Tag: antioxidant-rich foods

Sugar-free Raw Luxurious High-antioxidant Orange Chocolates! Yum! :)))

September 5, 2012

Fish-shaped chocolates I specially made for a very dear 100% raw guest. They happilly swam into our stomachs!:)

Ingredients:

  • 100 g of Raw Cacao Butter
  • 8 tablespoons (shallow) of raw Cacao Powder
  • 2 tablespoon Lucuma powder
  • 4 tablespoons of Agave syrup
  • Zest of 2/3 medium-sized organic unwaxed orange** (see below)
  • Half a pinch of pink Himalayan salt.
  • 1 tablespoon of cacao nibs (for sprinkling) [optional] OR Ground almonds or other nut pieces [optional]
  • Pinch of Organic vanilla essence (please use natural and not petroleum-preserved supermarket one) [optional]
  • You will also need: Silicone Ice-tray or chocolate moulds:

The Method:

  1. Grate cacao butter & melt using a hot “water bath”, being careful not to over heat (place cacao butter into a bowl, place the bowl into a pot of hot pre-boiled water, the butter will melt fairly quickly if you keep whisking it with a fork).
  2. Add Cacao powder and mix.
  3. Add the orange essence or zest, salt and mix well.
  4. Add lucuma, all the other ingredients and the agave and stir.
  5.  Pour into the moulds and sprinkle with cacao nibs or crushed nut pieaces. Place in the refrigerator for 10 minutes or freezer for 5 minutes.

** Use unwaxed fruit only! New Zealand and Australia do not really wax fruit when in season – all imported USA lemons ARE WAXED! If in colder parts of Europe and North America – read on: If the label doesn’t say that it’s “unwaxed”, it is waxed with artificial sealants! In the UK and Ireland: Tesco sell “unwaxed lemons” or else buy organic lemons and oranges. Otherwise organic market stalls will sell you some. OR this is less raw, but you only need a few drops, use: Natural Orange Essence.

Final Note: The whole process takes longer to read than to make – it will take you about 10 minutes. Freeze it for quickest results. Press on back of each individual silicone shape to pop your chocolate out onto a plate. Optional: decorate by sprinkling cacao powder over your chocolates (like in the main picture above). And Enjoy! :)

Sugar-free Raw White Chocolates with vanilla & lucuma. Just like sunshine pieces melting in your mouth! :) Suitable for chocolate-sensitive people.

September 3, 2012
This is a very simple recipe, and a very quick one :) The white chocolates normally turn out much lighter than on the picture above, however, I have been experimenting with Coconut sugar (which is much lower GL than regular cane sugar, and is supposed to be more balanced and more “truly raw” than agave syrup). So, if you follow this recipe here, you will actually have much lighter chocolates. :)

This recipe would be suitable for some non-severe chocolate sensitive people, as there is virtually no caffeine in these chocolates.  To explain how this works: Cacao Paste is a pure raw product from cacao beans; when Cacao Powder is extracted from Cacao Paste, white aromatic cacao butter gets left behind. All the caffeine and the majority of active ingredients in the cacao, get extracted with cacao powder, this is why cacao powder has the “kick” to it. what’s left behind – cacao butter – has 0.001% of caffeine but still possess an amzing intense aroma of chocolate. So you can make chocolates that will not affect your kidneys with oxalic acid and caffeine, but with all the flavour and richness! However, if unsure, please consult your health practitioner/doctor regarding your allergy/sensitivity. I would not recommend this at all if you have an actual allergy to chocolate (cocoa or cacao)!

Cacao is the term used to describe RAW chocolate paste, powder or butter. Cocoa is a term used to describe the  cooked “chocolate” ingredients.

Just to explain why Raw chocolate is much better than the cooked alternative: many active antioxidants and digestive enzymes get destroyed during the cooking process. If you are eating cooked cocoa or chocolate, you are no longer eating all of the active phyto chemicals that are naturally available in cacao. When you make your own chocolate, you also have a chance to not use white or cane sugar, and instead have a choice of using natural sweeteners with a much lower GL.

Lucuma (used in this recipe) is a nutritious fruit that grows in Peru, which has been valued since ancient times. Lucuma is rich in beta carotene, calcium, iron and niacin (B3). This fruit has a pleasant flavour and is used to flavour chocolate, ice-cream, desserts, etc.  We use dry Raw powder in this recipe.

Ingredients:

8 Table spoons of Cacao Butter

8 Table spoons of Ground Cashews

2 Table spoons of Raw Honey or Light Agave (dark will work also) or coconut sugar

1/4 teaspoon of Ground Vanilla or fresh vanilla scraped from a pod or a few drops of organic vanilla extract

[Optional: 1 Table spoon of Lucuma powder]

Preparation:

1) Melt cacao butter by grating it into a small bowl and placing the bowl into a pot/larger bowl with hot water and keep stirring the shaved cacao with a fork until it melts.

2) Add honey or agave (if using coconut sugar, melt in a separate bowl first using the same melting method as for cacao.

3) Add vanilla and lucuma powder.

4) Grind cashew nuts in a coffee grinder or a high-powered blender. [If you haven’t got a coffee grinder already – pick the one where one end of the prong is looking down, and the other one – up. This type of grinder can take on linseeds also, which is very handy for having your own freshly milled seeds.]

5) Pour the mixture into moulds (or a silicon ice-tray):

6) Place the tray into the freezer for 10 minutes.

7) Pop the chocolates out onto a plate.

And…Enjoy !:))