Yummy!! the best Chocolate I have ever tried! Tastes just like ‘Fruit and Nut’ bars
I have been playing around with making a really good quality chocolate, something that anyone would like if they were lovers of chocolate. I have made things in the past that were either too sweet or not sweet enough. This recipe I believe is just perfect!
I wanted to include all the benefits of each ingredient so that you can realise that chocolate is NOT unhealthy if made raw and with ingredients like this. In fact, it can be a complete superfood bursting with nutrients and if you had to go out quickly, taking some of this with you to munch on could make you have the best day packed full of energy!
Let me tell you why!
It is made with:
buckwheat – buckwheat is thought of as a ’superfood’ Dr Perricone who is a famous author and creator of his own range of skin care products was recently on the Oprah show and said that: ”Buckwheat has more protein than rice, wheat, millet, or corn, and is high in the essential amino acids lysine and arginine, in which major cereal crops are deficient. Its unique amino acid profile gives buckwheat the power to boost the protein value of beans and cereal grains eaten the same day. Yet, buckwheat contains no gluten—the source of protein in true grains—and is therefore safe for people with gluten allergy or celiac disease”
Coconut oil (coconut oil has a list of benefits a mile long)
In a nutshell, offers benefits like:
Promoting your heart health Promoting weight loss when and if you need it Supporting your immune system health Supporting a healthy metabolism Providing you with an immediate energy source Helping to keep your skin healthy and youthful looking Supporting the proper functioning of your thyroid glandRaw Chocolate Powder – Raw chocolate powder contains a massive amount of antioxidants ORAC antioxidant laboratory analysis confirms that there are over 25,200 antioxidants in a single spoonful of raw cacao powder!
Raw Carob Powder – Carob contains as much vitamin B1 as asparagus or strawberries; as much niacin as lima beans, lentils, or peas; and more vitamin A than aubergine, asparagus, and beetroots. It also contains vitamin B2, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and the trace minerals iron, manganese, chromium, copper, and nickel. It contains approximately 8% protein and is a good source of fibre. Compared to chocolate, carob is three times richer in calcium, has one third less calories and seventeen times less fat.
Maca Powder - is a very densely nutritious food that contains high amounts of vitamins, minerals, enzymes and all the essential amino acids (so often hard to obtain from a single non-flesh food). The amino acid content of this plant gives it an average bioavailable protein content of around 14% of the entire weight of the plant. Maca certainly has an impressive array of minerals, with notably high levels of bioavailable calcium. The vast majority of people today eat food that is lower in minerals than our wild foods of yesteryear. Maca’s high-mineral content can help top up your mineral stores in a tasty enjoyable way. On top of that, maca also contains trace amounts of the hard-to-find vitamin B12 (though not enough to rely on by itself). Maca also supports the adrenals.
Purple Corn Flour - has higher antioxidant capacity and antiradical kinetics than blueberries and higher or similar anthocyanin and phenolic contents.
Raw Honey –
Flavonoids are powerful antioxidants that boost a strong healthy balance and increase energy. One antioxidant flavonoid, pinocembrin, may be unique to honey, providing even more optimum health benefits. Another antioxidant flavonoid, pinostrobin, helps to support enzyme activity in the body. Antioxidant-rich organic acids provide honey with a slightly acidic pH that reinforces more healthful wellbeing. Amino acids found in honey are nature’s building blocks of protein.Organic Walnuts - When it comes to their health benefits, walnuts definitely are not a hard nut to crack. This delicious nut is an excellent source of omega-3 essential fatty acids, a special type of protective fat the body cannot manufacture. Walnuts’ concentration of omega-3s (a quarter-cup provides 90.8% of the daily value for these essential fats) has many potential health benefits ranging from cardiovascular protection, to the promotion of better cognitive function, to anti-inflammatory benefits helpful in asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory skin diseases such as eczema and psoriasis. In addition, walnuts contain an antioxidant compound called ellagic acid that supports the immune system and appears to have several anticancer properties.
Vanilla Bean – thought to be an aphrodesiac!
So there you have it, every single ingredient is INCREDIBLE for us………..you can really and truly have a big piece of this EVERY DAY!
Now for the actual recipe!
1/2 cup of buckwheat ‘crispies’ (soaked groats for a few hours, then dehydrated until crispy – 7 hours)
1 cup of virgin coconut oil
2 tablespoons of raw chocolate powder
2 tablespoons of raw carob powder
2 tablespoons of maca powder
2 tablespoons of purple corn flour
1 tablespoon of raw honey
1/2 cup of raisins
1/2 cup of walnuts
1 vanilla bean
Melt Coconut oil and honey in a container (like glass jar) and then put container in a bowl of warm water so that it turns to liquid. You could heat over stove but be very careful its not too hot you want to preserve all the enzymes and nutrients – this is what raw food is all about. Stir in the powders, corn flour and place in blender with vanilla bean (its ok to add it in whole) mix till its smooth.
Pour into a bowl and stir in walnuts and raisins.
If you have a fairly big deep dish (of any shape) pour it in so that its about 1 cm thick. You don’t want it too thick as its suppose to be cut into bite sized pieces like the original fruit and nut bars that cadbury makes.
Let set in fridge and when its hard, take out and cut into pieces of your desired size.
You can add other nuts or dried fruit, things like dried goji berries etc, basically try this recipe first then the next time add things to it to make it a bit different. I want to add some mint extract to my next batch!
Keep in fridge in sealed container.
Enjoy!!!
I made a huge batch today and have already eaten about 5 big bits! When I tried it I was very excited because I have finally got the recipe right and I know any chocolate lover of dark chocolate would agree that its fab!
I got all my powders and flour ingredients from the wonderful www.detoxyourworld.com
And I always buy my dried (sulphur dioxide free) fruit and nuts from the marvellous Abel and Cole:
http://www.abelandcole.co.uk/kitchen-cupboard/dried-fruits-nuts-seeds
