Cacao butter, cacao powder and peppermint chocolate fudge!
Medjool dates
If you do anything this week make sure you try this peppermint chocolate fudge. Oh my. It is so good. I'm eating some now as I write. If you like mint and chocolate this one is for you. I don't know why you would want to buy chocolate from the store any more when this raw fudge is so good. Every week I think of something healthy and sweet to make so that when I feel like something sweet I have made something ready for that moment. Being prepared is the key. This is how I never need to buy sugar filled lollies and chocolate from the shops. And I don't even even crave them because I think the things I make myself are better. Hih.
What makes this fudge divine is the raw cacao butter. Cacao butter is cold pressed from cacao beans and has this lovely chocolate smell. It adds a great flavour to any chocolate dessert and is more solid in room temperature compared to coconut oil so it hardens up chocolate more. It can be a bit pricey so I usually only use a little at a time.
Peppermint chocolate fudge
50g raw cacao butter
1 tbls coconut oil
12 soft dates
2 tbls raw cacao powder
Peppermint essential oil
Put the cacao butter and coconut oil in a bowl and melt them by adding a bowl of hot water underneath. This way it will melt slowly and not reach too high of a temperature. If your cacao butter pieces are big you can grate them beforehand to get them to melt faster. Add raw cacao powder to melted cacao butter and coconut oil and a drop or two of peppermint oil. Take the pits out of the dates and begin with you hands or a fork to mush them. Add the dates to the mixture and start to mix/knead/squeeze through hands until the dates are combined. It should become like a soft ball of dough. Then press into a container and put in the fridge or freezer until it hardens up. Cut up into pieces then enjoy!
(This recipe makes a small batch and I store it in my freezer. I usually add 2 drops of peppermint essential oil to my fudge. You can add less or more depending on what you like. I also think you could make this in a food processor. I haven't tried yet, so far I've just used my hands and gotten messy.)
