Hello my friends,
What are your celebrating these days? My celebration this week is for longer days, warmer temperatures and birds singing their way from 5am at my window. That is a ceremony in itself that needs no wrapping paper. Let’s celebrate love and begin with ourselves, with self acceptance, and self love. In my book of the world, that includes chocolate. Call me a romantic, but it’s how things are. The simplest, yet most effective recipe, is waiting for you. Read about it.
Ever since I discovered raw cacao and carob, chocolate (and life for that matter) has never been the same. When you decide what you put in it, how to mix and have it less than 5 minutes it’s like finding the Holy Grail!
So, what’s the deal with chocolate?
Regular chocolate is processed, mixed with other ingredients, such as soy, to neutralise the slight acidity of the cacao powder used (which is fully heated at that point) and on top it has high levels of sugar. We’re not celebrating that one. Though, the darker the chocolate, the lower the sugar. But still that won’t taste like anything after you taste raw chocolate. All you need is raw cacao powder and a sweetener. Raw cacao powder has not been heated above 42 degrees in the drying process and preserves all its nutritional values and sought after antioxidants. It also tastes completely different.
What about sugar?
I am a big believer in using whole fruit for sweetening as you maintain the fiber, which slows down the sugar absorption in the blood stream, thus making it less likely to give you the sugar high and GI (glycaemic index) spike. At the same time you get the entire segment of nutrients delivered from it, as opposed to a highly processed or refined sugar. Don’t be fooled by the new trends of healthy sugars, such as agave syrup or rice syrup and co. These are heavily processed and are more harmful than “healthier”. If you have a choice, choose the whole food – dry or fresh fruit. I personally love dates and figs and these are the only forms of sweetener I use.
This is your 101 to chocolate experimentation. All you need is some raw cacao powder (you can find it in any health food store these days – yay!), coconut oil, dates and a few spices. Have it by itself or coat some fruits in it. It’s decadent!
Ingredients-makes 10-12 figs-
Chocolate layer
70g raw cacao ( 3-4 spoons)
30g coconut oil (1 spoon)
40g tahini ( 2 spoons)
8 pitted dates (soft)
1 pinch cinnamon
1 pinch salt
Fresh figs or any other fruits you can dip in chocolate
rose petals (edible)* optional
How to:
2. Continue by adding the cacao powder, tahini, coconut oil, cinnamon and salt and blend together. You may need to stop the blender, scrape the walls and put it back on a few times due to the sticky consistency.
3. Take a tea spoon and coat your figs with the mixture, placing them on a plate.
4. Leave in the freezer for 10 minutes for the coconut oil to solidify.
5. Remove from the freezer and place on serving plates. Crack some rose peppercorn on top and rose petals.
6. Enjoy!
And before I sign off, just wanted to mention that there are still a few places left for the Fundamentals of Healthy Eating class on the 1st of March (where there will be chocolate brownies among other goodies!). Early Bird ending today so hurry up 🙂
Until next time, keep loving life!
Much love,
Denisa xxo
