05 Jul Raw Cacao Cups with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

I’ve been binging. No, not on Netflix, but on dark chocolate bark. “I can do this!” I thought to myself (and make it with “cleaner” ingredients).  So, on Saturday, I decided to experiment in the kitchen and come up with a new recipe.

As many of you know, I have made a variety of raw chocolate recipes in the past. Typically they are a combination of raw cacao, coconut oil, cacao butter, and something sweet – usually maple syrup. Most of my chocolate recipes need to be kept frozen or they melt. I was determined to come up with a recipe that was clean (no emulsifiers like soy lecithin) and that didn’t melt in mere minutes at room temperature.

So I did a little research and worked with a recipe from the talented Minimalist Baker. Her recipe uses only cacao butter, which is more solid at room temperature than coconut oil. I used her recipe as a guideline and added toasted pumpkin seeds (because they make everything better) and goji berries (because they’re so pretty) and came up with a recipe that was pretty tasty and got two thumbs up from my willing guinea pigs. It’s pretty quick to make. I used parchment paper muffin liners, which I much prefer over paper. The paper ones are often bleached (yuck) and everything sticks to them, which means you lose a lot of product. If you try them, please let me know how they turned out!

Oh, I almost forgot. Did you know that raw cacao (not heat processed) is one of the world’s richest sources of magnesium? So with this recipe, we don’t heat the cacao, ensuring that the magnesium isn’t degraded. There you go – guilt-free chocolate! You’re welcome…

Raw Cacao Cups with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds and Goji Berries.

1 cup raw cacao butter wafers (these are brand new in the boutique by Harmonic Arts)
1/2 cup raw cacao (we love Harmonic Arts)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon Himalayan salt
2 tablespoons toasted pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoons goji berries

Using a double boiler or bain-marie, gradually warm cacao butter until melted. Remove from heat and add raw cacao and blend well. Add maple syrup, vanilla and Himalayan salt. Spoon or pour into muffin tins lined with parchment liners (this batch made 10). Top with pumpkin seeds and goji berries (you will likely have some left over). Place in fridge for 15 minutes until set. I hope you enjoy!