Three Cacao recipes For Your Valentine... Or Yourself

February 11, 2015

By GoodnessMe Box Nutritonist, Melissa Fine.

Valentines Day wouldn’t be Valentines Day without some chocolate, or in our case, the good stuff - raw chocolate. Here’s what we’ll be sharing round at GoodnessMe Box HQ come February 14.

1. Single-Girl (or Guy’s) Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse

Just double this if you’re making it for a special someone.

Ingredients:

2 heaped TBS 100% smooth peanut butter (or sub with almond butter)
1 TBS cacao powder
1 TBS desiccated coconut
1 tsp rice malt syrup
Small splash almond, rice or coconut milk
Handful blueberries or raspberries, to garnish

Method:

Combine all ingredients excluding berries in a small bowl, mixing with a spoon until smooth.
2.
Top with berries to make it look pretty and eat straight-up; I like to serve this in a shot glass ☺ For a firmer texture, cover and leave to set in the fridge for an hour or so.

2. Chocolate-Coconut Fruit Salad

Yep, you heard me…

Ingredients: (Serves 6-8)

2 punnet strawberries, tops cut off and cut into halves
1 punnet raspberries
1 Cup cherries, pitted and cut into halves
¼ Cup cacao nibs
¼ Cup coconut chips
Coconut yoghurt or coconut milk ice cream, to serve

Method:

Just before serving, add all ingredients excluding yoghurt to a pretty bowl; I like to use glass bowl so you can see everything.
2.
To serve, divide into jars, wine glasses or small pretty bowls and top with a dollop of coconut yoghurt or coconut ice cream – Love in a bowl.

3. Loved-Up Five Minute Fudge

I’ve added a few extra special ingredients to this go-to recipe of mine, which is always a hit – Try it and thank me later ☺

Ingredients: (Makes 16 pieces)

10 Medjool dates, pitted
4 TBS cacao powder
2.5 TBS coconut butter (from health food stores), or sub with coconut oil
1.5 Cup raw pecans, or sub with walnuts
3/4 Cup raw macadamias
3 TBS water
1-2 TBS shredded coconut
3 TBS goji berries
3 TBS Orgamix Cacao Crackle, or other cacao nibs

Method:

Add the pecans and 1/2 cup of the macadamias to a good blender (I used an OmniBlend). Pulse several times, or until the nuts have a rough, meal-like consistency.
2.
Add remaining ingredients to the blender, excluding the shredded coconut and the 1/4 Cup macadamias set aside. Blend on a low-medium setting until everything is nicely combined and the mixture is smooth; You may need to turn the blender off a couple times and push the mixture down from the sides a few times with a large or wooden spoon.
3.
Roughly chop remaining 1/4 Cup macadamias and then stir into the mixture, along with ¾ of both the goji berries and cacao nibs, reserving some for the garnish.
4.
Line a small-medium brownie/slice tray with baking paper.
5.
Scoop out fudge mixture from the blender and press into the baking tray, flattening and evening out the mixture with a spoon. Sprinkle shredded coconut and remaining goji berries and cacao nibs on top, lightly pressing them down with a spoon so they stick. Cover and place in the freezer to set for 1-2 hours or until firm.
6.
Once firm, remove fudge from freezer and cut into +- 16 small squares. Store in the fridge for a softer fudge or in the freezer for a firmer texture. These will keep for about 10 days in the fridge.
Happy Valentines Day guys!

For more decadent sweet treats recipes, download our FREE Wholefood Sweet Treats Recipe e-Book here.