Calling All Chocolate Lovers, Start Your Ovens

Eating chocolate and eating light are about to become synonymous. Cooking Light magazine kicks off the Chocolate ProAm, its first nationwide light recipe contest for both home cooks (amateurs) and food professionals (those who make a living from food such as chefs, caterers, restaurateurs, cookbook authors and food writers). The contest is co-sponsored by Hershey.

The idea is simple: create your best light chocolate recipe using a Hersheybs baking product (baking chocolate, candies, chips and bits, cocoa, coconut, peanut butter, syrups and toppings). Three finalists in each categorywPro and Amwwill be flown to Hersheybs Pennsylvania headquarters July 11-14th for the cook-off. Luxurious accommodations at Hotel Hershey will be provided. A team of judges with epicurean expertise, will select one winning recipe in each category based on taste, originality, visual appeal, lightness (of fat and calorie content) and how well they make use of Hersheybs baking products. The first prize in each category is $5,000; second prize, $1,000 and third prize, $500.

Home cooks and food professionals can enter by logging on to CookingLight.com or HersheysKitchen.com and clicking onto the Chocolate ProAm link or by mailing the recipe to: Cooking Light Chocolate ProAm, 2100 Lakeshore Drive, Bimingham, AL, 35209. In addition to the Web sites, official rules can be found on page six in the January/February 2001 issue of Cooking Light. Deadline for entries is March 19, 2001. Finalists will be notified by May 18, 2001.

Founded in 1987, Cooking Light is the largest food and fitness magazine in the country, reaching nearly seven million consumers. Since its inception, the magazine has consistently achieved record-breaking advertising and circulation growth. Cooking Lightbs Web site, CookingLight.com, attracts over 1.5 million unique visitors monthly, providing daily food and fitness updates, healthy recipes and nutrition advice. The Birmingham, AL-based magazine is published by Southern Progress Corporation, a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc.