Paper Palate

Enlightened Chocolate by Camilla V. Saulsbury is so named for its low fat and calorie (all things being relative) take on more than 150 “easy-to-make and inspired recipes using dark chocolate and unsweetened cocoa powder.”

The book is divided into five categories:

1. CHOCOLATE, morning to noon: chocolate granola, three grain chocolate breakfast cereal, power protein smoothies, various muffins, coffee cakes, French toast and pancakes.

2. CHOCOLATE Cookies and Other Petite Treats: standard bar and drop cookies, in addition to English toffee puffs, chocolate Madelines and a few versions of truffles.

3. Let Them Eat CHOCOLATE Cake: chocolate gingerbread, chocolate strawberry shortcakes, maple chocolate chip cupcakes and several other inventive creations.

4. CHOCOLATE Dessert Decadence: chocolate cardamom pots de crème, chocolate panna cotta with tart cherry sauce, chocolate, caramel and rum flan, and more.

5. Savory CHOCOLATE: soups (spiced pumpkin, black bean, Moroccan chickpea, chicken), strawberry and mesclun salad using cocoa powder in the dressing, beef stew, baked beans and a smoky cocoa and cumin-spiced popcorn.

Again, “light” and “low fat” are indeed relative terms. I’m all for reducing the caloric footprint of delicious desserts, but take heed: you cannot eat 3 servings of cocoa cabana pudding cake if you are trying to keep it “light.” At 258 calories and over 4 grams of fat per serving, it’s only lighter.  And in her introduction, Saulsbury points this out.  “Enlightened Chocolate isn’t a diet or health-food book,” she writes.  “The new way of looking at chocolate and cocoa as beneficial ingredients inspired me to look for new ways to use and appreciate them in cooking and baking.”

I chose to try out a recipe for multigrain chocolate chip cookies, something familiar and for which I have a frame of reference, having eaten roughly 1400 oatmeal cookies over the course of my lifetime.  I have made reduced-fat oatmeal cookies in the past that, with the help of applesauce and/or bananas in place of a portion of the butter, achieve much greater chewiness and satisfaction than these ones did. But if you prefer a more cake-like cookie, you will not be disappointed.

More compelling and original than the chapters on cakes, cookies and hot chocolate (I think most people can figure out how to put together a low fat/sugar hot chocolate at this point) is the chapter on Savory Chocolate. With recipes that incorporate chocolate in lettuce wraps, meatloaf, roasted onions and grilled chicken, Saulsbury gives us, as promised, original and inventive ways to use a familiar and much-loved ingredient.  You know, in case you’ve been having trouble figuring out how to get enough chocolate in your daily diet….