Chai Chocolate Rounds with Candied Ginger

I just really love chai flavors. It’s probably one of the reasons why Indian cuisine is one of my favorites. And you know what I love more than chai? Chocolate!!!! Combining the two was really a no brainer. So here you are friends, my latest chocolate creation, just in time for Valentines Day. Because if you love yourself or someone else, you surely want whats best, and what is better than home made refined sugar free chocolate? I rarely turn down chocolate, even the higher quality store bought one with sugar in it, but if given the choice, I will always go for a home made nutritionally beneficial option.

These little chocolates are so easy to make. I used silicone cupcake molds, but you could use actual chocolate molds, or even an ice cube tray. Just don’t fill that one up to the top unless you want a really thick chocolate!

If chai isn’t your thing, you can always play around with the flavors! Creativity is welcome here 🙂

 

Ingredients:

• 100 g. of cacao butter
• 1/8 cup coconut butter
• 1/2 cup cacao powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/4 tsp clove powder
• 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
• 1/4 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp orange zest
• dash of himalayan sea salt
• 2 TBS agave
• 2-3 TSBP thinly chopped candied ginger (optional, for a pure refined sugar free option) I have made these chocolates with freshly grated ginger and that was tasty also!

Steps:

• put all ingredients except ginger in a double boiler, or a bowl over a hot pot of water
• whisk together until all melted and well combined
• pour in molds, add a few pieces of ginger per mold, and freeze until hard
• depending on size of molds they can be done in a little as 30 minutes!!!
• keep in fridge or freezer until ready to eat

 

For some of my other Valentines Inspired recipes click here:

Fudge Balls:

https://anaboreal.wordpress.com/2015/02/20/cherry-cacao-fudge-balls/

Raspberry Ice Cream:

https://anaboreal.wordpress.com/2015/02/14/vegan-raspberry-ice-cream-with-peanut-butter-chocolate/

Pistachio Delight and Nutella Divine:

https://anaboreal.wordpress.com/2015/02/07/pistachio-delight-and-nutella-divine/

Gianduja Chocolates:

https://anaboreal.wordpress.com/2014/12/24/gianduja-chocolate/

 

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Persimmon Pudding

Thick, creamy, silky, rich and unctuous, this little pudding got our tastebuds dancing!! I made this for our in house date night treat. When we feel like it’s been too long since we’ve gone on a date, we satisfy our need for connection with a little in house intentional time. It always includes a home made treat 🙂

It’s persimmon central at my house. I just can’t seem to ever buy enough at the farmers market, and just like bananas, when they start becoming too ripe to eat as is, there are so many fun recipes to create with them!!

This pudding was so easy and quick to make. A few ingredients, a blast of the blender and some spoonfuls later you are on your way to gastronomy heaven. And then, to really bring this dessert over the top, I added a square of some divinely tasty and healing chocolate. A Purified Life makes beautiful artisanal chocolates infused with healing and medicinal mushrooms. If you need an extra reason to eat chocolate other than the fact that it’s amazing, has numerous health benefits and lots of nutrients (antioxidants, calcium, magnesium, to name a few), eat A Purified Life’s chocolates, because she brings it over the top with her masterfully blended ingredients in order to provide us with the most satisfying cacao experience while healing our bodies at the same time.

http://www.apurifiedlife.com/superfood-chocolate/

While you wait for your chocolate order to ship, you should still whip up this pudding, add your own chocolate or eat it without.

Ingredients:

• 2 very ripe persimmons (hachiya or fuyu)
• 1/2 cup coconut water (or nut milk)
• 2 medjool dates (optional but oh so delicious!)
• 2 frozen bananas (not frozen is fine but I really love the texture that frozen bananas give)
• 1/2 cup coconut cream (the thick stuff in the can; or if you are up for it and have it on hand, replace that with fresh young coconut meat)

 

Steps:

• put first 4 ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth
• add coconut cream and keep blending until smooth
• pour in a glass or bowl, top it with fresh persimmon and chocolate if you like
• give a kiss to who ever you sharing this with and enjoy!!

