Friday, August 8, 2014

Homemade Raw Chocolate

I recently got this recipe from a friend at work (thanks Tracy) and it's actually amazing. I don't really like chocolate (except for Ferrero Rocher and Tim Tams), but this is something else, something much better!

Ingredients

  • 100gm Cacao Butter
  • 4 tablespoons Cacao Powder
  • 100m Agave
  • 2 teaspoons Lucuma Powder

All of these ingredients are available from a health food shop. Cacao butter smells like dark chocolate and looks like white soap. The cacao powder is similar to just regular Nestle, and I couldn't tell the difference but the packet convinced me it was better (probably substitutable). Agave is similar to honey, but from a cactus instead of bees - in fact, the first time I made this I used honey instead, but the honey didn't dissolve properly so left a sticky layer at the bottom of the chocolate which… was DELICIOUS, but not easy to store. I'd never heard of Lucuma before but it's apparently Peru's version of vanilla, it doesn't smell like much though!

Method

1. Chop up the Cacao Butter into small shavings.


2. Melt the Cacao Butter in a bain-marie, stirring continuously. Don't let the butter get too hot - it should stay at room temperature. When completely melted, remove the container from the bain-marie.



3. Add the Agave Syrup and stir until dissolved


4. Add the Lucuma Powder and stir until dissolved


5. Add the Cacao Powder and stir until dissolved


6. Return the bowl to the bain-marie and stir the mixture to thin it out


7. Pour into a a plastic container (Note: in the picture below I'd made a double batch, so use a smaller container for a single batch)

8. [Optional] Sprinkle some crushed nuts or coconut into the mixture. The nuts will sink down so it's OK to add them at this point. I added a row of chopped blanched almonds and a row of chopped pistachios. I'm sure any other nuts or fruits would be just as nice!


9. Put the mixture in the fridge and let set for at least 2h

10. Remove and chop, then store in the fridge. The chocolate can be quite crumbly, but save the crumbly bits to sprinkle over ice cream :)