Chocolate & Peanut Butter Slice - Raw, Vegan, GF, DF, Refined Sugar Free, Paleo Option

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Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join this man (Chocolate) and this woman (Peanut Butter) in holy matrimony. 

Chocolate, do you take this nutty, smooth woman to be your wife, to live on top of her, to love her for her bold taste and ability to cause anaphylaxis, to honour her ability to be both sweet AND savoury, to comfort her when she's upset that he nearly killed a bunch of people, and to keep her in line to remain square, forsaking all others, until someone eats you? - 'I do'.

Peanut Butter, do you take this tall, dark, rich, smooth man to be your husband, to live together, underneath his thick gooey layer, to love his boldness to honor his status amongst chocolate lovers, to comfort him about his weight and ability to melt in the hot sun, and to keep him in deliciousness and in taste, forsaking all others, until someone eats you? - 'I do'

I feel like you're either laughing... or assuming I've just gone full retard here. But what can I say? The Royal Wedding has got me reminiscing of my own wedding, and made me so happy to see love being celebrated on the news and surroundings. Isn't it such a nice change of pace from all the war and hate that we see constantly broadcasted these days!? What a beautiful thing to be able to witness and see in our lifetimes - although I have to admit that it made me sad that Harry is now off the market. The only time I stood a chance with Harry, is if he tried my cooking haha. 

So anywayyyyy. You'll seriously want to get on board these bad boys! They are so good AAAAANNNNNDDDD if you're after a more protein filled source, you can sub the coconut flour for your protein powder to give them a bit of a nutritional boost. But, given this isn't a keto recipe and contains Agave Nectar (which is still a sugar) I prefer to keep the calories down. 

The good thing about this recipe is if Peanut Butter agrees with you, then you can use it, but if you prefer a paleo approach (We are a Paleo Household however every now and then I indulge in Peanut Butter) you can sub for any nut butter you like. I think these would be AMAZING if made with Hazelnut Butter! Who doesn't love Hazelnut and Chocolate? Yeah thats right, NO ONE and im pretty sure it's fair to say that if you know someone that doesn't like hazelnut and chocolate, that you need to remove them from your life IMMEDIATELY! 

Now obviously it's up to you to source some good vegan chocolate, and you are most welcome to use a brand that you personally love! I love Loving Earth's Dark Chocolate, so that's what I made these out of. But if there's something else you prefer, by all means, use that. I have tried to make something similar with Pana Chocolate Blocks, however it just didn't work. The Pana split and went all funky. To keep this recipe raw, and given that the lovely folks at Loving Earth put in a lot of effort to make such a delicious raw product, I think it's only fair that we don't ruin that hard work by over heating this delicious product and ruining what they have tried so hard to preserve. Heating foods internal temperature above 41.7 degrees Celsius starts to ruin the health benefits of many of the foods we consume. So where ever you can, it is beneficial for health to consume as many raw products as possible. Heat destroys foods nutrients and natural enzymes, which is bad because enzymes boost digestion and fight chronic disease so where you can, give your oven and stove a rest, and eat raw foods. 

So that being said, melting this chocolate and keeping it in it's raw state is a little fiddly. But you can do it! So follow the recipe as close you can and keep a thermometer at hand. 

So on with the show. As per usual, leave me a message if you make this and let me know what you think. I'd love your thoughts. 

Don't forget to - Make, Enjoy, Love & Share. xxx

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Recipe

Serves - 10 - 

Time - 45 Minutes to make, Plus Chill Time - 

What you need:

For the Base:

High Speed Food Processor

Square Dish & Baking Paper

Spatula

1 Cup Natural Peanut Butter or Nut Butter of Choice ( I made my own, but Mayver's is a great brand )

1/4 Cup Dark Agave Nectar ( You can Sub for Maple )

1/2 Cup Coconut Flour

Pinch Of Salt

1/2 Vanilla Pod ( Optional, but I highly Recommend! )

For the Chocolate:

Food Thermometer

Bowl & Saucepan ( or Double Boiler )

1.5 Cups Loving Earth Raw Dark Chocolate Squares

1/4 Cup Peanut Butter or Nut Butter of Choice

1/4 Cup Tahini

Pinch of Salt

What to do:

Line your baking dish with your baking paper first, and set it to the side so you are ready to rock. 

Make the Base first - so in the food processor place in all the ingredients for the base except the agave syrup. Turn the processor on. The Mixture should start dry, and add the syrup slowly until it resembles a thicker form of cake batter. It should be spreadable, but not loose. If your mixture becomes loose before you use up all your agave, then thats great! Stop there. 

Using the Spatula, spread it into your baking dish so that it is one even layer and place in the fridge to cool.

Now we need to make our Chocolate Layer.