 

Luxurious Chocolate Chai Latte

Just as the title states, luxurious, hint of chocolate, creamy and decadent, this beverage is a weekend treat. After making my Black Tea Mocha a few months back, I knew I was on to something with replacing coffee for tea in all the specialty coffee drinks. I like coffee, but I prefer tea. My warm beverage drinking world has opened up even wider!

This is a perfect fall beverage. While I enjoy chai tea at any time of the year, I feel more drawn to it during the fall and winter months because of all the warming spices. And if you’ve been following me for a while now, you have surely caught on to what a chocoholic I am, so naturally finding ways to sneak that delicious superfood in where ever I can has become quite a skill 😉

And lastly let’s not forget about what makes this drink so luscious: coconut butter. That’s right. I’ve been using coconut butter in drinks for a while now to add healthy fats and decadence. A winner every single time.

While I would love to say I get to enjoy this beverage quietly in a cozy chair while reading a book, the truth is, I generally have 3 minutes to myself before I have to brace the cup and raise it high above my head while I get jumped on by one of my children, or shoved off my seat by another or even just have the cup grabbed out of my hand because “Can I have some?”. In any case, how ever you get to enjoy this Latte, it is well worth it and will put a smile on your face 🙂

Ingredients:

• 2 cups steeped and strained chai tea (I buy mine in bulk and prefer the slightly spicy kind)
• 1 cup almond milk (or any other milk), for this drink I used almond coconut milk that I had just made, and it was such a divine choice 🙂
• 1.5 TBS coconut butter OR 3TBS coconut cream (the rich stuff from a can)
• 2-3 dates
• 1-2 tsp cacao powder (Depending on how chocolatey you want it)

Steps:

• Put everything in blender and blend on high until you get a little foam at the top
• pour and enjoy!

Home made Chocolate Chunks (or chips)

I like to use chocolate in a lot of things. And although I do buy dark chocolate chips, sometimes grain sweetened chocolate chips, for baking, I prefer to use my own if I have some. I try to keep some of my home made stuff handy for ice creams, raw desserts, granola bars, smoothies, etc… I like doing this, not only because it is cheaper, but also because it is refined sugar free and I can choose how dark or fruity or nutty, i want the chocolate to be. Here is a very simple recipe that I tweak every now and then depending on what I am going for.

Ingredients:

• 3 oz or 85 gr of raw cacao butter
• 2 1/2 oz or 70 gr of raw cacao powder
• 2 1/2 TBS agave nectar

Steps:

• In a double boiler melt the cacao butter
• turn off the heat and add the cacao powder and agave and whisk well
• pour in a shallow dish with some parchment paper and set in the freezer for about20-30 minutes
• pull out and cut into desired pieces
• store in a container in the fridge until ready to use
• easy right?!

Vegan Raspberry Ice Cream with Peanut Butter Chocolate

Happy Valentines Day!!! This treat is more delicious than the title suggests. “More” because it is soooo creamy and dreamy that you wouldn’t guess it’s vegan.

I bought some out of season, over priced, still pretty tasty, raspberries earlier this week because I really wanted to make this Valentines Day treat for my kids. Every now and then I go out of my habitual seasonal produce shopping because what I have in mind sounds so delicious that I must make it, like really soon. And I am so glad I did not wait for spring to make this!!

This guilt free silky smooth indulgence paired with the amazingly deliciously simple crunchy peanut butter chocolate hearts made for a perfect Valentines for my family last night (although I will not wait a whole year to make it again 😉 )

Ingredients for raspberry ice cream:

• 1 cup raspberries
• 1 cup soaked cashews (30 minutes in hot water, or 4 hours in cold water)
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 cup almond milk
• 2 TBS lucuma (optional but it adds to the creamy texture)
• 1 cup coconut milk cream (the full fat cream that comes in cans)

Steps:

• put first 5 ingredients in the blender and blend on high until super creamy and nuts completely broken down
• add the coconut cream and finish blending
• if using an ice cream maker, follow directions for that
• if you don’t have an ice cream maker you can freeze these in ice cube trays and once frozen put them in a food processor or blender to create a nice cold mixture. (You might need to add a little liquid if doing it in the blender.)

