Chocolate Mania

Chocolate Truffles Recipe

12 oz bittersweet chocolate, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tb sugar
2 tb butter
8 oz coarsely chopped toasted pecans
1/2 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder

Lightly butter an 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Combine chocolate, cream and sugar in a heavy medium saucepan. Melt together, over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. When chocolate has melted, add butter and continue to stir over low heat until mixture has thickened lightly. This should take about five minutes.

Add nuts and cook for two minutes longer. Spread hot mixture onto prepared baking pan and set in fridge for 15 minutes or until cool but still pliable. When cool, break off pieces of chocolate and roll them in your hands forming rough 3/4-inch rounds (they should look rough and uneven to simulate real truffles).

Roll them in cocoa powder and refrigerate until serving time.

An everyday ratio of dark bitter chocolate could help prevent heart disease, according to a study by a team of Swiss researchers. The Swiss researchers say that the antioxidants from chocolate could prevent the blood veins from becoming smaller and less wide.

The research team came to this conclusion after testing on a group of 20 volunteers which were smokers without health problems. The subjects were asked not to eat any types of foods rich in antioxidants such as apples, onions, and cabbage. They were given 40 grams of different types of chocolate.

Two hours after consuming the chocolate, the echo-graph showed that dark chocolate with a cocoa percentage of at least 74% significantly improved the blood flow. Additionally, ulterior tests showed that the risk of encountering blood accidents and blockages has been decreased to half of the initial risk. However, white chocolate did not achieve similar effects. The researches that performed the study say that dark chocolate contains the biggest quantity of antioxidants for one gram than any other products such as green tea.

Chocolate is an indulgance that has many antioxidant elements in it. But it also contains fats and glucoses in huge quantities. So even though it can be helpful to prevent heart disease, it can cause weight problems if excessively consumed. The best thing to do is to adjust your chocolate intake portion to your actual weight and to the amount of physical effort you make everyday. People who are more active can consume more chocolate without fearing weight gain problems.