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La Cucina di Betty: Chocolate, it's the craving that won't go away
Topics: chocolate, cooking, candy
Anonymous user Tue Aug 8, 2006 11:38:06 PDT
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0 responses 0 comments Chocaholics: people who are addicted to chocolate. Are you a chocoholic? Take a moment to answer these questions:
Have you successfully avoided ever giving M&M’s a chance to melt in your hand? 
Is one of your daily forms of exercise prying the lid off of a carton of chocolate ice cream? 
Do you bring sick friends chocolates just so you can share with them? 
Do you eat refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough because you can’t wait long enough to bake them? 
Is  your idea of foreplay a bag of Hershey Kisses?
If you answered “yes” to the above questions, consider yourself a chocoholic.
I am not embarrassed to say that I am a chocoholic.
Chocolate has been a part of my diet ever since I can remember. When I was a kid, I ate chocolate because I liked it. I wasn’t concerned about reading the nutritional panel to count carbs or calories. I do read them now, but you know what, it doesn’t stop me from eating chocolate.
I have to have a chocolate fix every day. Whether it is a chocolate cookie, chocolate candy or chocolate ice cream, I have it readily available.
Eating chocolate just keeps me in a better mood. True chocolate lovers understand this.
I remember how I looked forward to Halloween as a young child. Candy wasn’t as plentiful as it is now and my sisters and I couldn’t wait to go trick-or-treating and get all the candy we could.
We would visit many blocks of houses to get candy and then we would come home to do the trade. I would trade out anything and everything for the chocolates. We used to get many apples in our bags and nobody wanted them. Today, I know apples can be dipped in chocolate. Had I only known that back then!
I have many dessert recipes which call for chocolate. Today’s baking chocolates are more sophisticated than the simple Baker’s baking squares that our mothers baked with.
The new wave chocolates are more flavorful and come in many varieties and blends. I like buying baking chocolates at Trader Joe’s and Cost Plus World Market. My favorites are Lindt, Valrhona and Scharflenberger.
Still, when the mood strikes and I am out of my favorites I will use Nestle’s baking chocolates.
I would like to share with you three of my favorite chocolate recipes.
My first and favorite is my recipe for chocolate chip cookies. I have prepared various chocolate chip cookies throughout the years, but this recipe has become my family’s favorite.
This chocolate chip cookie recipe comes from Shirley Preutt. Shirley is the mother of two of my Southwest friends,  Anne Busacca and Jane Underhill. Mrs. Pruett shared a darling story that came along with the recipe. She told me that her son, Blair, just loved these cookies when he was in high school, so on Fridays she would make a huge batch in honor of BHS Friday night football. Her son would bring fellow Drillers over after the games for cookies and milk. Is that every mother’s dream child, or what?
My oldest daughter’s favorite is chocolate molten cake. These cakes are simple to make and delicious.
With the current warm weather, ice cream is making its seasonal debut. This Häagen-Dazs ice cream cake is perfect and refreshing. 
Hope these recipes are all ones you will make again and again. Whether it is a special occasion or just dinner with the family, who can resist the lure of chocolate?

E-mail Betty at: jchicca@bak.rr.com

These rich chocolate cakes have a pocket of chocolate sauce inside. My daughter Briana makes them when she is away at school. She has found that you can use Hershey’s semi-sweet chocolate chips and get the same delicious cake without the extra cost of the finer chocolate.

Warm Molten Chocolate Cakes
    7 ounces semi-sweet chocolate (Valrohna or Scharfenberger)
•    5 ounces butter (1-1/4 sticks butter)
•    3 large eggs
•    3 large egg yolks
•    1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•    1-1/2 cup powdered sugar
•    1/2 cup flour
Additional powdered sugar for dusting
Spray with Pam the bottoms and sides of six small ramekins. Set aside. Using the top of a double boiler, put the chocolate and butter in over low heat. Melt until smooth. Cool slightly. In a mixer, whisk the eggs, the yolks and vanilla, add the powdered sugar and continue blending at medium speed for five minutes. Then add the chocolate mixture, very slowly, add the flour, blend until flour is blended in. Transfer the batter to ramekins. Fill just below the top and divide equally. (Can make one day ahead, cover and refrigerate.)
Bake the cakes in a preheated 425-degree oven until the batter has risen. The top edges will be dark brown and the centers still soft and runny (about 15 minutes; 18 minutes if refrigerated). Run a small knife around the edges to loosen if necessary. Allow the cakes to rest for five minutes. To remove from the molds, place a plate on top of each and invert onto the plate. Then I like to carefully flip back over. Repeat with remaining cakes. Dust with powdered sugar. Serve with a dollop of sweetened whip cream or vanilla ice cream. Serves six.

Häagen-Dazs Ice Cream Cake
•    20 Mother’s Double Fudge Cookies
•    2 tablespoons butter, melted
•    1 quart Häagen-Dazs coffee ice cream, softened
•    1 quart Häagen-Dazs chocolate ice cream, softened
•    6 1.4-ounce Heath candy bars, crumbled
•    1 14.5-ounce Smucker’s Dove milk chocolate ice cream topping
Using food processor, crumble the cookies and add the butter, mix together well. Press into the bottom of a 10- or 12-inch spring- form pan. Add the coffee ice cream and smooth the top. Freeze for approximately two hours until the ice cream is firm. Spread 1/2 of  the jar of fudge sauce over the ice cream. Add three crumbled candy bars. Freeze for 30 minutes.  Add the chocolate ice cream, smoothing out the top. Freeze for about two hours, then add the remainder of the sauce and remainder of the candy.
I like to leave one ice cream carton out on the counter to soften. The other I put in the refrigerator. This cake can be made a week in advance, keeps for a long time in the freezer, cover with foil or in an air-tight container. Expensive to make, but well worth it. So good! Serves 12-plus

Chocolate Chip Cookies
•    3 cups all purpose flour
•    1 teaspoon baking soda
•    1 teaspoon salt
•    1 cube butter
•    1/2 cup Crisco shortening
•    1 cup granulated sugar
•    1 cup packed brown sugar
•    1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•    2 eggs
•    2 cups semi–sweet chocolate chips
•    1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside. Beat the butter, Crisco shortening, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla, in a large mixing bowl. Add eggs, beat well, gradually beat in the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets (I like to bake my cookies on parchment paper). Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool and enjoy. Makes three dozen.

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