Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Allergy-friendly recipe: Decadent dairy-free chocolate


This decadent chocolate ticks so many boxes for me:

It's a Satisfying Trim Healthy Mama recipe that is dairy-free, sugar-free and nut-free;
It's deliciously chocolatey, and feels so naughty, yet it's actually full of superfoods that mean your body will thank you for eating it;
And it tastes really good.

I can't get enough of this stuff.

What I like about it more than other coconut-oil based chocolate recipes is that it doesn't disappear in my mouth the way they do. The addition of creamed coconut, with all its fibre, means this chocolate has a satisfying weight to it. It also means the chocolate stays hard in the fridge and for quite a while at room temperature too.

If you're not a fan of recipes sweetened by stevia, you might not like this recipe. L and Paul don't like anything I make with stevia. They think it has a weird aftertaste so won't touch this chocolate, but S and I love it a lot.

I've added two optional extra superfoods to this recipe (in addition to the coconut). These are mesquite powder and cacao nibs. Both are antioxidant rich, but quite pricy so I only use them some of the time. I think this recipe is great, with or without them.

A big thank you to my allergy-friendly sponsors, The Coconut Oil Shop and Natvia, who provided ingredients for my test kitchen.

Ingredients
  • 3T coconut butter (Rich Gold Creamed Coconut - just use the fibrous part, not the coconut oil that rises to the top as that's accounted for in the next ingredient)
  • 3T coconut oil
  • 1t vanilla essence or pinch of vanilla paste
  • 3T Natvia (stevia and erythritol blend)
  • 2T dark cocoa
  • Pinch salt
  • 1T mesquite powder, optional
  • 1-2T cacao nibs, optional

Method
1. Melt 3 Tablespoons creamed coconut and 3 Tablespoons coconut oil together on a medium-low heat, using a spoon to break up the lumps of coconut butter.

2. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla essence, 3 Tablespoons Natvia, 2 Tablespoons of dark cocoa, pinch salt and 1 Tablespoon mesquite powder (if using) and whisk or stir for a minute or two over a medium-low heat to thicken.

3. Take saucepan off the heat and continue to whisk or stir for another minute to release heat and thicken.

4. Pour into a plastic container, sprinkle with cacao nibs if using and place in the fridge to set.

5. Slice into squares once cold.

Enjoy!



*Variations:
  1. If you want the chocolate to be more milky, you can add 100mls of stirred coconut milk to the saucepan with the other ingredients and boil it in for a few minutes to thicken. This will result in a richer, more fudge-like taste and texture. I found this version too rich, but S loved it.
  2. You can make a dark peppermint chocolate version simply by adding a dash of natural peppermint essence to the main recipe and stirring through before setting it in the fridge. 

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4 comments:

  1. Is there anything to substitute coconut butter with?Am struggling to find it,have looked everywhere.Can one just use plain butter?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Plain butter wouldn't work the same way. You could try making coconut butter by whizzing up desiccated coconut in a food processor until it is smooth and creamy. Otherwise you can order it through the Coconut Oil Shop, which I've linked above in my recipe.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've used butter when making skinny chocolate and it works fine but I had to switch to unsalted butter then add my own sea salt to taste because mine was too salty.

    ReplyDelete

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