Make sure your chocolate is Room Temperature before starting to limit the heat you need to melt it. Place water in the saucepan, and place onto the stove on a LOW HEAT. Place your bowl on the top and drop your chocolate in. Use the thermometer, and constantly stir to melt the chocolate. If you notice the heat of the melted chocolate getting to around 35 degrees C, Take the bowl off the top of the saucepan and stir vigorously to get the heat back down, then when the heat is down, place back on the saucepan. Once 3/4 of the chocolate is melted, turn the heat off and the residual heat will melt the rest.

Once melted, add the Peanut Butter, Tahini and Salt and mix until well combined.

Pull out the dish from the fridge and pour the chocolate over and spread with the spatula until evenly covered. 

You can dress the top however you like. I just sprinkled some Loving Earth Desiccated Coconut over the top. But let your imagination run wild with how you want to do it. 

Place it back in the fridge (NOT THE FREEZER as this can cause the choc to turn white) until set through. 

Once Cooled, take out of the baking dish, and slice the uneven edges off (and enjoy them in hiding before you serve the rest to everyone else ;) ) and then slice into Bars, or Squares or whatever you fancy. 

Enjoy!!!

'Reece's Pieces' - Paleo, Keto

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Having been following a Ketogenic Lifestyle for the better part of four years now, I have come to notice a large amount of 'Ketofied' products come on the market. No Sugar Chocolate Bars, Quest Protein Bars, Atkins Chocolates, Sugar Free Lollies Etc. Now, don't get me wrong. I think all of us on a Ketogenic Way of Life have had cravings come and go and when they're in full swing even the strongest willed people can buckle and tuck into a Quest Bar, however, most of us not only follow a Ketogenic Lifestyle to lose weight, but also to reclaim health and even over come certain health conditions. While consuming products like this will most likely see us remain in ketosis, long term, the food additives and chemicals some of these products contain have the potential to cause very similar issues, to the ones we are trying to rid which is why we decided to make the change in eating habits. 

So, after sitting by in ketogenic groups on facebook amongst people that are posting pictures of 'no added sugar chocolates and lollies' I really felt the need to make something that is portion controlled enough to kill the cravings, while making sure your macros don't take a large him from seemingly nutrient-less products. 

Of course Peanut Butter or Nut Butter has certain nutrients, as does Cocoa Powder (high in potassium & Magnesium etc) the bulk of this sweet treat is fat, and fat, while being a great macronutrient, does not hold great micronutrients. While following any type of diet that follows Macros, it is still important to make sure your macros contain the most micronutrients. 

These 'Reece's' should help you curb the cravings, and do so without the chemical shit storm that usually goes hand in hand with Keto Junk Foods. 

So! Lets get into it! Keto 'Reece's' Pieces. 

In this recipe, I use Xylitol Icing Sugar. It is powdered Xylitol and the brand I use is Naturally Sweet. You can buy it HERE. You could also use any sweetener that you prefer. To range a large range of natural sweeteners, click HERE. 

The Macros for this whole recipe are: Protein 20g Carbs 31.8g  Fat 150g

The Macros for one serve of Reece's are: Protein 0.6g  Carbs 1.06g  Fat 5g

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Recipe

Serves - 30 -

Time - 1/2 Hr plus setting time

What you need:

Chocolate Mould of Choice ( I used Hearts & Squares )

Saucepan

Bowl

1/2 Cup Loving Earth Raw Organic Cacao Butter

1/2 Raw Organic Cocoa Powder

5 Serves Xylitol Icing Sugar ( 22g per serve ) 

( I use Naturally Sweet Xylitol Icing sugar which you can buy HERE)

1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1 Vanilla Bean Pod ( or 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract )

50 g Natural Peanut Butter or Nut Butter of Choice

What to do:

Fill 1/4 of a saucepan with water, and bring to a simmer.

Place the cacao butter, cocoa, xylitol (or sweetener of choice) and cinnamon into a bowl, and place it ontop of the saucepan ( like a double boiler ) to melt the cacao butter and combine all ingredients. Once 3/4 of the butter is melted, turn the heat off, and stir until the rest of the ingredients are combined and all of the cacao butter is melted. Add the Vanilla and stir until well combined.

Pour the chocolate into the moulds until they're half way filled. Place them into the fridge.

When cooled and solid, spoon small amounts of the chosen nut butter into the centre of each mould. 

Fill the rest of the mould with the remaining chocolate, and place in the fridge until solid. 

Push out the moulds, and place the chocolates in a container and store just below room temperature (the fridge is fine but may cause the chocolate to turn white) until you want to eat them!

Yum!

Dark Chocolate - Raw, Vegan, Paleo, Refined Sugar Free

Hey guyssssss. 

