Cooking With Chocolate

Sally Cooks With Chocolate

Anyone that knows me, knows I love chocolate. And I also love cooking. So combining the two is my seventh heaven. You’ll find blog after blog of my chocolate recipes. Chocolate brownies, chocolate cakes, chocolate mousse, chocolate puddings, chocolate cookies, hot chocolate, chocolate ice cream, and even some savory dishes such as my chocolate chili.

If there’s one thing guaranteed to get the kids interested in learning a few life skills, is a day in the kitchen cooking with chocolate. And making my favourite Chocolate Barbecue Chicken and Decorated Chocolate Cupcakes.

Aside from making me feel GREAT, when I tuck into my homemade chocolate creations, it also makes me feel perhaps even SMUG to know that chocolate is also doing me some good. Because, in reasonable quantities, chocolate (and in particular, semisweet and bittersweet chocolate) is good for you. Really? Oh, yes! Read on.

Chocolate Makes You Feel Good

It’s not just that cooking with chocolate makes me happy. But eating it also does too. Of all the foods that people love and genuinely crave, chocolate has to be up there at number 1 on the list.

Well, it’s not that I am just a fiendishly greedy woman with a lack of self-control who ought to know better – there’s actually a scientific reason as to why I want to tuck into at the very least a few pieces a day.

And that’s because chocolate triggers endorphins. Let’s keep the science level basic, but endorphins interact with brain receptors to help create positive wellbeing and reduce pain.

And, when you eat chocolate dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin are also released which are our other happy neurotransmitters.

Favorite Chocolate Recipes From My Blog

Carolina Chocolate Sheet Cake

Sally January 30, 2021

If you love chocolate, I’ve got a classic southern recipe for you that’s perfect to serve a crowd. This rectangular, frosted chocolate cake is often called a Texas Sheet Cake

Smores Brownie Pie

Sally January 22, 2021

My Smores Brownie Pie, is made up of a graham cracker crust, a brownie layer topped with Hershey’s chocolate bars and finally a marshmallow layer.

Chocolate Dirt Pudding

Sally January 21, 2021

This is a dessert that will be popular with both the big and little kids in your life. I think the first time I experienced

Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

Sally January 20, 2021

Here’s your excuse to eat chocolate for breakfast in the form of my Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake. This dense cake pairs perfectly with

Double Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies

Sally January 15, 2021

Make these delicious cookies for Halloween or all year around. Switch out the sweet chocolate for semi-sweet for a healthier and more adult version. What

Health Benefits

I’m not just making it up, chocolate has some real health benefits. That’s because cocoa is one of the few ingredients in the world to contain flavonoids. High blood pressure can lead to stroke, heart disease, and dementia. But healthy flavonoids improve vascular flow by widening the arteries.

It’s thought that chocolate can also improve your memory. And there’s no doubting that semi and bittersweet chocolate contains oodles of iron, magnesium, copper, potassium, phosphorus, and zinc.

All of which makes my guilty pleasure – well, a little less guilty.

Tips & Tricks For Cooking With Chocolate

In my Sally Cooks blogs, I’ll share with you some of my favourite old school recipes. Chocolate is not always the most forgiving of ingredients. Many a time, I’ve had to throw away a big old bowl of chocolate that has split. To save you the stress I make my recipes as easy to follow as possible and give you tips and skills for tempering chocolate.

I also like to make healthy recipes and you’ll find that small quantities of semisweet and bittersweet are perfect for giving that delicious chocolaty flavor to recipes. So, just a few chocolate chips when baking cakes – in my eyes – is just what the doctor ordered.