This is so tasty that you don’t have to make it into ice cream! You can just eat it straight out of the blender as a yogurt substitute!

While waiting for ice cream, make your chocolate hearts.

Ingredients for chocolate hearts:

• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup cacao powder
• 2 TBS natural crunchy peanut butter
• 2 TBS honey or other liquid sweetener (adjust according to desired sweetness).

Steps:

• in a saucepan, put the coconut oil and barely heat it up. Just enough to get it to starts melting.
• Turn off the heat and add all ingredients except for honey.
• Mix well until uniform
• add the honey and mix until honey is very well incorporated in the mixture
• pour in little heart shaped molds if you have them, if not you can pour this in anything (Ice cube trays, small containers, large containers), and set in the freezer to set
• the small molds I have only take about 10-15 minutes to set

Gianduja Chocolate

Fudge-y, rich, nutty and decadent, this chocolate reminds me of my childhood. Growing up my parents didn’t usually keep sweets in the house, we would go across the way to my grandma’s house who had a cupboard with a nice stash of treats for us every time we came over. And one of them were gianduja chocolates. They came in a bar shape, “lingots” in french, wrapped in gold paper with the word gianduja written on it. I loved these little gold treats. My grandma, a true Cordon Blue, always had nicer taste in food, and same went for the sweets she got us. We didn’t get the typical french kid candy, Haribo and Kinder, we got Lindt and Werthers, and yes, gianduja 🙂

This recipe is not mine. My sister in law found it and passed it on to me. You can imagine my excitement when I saw the words Gianduja and then realized that this recipe was raw and free of refined sugars. A healthy alternative to one of my childhood favorites that still tastes amazing?? Heck yeah! I couldn’t wait to try this. Thank you Viviana for finding this recipe 🙂

As usual, it’s hard for me to stick entirely to a recipe, no matter how great it originally is 😉 I barely tweaked this one, mainly because of what I had on hand but also because it called for twice the sweetener that I chose to put in.

If you have all the ingredients, this is so easy to make for full fudgey chocolate satisfaction.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup raw cacao butter, melted
• 2 tsp pure vanilla powder
• 1 tsp hazelnut extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 raw cup honey
• 1 cup raw cacao powder
• 1/2 cup raw hazelnut butter
• 1 cup roughly chopped hazelnuts

Steps:

• In a double boiler melt the cacao butter
• add that to your blender with the vanilla and hazelnut extract
• blend well
• add all other ingredients except for nuts
• blend
• pour in a bowl with hazelnuts, mix well
• lightly grease a 9 inch pan with coconut oil
• pour chocolate
• put in fridge to set for about 20-30 minutes
• cut in desired shape
• try not to eat it all in one sitting

Chocolate Pudding? Or Fudge?

Last night I was craving chocolate. As a chocoholic, that’s most nights for me 🙂 And as a true chocoholic I wanted my fix quickly. This pudding is SO quick if you have all the ingredients on hand. Which I did 🙂 It takes less than 8 minutes to make. Whaaa?!?!

What I love about this other than the rapidity of it, is that it completely changes consistency after letting it sit in the fridge for a couple hours(if it makes it that long). I get smooth silky pudding right off the bat, and then something more fudgey like….. It becomes thick and rich and just so yummy.

Oh and yes, in true Pamplemousse style, it is under my standards of healthy.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups grain sweetened chocolate chips (no refined sugars) but if all you got is regular chocolate chips, it’ll work just as beautifully
• 14 oz organic silken tofu
• 3 TBS maple syrup
• dash of salt
• 2 TBS coconut oil (totally optional, I just have a tendency to add coconut oil to a lot of my food)
• 1tsp cinnamon (again, optional but my daughter LOVES cinnamon, so it goes in a lot of things as well)

Steps:

• In a double boiler melt the chocolate with the maple syrup
• once all is melted turn off heat, add the coconut oil and mix until melted
• in a food processor blend the tofu with the cinnamon and salt
• add melted chocolate
• blend until well combined
• you got yourself a treat!!!

