Despite all the healthy things I do, say, eat, etc., I am such a chocoholic. Had a bad day? Here’s some chocolate to make it better. Had a good day? Here’s some chocolate, cheers to that!
Chocolate is one of those foods that really shouldn’t exist; it taps into two rare things we humans crave: sugar and fat. My dentist once told me that chocolate confuses the body as it gives it such a boost in both departments, that it doesn’t know what to do (how true this is, I don’t know, nor do I know why my dentist was giving me health advice…). He also said that there’s nothing in the wild that has high fat and high sugar content, and that’s why my addiction continues.
However, the beauty of chocolate is that is comes in many forms. I’ve given dairy-free a try, I’ve been a little addicted to raw chocolate, and now, I’ve come round to making my own. It’s delightful!
My first foray into becoming a raw chocolatier came with the help of Indigo Herbs, who gifted me their Raw Chocolate Making Kit*. While it’s a little heavy on the throwaway packaging, it did teach me that making chocolate is a lot easier than I thought, and has made me pursue making chocolate at home too. What’s great is that these chocolates take the most nutritious ingredients (cacao powder over cocoa powder, agave nectar over refined sugar) and creates chocolate that’s close to the one I normally crave. The vanilla powder also balances the flavour well, meaning I don’t want any perfumey Cadbury’s…
Raw chocolates
Makes 14
100g cacao powder
100g cacao butter
60ml agave nectar
3g vanilla powder
+
Ice cube tray
- In a bain marie (a glass bowl set over a sauce pan with boiling water in it – make sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom!), melt your cacao butter over a low heat
- When the cacao butter is melted, remove from the heat and quickly sieve in your cacao powder
- Stir in the cacao powder, and then add your vanilla powder and agave syrup – I prefer a slightly less sweet raw chocolate (60g agave syrup) but you can add more (100g is very sweet!)
- Once everything is well mixed, pour into your ice cube tray and pop in the fridge or freezer to set
- Leave for 2-4 hours and then try not to eat them all at once!
