Some confectional wisdom for chocolate lovers

The thing about chocolate is that some people can't get enough of the stuff. And it turns out that the food once vilified as causing everything from acne to migraines (experts say it does neither) can legitimately claim several health benefits. Three tomes have been added to the chocolate literature, offering new twists on classics and some novel creations.

Lori Longbotham, a former ''Gourmet" editor, is so enthusiastic about chocolate in ''Luscious Chocolate Desserts" (Chronicle Books, $19.95), it's hard not to be caught up in it with her. Longbotham devotes nearly 30 pages to her chocolate awakening, a short history of chocolate, its healthful properties, and other basics.

The rest of this relatively small volume is recipes, which range from a mocha brownie pudding cake to dark chocolate tart. None are too fancy or complicated;many, like Chanterelle's chocolate souffl cake, are elegant. Head notes introducing recipes -- usually at the top of a page -- are at the bottom here in a light typeface, so they seem like an afterthought and the ''chocolatiest" crinkle cookies were disappointing.

But Longbotham's chatty asides are very interesting, particularly when she describes ''the original chocolate decadence," a dessert that changed her life.

Lora Brody's ''Chocolate American Style" (Clarkson Potter, $35) is the most comprehensive of the three. The 122 recipes offer everything from candy to ice cream with an extensive chocolate primer.

Nearly half the pages are the color of milk chocolate with white type. The others are white with brown type. Rather than being gimmicky, it makes you want to start baking.

We made Boston cream pie, with an irresistible chocolate pastry cream, pistachio brownies, different enough to be special, and an Oreo-crusted white chocolate mousse torte, a show stopper.

Brody, who lives in the Boston area, drew on local specialties. One is ''The Big Dig," a massive ice cream sundae concoction named for everyone's favorite public works project. In a note on the chocolate raspberry torte, Brody lists things that go together naturally (as in chocolate and raspberries); she includes the Red Sox and aggravation. You can take that pairing off the list.

In 2004, the magazine Time Out New York voted Chocolate Bar, in the West Village, ''best chocolate store." The shop's founders, Matt Lewis and Alison Nelson, have now written ''Chocolate Bar: Recipes and Entertaining Ideas for Living the Sweet Life" (Stonesong Press, $24.95), which is hip and fun, full of ideas for entertaining around chocolate.

Chapters include ''Chocolate, the Life of the Party," and ''Chocolate Is Not Going to Kill You." A section entitled ''Swank Stuff" offers ideas for parties, like a winter gathering with a hot chocolate bar and Mexican mole. Among the 39 recipes is one for a chocolate body scrub. Easy peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate ganache, looking irresistible on the cover, taste as good as promised. Chocolate fantasy tower cake, however, takes a daunting four pages to explain.

One caveat: If you rely on an index to find recipes, this one may frustrate you. Johnny Walker chocolate pudding is not under ''J," ''W," ''C," or ''P." It's under ''D," for desserts. Spiced cocoa meatballs and mole skewers are under ''A," for appetizers. Perhaps that's the entertainment side of this book.