Enlightened Chocolate
by Camilla V. Saulsbury
Cumberland House, 2007
$22.95, cloth
278 pages
You can tell yourself chocolate is good for you, what with antioxidants and all, but we all know that brownies are not health food.
Nevertheless, there are ways to make chocolate lighter and still a treat. Saulsbury's recipes trim some fat and calories, but keep the focus on flavor. By substituting cocoa powder and carefully adjusting other ingredients, Saulsbury gets flavor without compromising silky texture.
She begins the book with some chocolate history; you'll have heard this before - the Aztecs and the Maya, Christopher Columbus carrying ti back to Spain, its spread through Europe, and return to the New World with English colonists. She also recounts some recent scientific investigations into the health benefits of chocolate including lowering blood pressure, improving blood flow, decreasing LDL cholesterol, and promoting healthy brain function. And of course, the health benefit that every chocoholic knows, the release of endorphin neurotransmitters that make you just feel good, also know as decreasing stress levels.
What you may not have heard before is Saulsbury's useful explanation of premium chocolate standards, including the percentage levels that measure the amount of cacao (cocoa mass and cocoa butter) by weight in the chocolate and range from 50 to 82 percent in premium brands.
Saulsbury uses mostly cocoa powder in her recipes, noting it has less fat, but tremendous chocolate flavor and lots of antioxidants. Dutch process chocolate, by the way, is treated with alkali, to neutralize the chocolate's natural acidity. But the process destroys some of chocolate's beneficial flavonols and must be used in recipes with baking powder, to replace the lost acid that helps leaven baked goods.
Beyond all the science are Saulsbury's recipes that range from cookies, cakes, pies, and puddings, to include drinks, and a chapter of savory recipes such as grilled pork with a cocoa and rum glaze, a beef stew flavored with cabernet and cocoa, and a cocoa-spiced snack mix sparked with chili powder and cumin.
Morning Mocha may be made with powdered coffee, but uses brown sugar and a dash of vanilla to create a full, round flavor. Saulsbury's other drinks include a chocolate raspberry milkshake, cocoa chai, and a sophisticated Spanish hot chocolate with orange, espresso, and cloves.
Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls are another excuse to eat chocolate for breakfast. The yeast-risen dough is barely sweetened, but dark with powdered cocoa. They take their sweetness from bits of chopped chocolate and a sprinkle of brown sugar.
Brownie Bites are glossy and crisp on the outside, chewy and soft on the inside, just like a good brownie should be, and Saulsbury explores variations on traditional chocolate cakes and cookies, from a Texas Sheet Cake made with buttermilk to delicate Chocolate Madeleines.
Go ahead and enjoy; it's all good for you!
© 2007 Claudia Kousoulas
