www.light-food-full-of-flavour.com

"All you need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt." (Charles M. Schulz).

Ok, it's dark chocolate with a high cocoa content (70% or more) that is healthy. It's the cocoa that contain the healthy nutrients and the more you dilute it with dairy and sugar etc, the less healthy it is unfortunately.

Dark chocolate - with 70% or more cocoa content:

• Is loaded with different minerals

• Has a decent amount of fibre

• Has a wide variety of powerful antioxidants

There is still some sugar in dark chocolate and a relatively high amount of calories so health-wise and weight-wise it's best to eat it in moderation.

I have personally gone from consuming (gasp!) two 100g (3 1/2 oz) milk chocolate bars per day in my early twenties to what I eat today, about 4-5 squares of a 80% chocolate bar per day.

It's the large cocoa content that makes this much smaller amount enough to satisfy my chocolate cravings.

Cacao versus Cocoa

I use raw cacao powder when I make my own raw chocolate truffles - combining the cacao powder with coconut oil, honey and ground walnuts.

raw-chocolate-truffles.html

Chocolate Cakes and Desserts

I make a lot of desserts in my job as a chef, as well as bake cakes, and I use chocolate for some of them.

As I use good quality chocolate with a high cocoa content for both cakes and desserts, I find that people I cook for are satisfied with smaller portions and smaller-sized cakes.

Actually, it often makes them happy if they have already eaten both a starter and main course to see that the dessert is small as they don't want to miss out, especially if it's a chocolate dessert!

A Very Tasty Chocolate Mousse

The method you use to melt the chocolate is somewhat unusual - you melt it in honey and oil. I have used both organic sunflower oil and Extra virgin olive oil for this.

For the mousse:

150g, 5 1/2oz, dark 70% chocolate

50ml, 2fl oz, 0.2 cup, sunflower or Extra virgin olive oil

50ml, 2fl oz, 0.2 cup, runny honey

2 organic eggs

250ml, 9fl oz, 1 cup, double/whipping cream

To serve;

fresh raspberries

1. Place a heavy/thick bottomed pan over a LOW heat and add the oil, honey and chocolate broken into pieces. Keep stirring until the chocolate has melted. As soon as the chocolate has melted, take the pot of the heat and leave to cool a little.

2. Add the eggs to the melted chocolate and stir them through.

3. Lightly whip the cream into soft peaks in a separate bowl, until it has slightly thickened and increased in volume. 4. Add the whipped cream to the chocolate and stir it though until all the cream has been incorporated into the chocolate.

5. Divide the mousse into individual cups/bowls, cover and leave to rest in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving. Add the raspberries before serving.

Happy cooking!