Voila

Wellbeing 

If you are like me the family has been hit with the winter cold and all I feel like doing is hibernating. When I read lucinda's monthly recipe it definitely cheered me up 'Raw chocolate bar '. I have added the recipe in a printable file so you can enjoy making it again and again. 

The lonely cook 

"Wow, I can’t believe that the first month of 2015 has come to an end already! Whilst I love all the seasons of the year, I do find that towards the end of January the dark days and cold nights begin to take their toll on me. I start to long for the first signs of Spring – the pale yellow of primroses in the hedgerows, cool breezes that replace biting gales, the sun staying up just that little bit later… 

February always brings promise of lighter times, especially with Shrove Tuesday and Valentine’s Day to break up the monotony (who doesn’t love pancakes?), but I still think we need a treat or two to brighten up the last days and nights of Winter. Of course, I still want those treats to pack as much nutritional punch as they can and to satisfy more than just our emotional well-being! 

That is why this month I am sharing with you my recipe for raw chocolate – it is beyond easy to make and full of antioxidant rich raw cacoa powder and healthy fat in the form of coconut oil. You can have it plain, or dress it up with whatever takes your fancy – I have gone for roasted almond and sea salt bar, but you can add anything you like from dried fruit, any type of nut, cocoa nibs, coconut flakes, fresh fruit, or flavoured oils (orange blossom is my favourite but peppermint is an obvious classic).

But first a word about raw cacoa. Raw cacoa is essentially cocoa powder that hasn’t been roasted at high temperatures. Whereas roasted beans have had their molecular structure damaged and nutritional value considerably lessened by intense heat, raw cacoa has been cold-pressed thus leaving the living enzymes that are so good for us healthy and intact. It is slightly paler in colour than the cocoa you are probably used to buying, and has a slightly fruitier taste. It is rich in minerals such as zinc, potassium, calcium and magnesium (apparently the majority of people are deficient in magnesium, an essential mineral for all sorts of things!); it is a strong antioxidant that can repair damage done by free radicals to the body; it is thought to be anti-carcinogenic; it lowers insulin resistance, protects your nervous system and can reduce risk of stroke, cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure. Basically, it is the leather trousers of the health world – a must have, super-sonic, dark beauty of the kitchen cupboard! You need it in your life, and what’s better is that you can make the most delicious chocolate from it in about fifteen minutes. Why wouldn’t you?!

The basic raw chocolate recipe I use is a very slightly tweaked version of the one in Sarah Wilson’s ‘I quit sugar for life’ book (I add more cacoa and prepare it differently). Incidentally, I am currently enrolled on the I Quit Sugar eight-week programme, and although I am already sugar-free I am really inspired by their great recipes, the amount of support from their team of experts, and mostly by all the others out there on a mission to quit sugar! It’s so great to see how many people are taking their health into their own hands and really wanting to make a change.

As I said, you can play with this recipe as much as you like, adding different fillings, spreading it extra thin on greaseproof paper to make chocolate ‘shards’, drizzling it over pancakes or ice cream, or using it to coat fresh strawberries for a special someone this Valentine’s. The best thing about making your own chocolate is that you can be really creative – it will set firm in any shape or thickness and can even be used to coat homemade biscuits and popcorn. A homemade bar like the one below is a great thing to take round to dinner at someone’s house – perfect to lay on the table with coffee and cut chunks off to finish a meal. Just wrap it in some greaseproof paper and tie with a piece of string or ribbon. This was the first time I’d made an actual bar and I was really pleased with it. I used a loaf tin to get a bar-shape, but you could use any shaped tin you like. Obviously the larger the tin, the thinner your chocolate will be. 

You can buy raw cacoa, cocoa butter, coconut oil and rice syrup from most health food shops or easily order them online. You are free to use a natural sweetener of your choice, although I would on this occasion really recommend rice syrup. Unlike honey and maple syrup, it does not have a strong flavour and so won’t detract from the chocolatey-ness. And agave is almost 90% fructose (the type of sugar we want to avoid), so could make your blood sugar levels spike and leave you feeling less satisfied."



RECIPE

Enjoy February – eat pancakes, love as much as you dare and more, and above all EAT CHOCOLATE!

Love,

thelonelycook    x

p.s. thank-you Voila for inspiring me to finally buy a pair of leather trousers – I have wanted some for years but kept thinking I wouldn’t wear them. Now I have and I love them! x