Eat immediately for a pudding, or put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes for something more dense. I sometimes use this to top muffins with an extra special treat 🙂

Basic Chocolate Sauce

This is my basic raw chocolate sauce that I use for so many chocolate treats in my house. I build off of this to create all kinds of delightful satisfying temptations. I need to share it with you guys as I will be referring to it quite a bit in this blog. I have used a version of it in my banana ice cream as well as in my raw persimmon pie. So stay on the lookout for more yumminess to come here!!

As the name indicates, this is a basic, simple healthy chocolate option. Three ingredients and just minutes away from mouth watering bliss (if you are a chocoholic like I am, this is key).

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 cup  cacao powder
• dash of salt

Steps:

• in a double boiler melt all the ingredients (you can do this in a pot on the stove top, just make sure to have it on very low heat and turn off the heat before all the oil is melted, and finish melting by whisking).
• whisk together until well combined
• either pour it in a jar with a tight fitting lid (this is my favorite option) or pour in in a bowl
• if in a jar, shake it vigorously every 5 minutes until it has come to room temperature, the sauce will become thicker.
• if in a bowl, just whisk it until it has come to room temperature.

This last step is very important as it will allow for all the ingredients to cool while blending together. If you do not do this the oil and honey will separate, creating a very sweet bottom layer and a very oily dark chocolate upper layer when it cools completely. This is especially important when making raw chocolate in the freezer. I have made raw chocolates without blending all the ingredients together and the honey layer was all gooey and stuck to the bottom of the mold while the top was super dark in chocolate flavor. It wasn’t bad at all mind you!! Just not a nice chocolate that I could easily pop out.

This sauce will keep for weeks on the shelf. It will become very thick because of the coconut oil. Just put the container you keep it in, in some hot water to soften it up before using. (Or just eat it out of the jar with a spoon!)

Sweet potato Chocolate Muffins

I’ve been on a muffin mission lately. I find it to be such a convenient food to have around with kids. I try and make my muffins nutritious so that they are not just a filler food and so I feel good about the fact that the kids want to eat 3 or 4 at once (I always make mini muffins now). I had sweet potato left over from dinner last night, which makes a perfect base for a muffin recipe. I have made these before, but have altered the recipe a bit. And since I have a hard time following recipes in general, I will probably alter it again next time I make these 🙂 These muffins are a bit dense because of the sweet potato and the dates, but I find that to be a good thing so you can get full after only eating a couple. In my opinion, that’s what nutritious foods do: the high quality of nutrients make you feel full faster and longer than something less nutritious like pretzels, crackers or chips. I also intentionally never make my muffins overly sweet. If you like things super sweet, I recommend you add extra maple syrup.

As usual I made a big batch and will freeze a couple bags in order to have some handy for when we need a quick snack or for school lunch.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour ( I used spelt and buckwheat)
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• dash of salt
• 1 cup mashed sweet potato
• 1/2 cup apple sauce
• 2 TBS ground flax seeds (or 2 eggs) (I grind my flax seeds in the coffee grinder, a blender can work too)
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup pitted medjool dates
• 1/2 cup melted coconut oil

Steps:

• preheat oven to 375 F
• mix first 5 ingredients in a large bowl
• in a food processor mix all the other ingredients, minus the sweet potato
• add sweet potato at the end and pulse a few times to mix it in
• grease your muffin tins
• fill them up and bake for 10 minutes for mini muffins, probably about 20 minutes for larger muffins
• this recipe made 48 mini muffins

Chocolate Soft serve

I love chocolate and I love sweets. I also love having a treat at night once all the kids are in bed 🙂 But I also love my body and my health so I must be choosy of what I put in my body and how often. This one came together because I really wanted something quick and easy and I was really in the mood for soft serve This treat is just that! I think it took me under 3 minutes to put this together. And it hit all the right spots for me: it’s sweet, it’s chocolatey, it’s quick, it’s healthy, it’s creamy, it’s cold. It’s YUM!!!!

Ingredients:

• 1 frozen banana
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 2 TBS raw cacao powder
• 1 large date (or any other sweetener you have on hand)
• pinch of salt

Steps:

• put all ingredients in blender and blend on high until smooth
• eat immediately!!

This was enough for just one serving. And in all honesty, if I have doubled the recipe, it probably would’ve still only been enough for one serving 😉