I am SO excited today. Seriously. SO Excited! I have not only managed to make a delicious Dark Chocolate...it actually tastes like dark chocolate! 

So many times I have tried to make Raw chocolate and it's always with coconut oil... and I'm not gunna lie... the taste after a while... phwoar. Well, needless to say you can get sick of it pretty quickly. 

I am in love with two brands of chocolate in this world. They are Pana Chocolate and Loving Earth. And this recipe I kid you not, is close to my favourite Dark Loving Earth Chocolate. Ok, clearly theirs has more depth of flavour, but this, I tell you, is close. Absolutely delicious and how perfect is this for Christmas! I got this amazingly cute little mould from Kmart about 3 years ago and I love it. They really have some great things if you get there at the right time. This mould cost $2 and it's silicone so you can freeze AND bake in it! I know right... your mind right now is like KABOOM!!!!!

Anyway... 

When you make this recipe, it's really important to maintain the nutritional value of the honey or maple syrup and cacao. When foods get too hot their nutrient content depletes dramatically. Especially when it comes to Raw Organic honey and Raw Organic Maple...you're spending the money to buy good honey and maple..so don't ruin it by over heating it. If you do that, you get absolutely none of the health benefits, and are just ingesting sugar. So I recommend adding the sweetener of your choice at the very last moment to make sure the mixture is as cool as humanly possible. It can be a little tricky because it also has to be warm enough that the honey or maple will somewhat melt and distribute evenly amongst the mixture. But providing you don't heat the cacao butter more than 46 degrees in the first place, you don't have to worry about this step. 

So! Things that will be helpful in making this are - Moulds and a Thermometer. A Mould is great if you want to make little chocolates like I have above. These are great because you can wrap them in little cute gift bags for presents, or to hang off your Christmas tree. However, if you don't have a mould, fear not, because you can just line a baking sheet with baking paper and pour the mixture on. You could then chop up some nuts, perhaps add some beautiful dried fruits and sprinkle on top (try grated orange zest!) and then when it's set, break it up into bark chunks. This actually looks super cute as a Chrissy gift as well if you pop the pieces of bark into little cellophane bags and tie with a ribbon. The Thermometer is going to be your friend for making sure you don't heat over 46 degrees, HOWEVER, if you are willing to compromise SLIGHTLY the nutrient value of the cacao butter, you can just place it into a sauce pan, and leave over a light heat until half of the butter is melted. Take away from the heat and then stir until the remaining pieces are melted. 

For this recipe I prefer to use the Loving Earth Cacao Butter. The reason for this is it is grated and that means all different sizes. Because some are granule sizes, it doesn't take long to heat at all.

As you can see from the picture, a lot of it is really small so it takes minimal heat to melt which means chances are you won't go over 46 degrees Celsius.  But if you want to be extra careful, get a thermometer involved :)

So with Christmas coming at us full steam ahead, I'm making sure this year (like I do every year) that I eat sweets in moderation. And while my whole family doesn't follow my eating principles, I will be making some of these beauties to take with me to my parents to at least have a semi-healthy option. 

I seem to add this into every sweet recipe that I do, and today will be no exception. So I stress, Just because there is unrefined sugar in this, it doesn't mean it's a free for all to eat as much of it in one sitting as humanly possible. Honey and Maple while having so many health benefits, is still a form of sugar and will give you the same effects as refined sugar if you eat too much. So go easy. Be mindful when you eat and savour the food and experience it. Doing this makes it likely to stop you from over indulging. 

So Enjoy - and if you try the recipe, always to be sure to comment below and let me know how you went!

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Recipe

Serves - 12 - (1 Piece per serve)

Time - 10 Minutes - 

What you need:

125 grams Organic Raw Cacao Butter

5 Tablespoons Raw Organic Cacao Powder 

2 Tablespoons Raw Organic Honey or Maple

1/2 Vanilla Bean

1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1/2 Teaspoon Nutmeg

What to do:

In a saucepan, melt your cacao butter to no higher than 46 Degrees Celsius to melt and then remove from heat ( If you don't have a thermometer, place over heat until half the butter is melted, turn off heat and stir to melt the rest)

Once off the heat, add the cacao powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir until combined. 

Add the Vanilla bean and Honey/Maple and stir until the sweeter of choice has dissolved. 

Pour into your silicone mould (no need to grease it) or pour onto your parchment paper. Place in the fridge if it is a hot day (you may notice the top of the chocolate turn white as the butter will solidify before the rest, this is normal and still fine to eat) or if it is a cool day or your kitchen is cool, leave on a table to solidify. 

Once the Chocolate has turned hard, place in the fridge for 30 minutes before handling for wrapping etc. 

Voila !

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