I adore finding healthful ingredients, full of antioxidants, vitamins and all round nutritional goodness, weaving them together to create delicious, fun, healthy, indulgent, vegan treats. These super tasty ‘Raw Chocolate, Blueberry & Coconut Lovehearts’ are the perfect thing to give a friend or lover as a gift to show how much you really care! Don’t forget the importance of loving yourself too, so be sure to keep a few back to savour during a peaceful moment.
From my heart to yours… Trinity
Makes: 12 lovehearts (approx)
Preparation: 40 minutes
Chocolate Ingredients:
-50g raw cocoa butter
-50g raw cocoa powder
-3 tablespoons raw coconut sugar
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Filling Ingredients:
-70g fresh blueberries
-40g coconut butter
-1 medjool date (pitted)
You Will Also Need:
A heart shaped chocolate mold with 12 hearts. You can use any chocolate mold shape if you’d prefer a different shape.
Making The Chocolate:
Step One: ‘Shave’ the solid cocoa butter with a sharp knife or grater. Shaving is just really thin slicing that makes the cocoa butter crumble. The finer you can get it, the easier it will be to melt. You can leave it in big chunks if you like, but be prepared to wait a while for it to melt.
Step Two: Melt the cocoa butter. You can do this by leaving it in a warm place in a heat proof glass bowl by a fire or directly above a hot radiator. It melts at 34˚C. The idea is to melt it, rather than cook it, maintaining its ‘un-cookedness’. If you don’t have a gentle heat source then use a hob or stove. Put the cocoa butter in a small, oven proof, glass bowl and then put that bowl in a pan containing an inch or so of really hot water. Keep the hob/stove burning on a low heat. The heat will then transfer through the bowl, enough to melt the cocoa butter. Give it frequent stirs to assist the melting process. Don’t keep it on the heat any longer than it takes to melt it. The best time to use it is when it has just melted. If it is too hot, then it takes longer to cool down and the coconut sugar will sink to the bottom of the chocolate when added.
Step Three: Add the coconut sugar to the melting cocoa butter during step two. The melting cocoa butter will help to soften and dissolve the sugar.
Step Four: When the cocoa butter has finally melted, mix in the cocoa powder and any other remaining ingredients.
Here’s The Fun Part! Making Chocolate Hearts…
Place 1 teaspoon of your melted chocolate mixture into each heart shaped well. Pop it in the freezer whilst you prepare and blend the filling ingredients.
Making The Filling:
Blend all the filling ingredients (blueberries, coconut butter and medjool date) together thoroughly.
Adding the filling:
Take your loveheart mold out of the freezer and place some blueberry filling into each one. This is slightly fiddly. I have a really good laugh doing it. Use a teaspoon and a knife to help the process. Take about ½ a teaspoon of filling and gently dollop it on top of the freshly chilled chocolate. Aim right in the middle of your chocolate heart. You’ll find that some always hits the edges (unless you are incredibly skilled)… simply tease it back with your knife to create a thin gap at the edges (you’ll see why next).
The Grande Finale:
Take the rest of your melted chocolate and pour 2 or 3 teaspoons over each dollop in the mold. Place your completed chocolate hearts straight into the freezer to help them set. They should be done in 15 minutes. You can also allow it to set by popping it into the fridge or any cool place (but allow extra time for setting).
Enjoy.
From my heart to yours,
Trinity
This recipe was originally published on Trinity’s blog, TrinitysKitchen.com.
Author bio: I have always loved sharing food and showing others how tasty vegan, conscious food can be. After catering for retreats for years, I recently (and rather excitedly) published my first book ‘Trinity’s Conscious Kitchen’. It’s brimming with vegan, wheat-free and free from refined sugar recipes for evolution. Find out more information here: www.trinityskitchen.com
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