When you first start paying attention to what you eat because of all the un-healthy stuff they put in the food, comes the biggest problem – the things you have to give up! Like chocolate… And then you start reading and searching and voila! It turns out you don’t have to give up on chocolate, the candy and the cakes… just eat them raw :))) Here is my receipt for raw chocolate bars, I tried it twice already, so it’s tested, it’s healthy and it’s delicious! Enjoy :)

1 cup of raw cacao butter
2 table spoons of coconut butter / oil
3 table spoons of cacao powder or cacao nibs
2 table spoons of carob powder
for sweetening – agave syrup, lucuma powder or honey
for texture – raw nuts, no matter which ones

First you have to melt the butter, I steam it on low temperature for several minutes. Then add the cacao and the carob powders and mix well. Then start adding the sweeteners – add 1 table spoon and try it, then add another one… the goal is to achieve the level of sweet you prefer. Have in mind that each sweetener is more or less sweet than the other, so the quantities might be very different. Then add the nuts or leave them for decoration, as you prefer. I do both, blend some nuts and mix them in the chocolate and leave some whole and decorate the bars. When everything is mixed up the result is thick chocolate sauce that needs to be refrigerated for the desired look (see the image above). I use transparencies – just empty the sauce on it and leave it in the fridge. The other option is ice forms – fill them with the sauce and you will have beautiful candy bars :)

Time for preparation: 10 minutes. Time to freeze (not in the camera): 30 minutes.

And now the best part – Why is cacao healthy?
Cacao is derived from Theobroma Cacao beans, which literally means “Food of the Gods” and is one of the well recognized super-foods. Cacao contains over 300 healthy compounds including: protein, fat, carbohydrates, fiber, iron, zinc, copper, calcium and magnesium. Magnesium helps to build strong bones and is a muscle relaxant associated with feelings of calmness. Cacao is also high in sulfur, which helps form strong nails and hair. And cacao is the best antioxidant ever found in nature! The only thing to have in mind is that this is true only for the raw cacao beans, powder and nibs, not just for any chocolate…