Coconut Oil Paelo Chocolate

I haven't done a coconut oil pin in awhile and I have been wanting to try this one so when I got a little bit of down time (not much with a 7 week old) I thought I would give it a shot. I LOVE chocolate and it is most definitely one of my trigger foods (hence the need for my weekly weigh ins) but this is supposed to be low calorie healthy chocolate so if I eat this instead of Hershey bars I'll have my "chocolate" and eat it too (yeah that phrase sounds way better with cake).

 The recipe comes from http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/01/15/three-ingredient-chocolate-bars-1/ and can be easily adjusted to taste. This is what I used because it's what I had in my pantry.

• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 4 tablespoons unrefined coconut oil (melted)
• NuNatural vanilla stevia drops to taste (If you’d prefer to use a liquid sweetener, such as agave or pure maple syrup, use this ratio instead: 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 1/4 cup coconut oil, 1 tbsp of your liquid sweetener.) (I used the 1/4 cup recipe since I was using the agave)
• optional: extracts, cocoa nibs, or other add-ins
• optional: 1 extra tbsp oil or water, if it needs to be thinner

Combine coconut oil with the liquid sweetener or stevia drops. (For the stevia version, I recommend NuNaturals because I find other brands to have an aftertaste.) Stir, then add cocoa powder. Stir stir stir! Stir until it gets thick. Pour into any flat container (or candy molds or smush between layers of wax paper or in ziploc bags). Freeze until solid, and store in the freezer.

 I have a Wilton chocolate melter (totally worth the $20 at Walmart) so I used that that, but you can obviously use a pan on the stove too.

 In goes the chocolate powder

 Stir until the powder is dissolved

 I poured onto wax paper, but next time I would try a silicon mold or something a bit fancier

 Poured and about to go in the freezer

 Out of the freezer after about an hour

 Broken off chunk

So here is my review. Making the chocolate was easy, way easier than working with and melting traditional chocolate. I used dark chocolate powder so I knew this would probably taste like very dark chocolate and I was right. Because of the powder and only having one tablespoon of sweetener it was like a very very dark chocolate, and at first I wasn't a fan. I thought for a moment I would throw it out but I tried a little more (and a little more) and the taste grew on me. It melts very easy and leaves your fingers and teeth very chocolatey. The whole batch comes in around 580 calories, which for as much chocolate as you get is pretty good. The husband refused to try it (no sense of adventure) and the kiddo tried it and didn't like it (more for me!). This batch lasted two days and now I'm plotting how I'm going to make it next. I want to buy regular cocoa powder, and I will probably add a bit more sweetener. I would also like to experiment with add ins like almonds or Rice Krispies or maybe a little sea salt. I shouldn't make it too often though, as is apparent from the picture below.

 

Addendum 6/22/13 : Made this recipe again the other night. Same amounts but regular cocoa powder instead of dark. we added in about  3/4 cup of Rice Krispies and left in in the freezer to cool. It was very good and tasted like a Crunch bar and dark chocolate had a delicious baby. It's not like store bought chocolate and has a bit of a coconut oil flavor but me and the kiddo enjoyed it (still no daddy though).