Raw Chocolate

Ingredients: 1 cup (100-150g) raw coconut butter 3/4 cup raw cacao powder 4 tbsp agave nectar (or honey) 2 tsp vanilla (orange, mint would be good too)

How to make it:

1. Put coconut butter in a bowl and place in another bowl of hot water, stirring until liquified. Or, I placed the whole jar in a pot of boiled water until softened. Keep the heat low as to not overheat the butter as this will damage the nutritional benefits of the raw chocolate. 2. Stir in other ingredients until smooth. 3. Pour onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and pop into freezer for 5-10 mins. Alternatively, you could put mixture into little moulds. I used silicon ice-cube trays. 4. Leave to set in the fridge for 1 – 2 hours or in the freezer for half an hour.

These ar soooo delicious!! You can also try adding chopped nuts and/or dried fruit. I wrapped them in candy foil and placed in little cups and gave as gifts :-)

Nutritional Benefits:

Raw cacao is very high in antioxidant flavanoids, sulfur and magnesium.

Animal fats have long chain saturated fat, while coconut oil contains healthy, healing, medium chain triglycerides (MCTs). This saturated fat is considered a rare and important building block of every cell in the human body, and can actually reduce cholesterol and heart disease. Coconut oil helps to stimulate the metabolism, so you burn more calories each day, which helps with weight loss and energy levels. As well, coconut oil, like human breast milk, is rich in lauric acid, which boosts immunity and destroys harmful bacteria and viruses. In fact, coconut oil is one of the closest foods on the planet to breast milk.

One of the most health-promoting properties of agave nectar is its favorable glycemic profile. Its sweetness comes primarily from a complex form of fructose called inulin. Fructose is the sugar that occurs naturally in fruits and vegetables. The carbohydrate in agave nectar has a low glycemic index, which provides sweetness without the unpleasant "sugar rush" and unhealthful blood sugar spike caused by many other sugars.