Author Archive: Joanna Maligaya
Easy Chocolate Soufflé
November 9, 2011
As much as soufflés sound and look intimidating, they are totally easy and simple to prepare. If done right, they can be served as a savory main dish or a sweet dessert like this Easy Chocolate Soufflé Recipe.
A soufflé is a baked cake with a light and airy texture, basically composed of egg yolks and whipped egg whites along with other uncomplicated ingredients.
The term was derived from the French word 'souffler' which means "to blow up" or "puff up”. In accordance with its name, a soufflé should be puffed up and fluffy when it comes out of the oven.
Ramekins are the conventional container for soufflés but it is still your call where you want it placed. There is an array of soufflé themes, but just because we’re going for the easy one doesn’t mean it’s gonna be any less good!
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Chocolate Festival For A Cause
November 8, 2011
York Technical College's Baxter M. Hood Center (South Carolina) was jam-packed with people last Sunday afternoon to celebrate Keystone Substance Abuse Services' third annual Decadent Dreams Chocolate Festival.
With tickets on hand, people could purchase samples of cookies, cupcakes, and truffles, among many others. They even offered a trip to a tall chocolate fountain. Additionally, they were able to stop over at a chocolate spa and get pampered with a massage using chocolate cake-scented oil.
Those people didn’t only get to satisfy their sweet-tooth cravings but were also able to help a cause. The affair is a fundraiser for the non-profit Keystone, which offers treatment and prevention services for substance abuse in York County.
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The History of Chocolate Chip Cookies
November 3, 2011
Homemade chocolate chip cookies almost always bring a smile to one’s face not only because of its pleasant taste but also because of how we grew up eating them.
What many people don't know is that, like the most renowned inventions, these treats were just accidentally created by Ruth Graves Wakefield back in 1933. Wakefield was the proprietor of the Toll House Inn, which was located on the outskirts of Whitman, Massachusetts. It was a famed place then to get some scrumptious home-cooked meals. Ruth's strategy to provide her patrons an additional serving of entrées for them to take home, along with her homemade cookies as dessert, made the inn all the more popular.
One day, Wakefield was preparing one of her favorite recipes, Butter Drop Do cookies. She commonly made the recipe using bakers’ chocolate, but she realized she had run out of it and only had Nestle semi sweet chocolate on hand. She then thought of utilizing it so she mixed it into the batter thinking it would melt and blend well. The chocolate pieces certainly did not mix like the bakers’ chocolate. Instead, it held its shape and softened to a creamy texture, and the rest is chocolate chip history.
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Chocolate, A Rising Star In Japan
October 28, 2011
Japan’s confectionery world may be centuries late in regards to using cocoa, but they sure are keeping up and doing very well at it. “Japanese chocolate” may still come off as strange, but cocoa is definitely a rising star in Japan. The once foreign flavor is now starting to become a staple.
Japanese chocolatiers and pastry chefs were the star guests at the 17th Salon du Chocolat which was held in Paris. One of them, Susumu Koyama, even won as the "Best Foreign Chocolatier". Japan was able to outshine other renowned chocolate-making nations such as Belgium and Switzerland. Susumu was born to a family of pastry chefs and claims to be relying on “instinct” and “nature” in practicing his passion.
Since chocolate made from the cocoa bean has reached the Land of the Rising Sun 250 years later than the West, almost all of Japan’s famous and well-loved pastries have zero chocolate content. But today, the number of Japanese chocolatiers is on the rise, and Susumu says he is doing his part to heighten the interest of his fellowmen in chocolate even more.
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White Chocolate Tidbits
October 27, 2011
Despite being classified as 'chocolate,' white chocolate isn't truly chocolate. It may be a confectionary derivative of chocolate as it also comes from the same cacao plant, but its manufacturing process is rather different.
Its process for creation initially entails the drawing out of usable items from the cacao bean. Unlike the conventional chocolate that makes use of the cocoa powder ground from the seeds, the white version gets only the cocoa butter.
Even though the preparation of white chocolate has its similarities with dark and milk chocolate, it lacks cocoa paste, liquor, or powder. Thus, it does not contain the significant properties of chocolate such as thiamine, riboflavin, theobromine and phenylethylamine.
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Chocolate-Covered Cherries
October 26, 2011
Chocolate covered cherries have been around for quite a stretch of time already, its origins can be traced back to the 19th century when the recipe was invented by some candy making companies. Many people have it as their favorite, not only because of the pleasure it gives to the palate, but also because of its many nutritional benefits.
Cherries are known for their important nutrients such as beta carotene (19 times more than blueberries or strawberries), magnesium, potassium, fiber, folate, iron and vitamin C. New studies have revealed that a cherry-enriched diet can lower cholesterol, total weight and body fat, especially along the midsection or more commonly known as ‘belly fat’.
The festive seasons are just around the corner and one of the best ways of showing your affection to your loved ones is through gifts. Give these treats and see the joy on their faces.
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Sweet Tooth Equals Sweet Personality?
October 25, 2011
According to a new study, those having a sweet tooth tend to be friendlier. Volunteers who preferred chocolate over a non-sweet food item were found to have a joyous character.
It was found that the most dominant trait these chocolate lovers have is the fondness for helping others in need. However, it is still arguable whether it was due to chocolate’s mood-enhancing effect or just a natural inclination of the recipient. So don’t get too frantic about having chocolates just yet.
"Our taste studies controlled for positive mood so the effects we found are not due to the happy or rewarding feeling one may have after eating a sweet food," said Brian Meiers, a psychology professor at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania.
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Chocolate Milk on Halloween
October 21, 2011
It’s nothing different from the regular white milk, only cocoa-flavored! It has the same nine essential nutrients but with a taste children dearly love. To have a healthier celebration of Halloween this year, the California Milk Processor Board (CMPB) which created ‘Got Milk?’ is encouraging families across all California to make chocolate milk the treat of choice on Oct. 31, instead of the usual unhealthy counterparts. Got Milk?, by the way, is an American advertising campaign encouraging the use of cow's milk. The campaign has been recognized as of great help in milk sales in California.
A little piece of candy here and there may not be harmful, but an average Jack-O-Lantern bucket pretty much holds about 250 pieces of candy, which altogether approximately totals 9,000 calories and have about three pounds of sugar. Imagine that going into your system. Even for adults, it’s a heck of a lot!
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How Milk Chocolate Came About
October 20, 2011
Some of the finest chocolates ever created were made by the Swiss. Around 1876, a candy maker named Daniel Peter of Vevey, Switzerland, invented the first milk chocolate. Initially, he had a problem with removing the water from the milk, which caused mildewing.
He then teamed up with Henry Nestle, a manufacturer of condensed milk. They came up with the idea of adding condensed milk to chocolate liquor which is a nonalcoholic smooth, thick, and liquid form of chocolate. It is the ground or melted state of the nib of the cacao bean, the purest form of chocolate. Milk chocolate became famous and well-loved by consumers by the 1900’s, and still holds true today.
There is an array of milk chocolate forms. Hot cocoa is among the list, it is a cocoa powder mixed with milk and sugar and heated until hot and smooth. This infamous beverage never failed to make people warm and give a sense of comfort. Also included in the list are liquid milk products, powdered milk products, granule and of course, chocolate bars. One can the goodness of milk chocolate hot or cold, hard or soft, practically any way you want.
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