OK, I’ll be honest, I have a bit of a love affair with chocolate at the moment. It comes and goes in random spurts: I can love it and leave it and other times I just constantly have to have it. Milk chocolate used to be my favourite when I was much younger, but as my taste buds have developed over time dark chocolate is now a winner for me. It’s the rich bitter taste that I love so much and the higher the cocoa content the better….hello Lindt 99% dark chocolate.
When I am going through one of my chocolate obsessions, what sees me through is raw chocolate. I’ve tried lots of different raw chocolate brands and believe me there are lots out there now, some have been a complete hit and others, well they’ve fallen by the wayside in comparison. Texture is a big issue for me with raw chocolate as I’ve found that some can taste amazing, but be quite grainy and gritty.
Raw chocolate isn’t exactly delicate on the old bank account because a single bar can be quite expensive, which is why I learnt to make my own. Not only is this the cheaper option, it’s super easy and you can also add whatever you like to change them up and make them your own. When making a recent batch of raw chocolate I wanted something a bit different, feeling inspired by my favourite peanut butter cups I came up with these gorgeous raw chocolate treats.
- 100 g cacao butter
- 100 g cacao powder
- 100 ml agave syrup
- 3 g vanilla powder (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
- 5 tbsp cashew butter
- 2-3 tbsp coconut flour
- 2 tbsp coconut oil melted
- 1-2 tsp agave or honey
- goji berries to decorate (optional)
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Mix together the cashew butter, coconut oil, coconut flour, agave syrup together in a food processor until a crumbly bread crumb mixture forms.
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Take the mixture and place into individual Petite Four cases or moulds, packing it down tightly and leaving 2/3 of the cases/moulds free.
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Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and take off the heat.
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Melt the cacao butter in a bowl over a saucepan of hot boiling water, making sure that the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl.
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Once melted, add the vanilla powder, cacao powder and agave syrup, stirring until the mixture becomes smooth.
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Spoon the liquid raw chocolate over the cashew cookie bases to fill your Petite Four cases or moulds.
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Top each chocolate with a goji berry for decoration.
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Leave on the side to set until the chocolate firms up and becomes solid.
Chocolates will stay fresh in an airtight container kept in the fridge for up to 12 weeks - they can also be frozen.
*** Raw chocolate recipe is taken from a raw chocolate making kit ****
Adapted from Nigella Lawson
These look like cute little chocolate cupcakes, especially with the goji on top masquerading as a cherry. I managed to get 12 raw chocolates from this mixture, but it really depends on how much cashew cookie mix you put on the base and how much chocolate you use to fill the cases. The texture of the cashew cookie mix in the blender should be quite sandy but clumps together when pushed between your fingers. I found that adding half the amount of coconut flour to cashew butter got the right consistency for me, but you can experiment by adding more coconut flour and melted coconut oil to get the consistency that you need.
As easy as they are to make they are even easier to scoff in one go! They store well in the freezer which helped save me from myself, but you can also keep them in an airtight container in the fridge too.
It’s great knowing that during moments when I do want to eat all the chocolate in the world I can also get lots of minerals, antioxidants and nutrients when getting my fix from raw chocolate. Happy chocolate making!
Do you like to make your own chocolates? How bitter do you like your chocolate to be?
*Raw Chocolate Kit was provided by Indigo Herbs, but all opinions and content is my own.
They look amazing, and I have a couple of bars of Lindt left over from Christmas, so might try – not up to making my own chocolate yet…
#UKBloggers
Making raw chocolate does sound daunting, but after doing it once you realise how easy it can be.
oh wow these looks so delightfully made, I will have to add this to my list of to do’s , maybe name it under celery and cupcakes as i seem to get new recipes from you daily lol , could make a cookbook x
Haha! Glad that I can be a source of inspiration for you – it means that I’m doing my job right.
These look ridiculously delicious, Jemma! I’ve been thinking about buying some ingredients to make raw chocolate recently as, you’re right, a tiny bar of raw chocolate is blooming expensive. This honestly sounds right up my street, dark chocolate is my total weakness too.
She’s So Lucy
Thanks Lucy! It’s so easy and cheaper to make your own raw chocolate once you have all of the ingredients in. Hope you like yours if you ever make any.
This looks absolutely delicious hun, you need to bring some over when we meet up next.
I will have to make a batch for you.
Lindt dark chocolate is the best, isn’t it. These sound amazing as well, I am all for raw desserts. Pinning this 🙂
Lindt do make the loveliest chocolate. Thank you for pinning!
I made some chocolates once as I bought the cacao butter so had to really! I used maple syrup as the sweetener but they ended up a bit too sweet for me. I like dark chocolate, but more like 75%!
Getting the sweetness right can be tricky though. I try not to follow the recipe and play around a bit with the sugar content to suit my own tastes.
The cookies look delicious. I like the idea that you don’t have to bake these.
These are so cute! Im with you on the dark chocolate! I recently tried some raw chocolate and it was AWFUL…the best raw chocolate I ever had was home-made…so good!
I love that you have added super foods to these! I have been loving raw chocolate lately too but it certainly is not cheap! I will be trying these for sure!
I’ve never made my own chocolate, but it looks straightforward with the raw chocolate kit! x
Holy COW, these look delicious!!!
These sound so good and I love that you can just store them in the freezer.