Chocolate Is Healthy

Susie Norris of Happy Chocolates in Los Angeles has just authored a sweet new book, Chocolate Bliss, featuring 24 photos and 38 recipes for healthy and sensual chocolate desserts.

As a former TV producer, pastry chef, chocolate boutique owner and educator, Norris has massive expertise and enthusiasm for chocolate and its health benefits.

“I wanted to offer my enthusiasm for chocolate and teach the surprising ways that chocolate benefits health and happiness,” Norris says. “It’s also a good occasion to share my favorite recipes for the holiday season when fine, handmade chocolate makes an affordable gift of luxury.”

Recipes in Chocolate Bliss include Artisan Caramel Bon Bons and Blueberry Cocoa Nib Crumble.  We can’t wait to check it out.

Chocolatier’s New Book Hits Stands Just in Time for Holidays.

It’s never too early to think about holiday gift giving. Healthy raw chocolate bars, with their organic ingredients and gorgeous packaging, are great for sharing with loved ones.

We’ll continue to provide you with chocolate gift ideas over the coming weeks.   Why? Because they’re delicious, easy to send, and gift recipients won’t believe they’re healthy!

We came across this Pomegranate Acai Bar made by Gnosis Chocolate. It features 100% organic raw ingredients, so you won’t find any refined sugar, dairy, soy, cholesterol or gluten in their products. In this delicious combination, you’ll have the deep satisfaction and therapeutic value of raw, dark chocolate PLUS massive antioxidants from the acai and pomegranate.

Pomegranate Acai Bar.

Have you ever dreamed of being a chocolatier?  Treehugger posted a great review of the Navitas Naturals Organic Chocolate Kit.  This looks like a fantastic gift for the chocolate lover with delicious results. And, Navitas Naturals Chocolate Kits are 100% organic, kosher, vegan, gluten-free, and raw.

The DIY chocolate kit requires no special equipment. The process involves some simple slicing, melting, mixing and freezing, and your chocolates are done in minutes!

The kit contains all organic, raw superfoods including premium cacao, maca, lucuma and mesquite.

Here’s an excerpt from the review:

“All I needed was two smallish bowls, a spoon, a knife, and ice cube tray. Shave and stir, drop in the super berries, pour into ice tray molds, slide into the freezer to set. Within minutes (just like the box promised). Pop them out and there were a dozen perfect little dark chocolate candies. Move out of the way, Whitman’s. Forget, Frangos. So long, Sees. And bye-bye to pre-packaged natural equivalents.

For ten bucks and ten minutes, you, too, can be a chocolatier. No one will guess it’s so easy. As I said, I’m predisposed to chocolate, so when I taste tested one and liked it, and gobbled another, I recognized my bias. The chocolate tasting party would be the judges. “You made these!?” they exclaimed.”

DIY Superfood Chocolates: Good and Good for You, Too? : TreeHugger.

We love finding new ideas for healthy chocolate gifts. Vegan and fair trade, Nicobella chocolates use organic ingredients such as sunflower seed butter, oat milk and fair trade dark chocolate, creating blissful chocolate assortments.  Flavors include walnut flaxseed crunch, sunflower banana butter and ginger green tea.   (The walnut flaxseed was a clear favorite in the review we found below).

“Created by dietitian, nutritionist and yoga instructor Nichole Dandrea, nicobella truffles are made with 70 percent dark chocolate — fair trade, of course — and slightly sweetened with agave nectar and brown rice syrup. Open the package and you’ll be able to identify the flavor of each truffle by the decorative garnish. The Ginger Green Tea truffle, for example, is sprinkled with a green tea powder; the Blueberry Almond truffle has a piece of almond pressed onto a corner.

How do the truffles taste? My favorite of the six is the most crunchy-sounding of the bunch: Walnut Flaxseed Crunch. This decadent truffle had a perfect nutty creaminess — full of Omega-3s, to boot. I also loved the Pumpkin Chia truffle, which tasted like a rich, flavorful pie covered in chocolate, and the Ginger Green Tea truffle, which had a fierce ginger kick that made it the most intense of the six.”

Chocolate truffles made vegan, organic, fair trade and tasty!