,000 years later, Columbus found the New World and discovered that cocoa beans were being used as currency and to make an exotic drink, but failed to see the potential that had fallen into his lap. A later explorer, Hernando Cortez, was underwhelmed with the bitter, spicy beverage, but enthused about converting cocoa beans to golden doubloons. On a return trip to Spain, Cortez established a cocoa plantation, thinking he would be cultivating money. He also started mixing the brew, then called “chocolatl,” with sugar, vanilla, and spices, starting a new culinary trend in Spain for the nobility.

Eventually, chocolate swept through Europe, becoming the prize of European aristocracy for centuries, while cocoa beans continued to be used as currency till the 17th century. It wasn’t until the 18th century, after the steam engine was invented, that chocolate became affordable for the masses. But it was still used mostly as a drink, until the 19th century when the chocolate bar was created.

The Mayans would be amazed at how far the cocoa bean has come. Chocolate is a worldwide industry; one of the most affluent. And now we’ve come full circle, right back to the Mayan/Aztec belief that it’s healthful -- dark chocolate, that is. But don’t get carried away yet; there are some downside risks. While dark chocolate acts as an antioxidant, reduces blood pressure, increases circulation and energy and enhances mood, it also contains theobromine, an energy lifter that can overstimulate some people, especially diabetics and the chemically sensitive. Ever eat a chocolate dessert only to stay awake all night? Blame it on theobromine. There’s also a question about how much lead is in chocolate, and how much of it can be absorbed into the human system. So, no matter how good you think it is for you, exercise temperance. And listen up: if you have a family pet, please don’t share the love – chocolate is known to be toxic to many animals. (excerpted from my current Greenbrier Gazette food column)

Below are some recipes to make your National Chocolate Day, aka Valentine’s Day, a little sweeter.

1. Chocolate Guinness Cake (my favorite chocolate cake)
2. Double Chocolate Kahlua Cake (made with a cake mix)
3. Rocky Road Squares (made with a cake mix)
4. Chocolate Chai Latte Cake (made with a cake mix)
5. Dark Chocolate Dreams Cake (made with a cake mix)
6. Black Forest Cheesecake (made with fresh bing cherries)
7. Chocolate Turtle Cheesecake (the ultimate in decadence)
8.Peanut Butter Mousse Brownies (these are incredibly delicious)
9. Special Dark Chocolate Cupcakes (made with Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa; light & moist)
10. Zucchini Brownie Cupcakes (almost a brownie, almost a cupcake, moist and delicious)
11. Mock Mocha Mousse (made with instant pudding mix)
12. Chocolate Zucchini Muffins (top-notch muffins, moist with deep chocolate flavor)
13. Chocolate Lovers Muffins (so good, these are almost a dessert)
14. Lava Rocks (chewy, chocolatey, easy meringue cookies)