homemade chocolate

Finding dairy-free, soy-free, corn (syrup) -free chocolate is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Enjoy Life makes some amazing chocolate chips comprised of only 3 ingredients, but sadly they are a little too pricey for my serious daily chocolate needs. I also prefer the satisfaction of chomping into a chunky piece of chocolate.

I surely could just lay off the dark stuff, but since so many other foods are a no-go for me these days, I embrace chocolate with abandon because I can, and because it's awesome. I found a solution that is easy on my wallet, too - I started making my own. It is surprisingly easy peasy!

ingredients

1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil
1/4 cup sunflower seed butter
1/4 cup cocoa powder (shamelessly plugging a personal boycott, but don't buy Nestle! Please.)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
a mini muffin tin with appropriately sized paper liners


how-to

1. melt the coconut oil in a saucepan over low heat.
2. remove from heat and stir in sunflower seed butter and vanilla. (I use a whisk.)
3. mix in cocoa powder.
4. pour two teaspoons of mixture into each mini muffin liner.
5. freeze until firm.
6. eat and ENJOY!!

I keep mine in the freezer so that I eat them more slowly. (It doesn't really work, but the theory sounds good!) Kept at room temperature, they will be much softer, even gooey.

There are so many possible variations to this! Add some stevia or honey to make it sweeter, or almond butter in place of the sunbutter. Mix in chopped nuts, dried fruit, cinnamon, or cayenne pepper. Endless possibilities! The recipe above is very dark, tannic, and not very sweet, so please adjust to suit your personal taste.