raw sour cherry chocolate

For months and months now I have been wanting to try my hand at raw chocolate making. To me it all seemed a little overwhelming as for the most part I am a good savoury cook and a lousy sweet maker. One of my goals for 2014 is to also minimise fructose in my diet as it spikes insulin, stores as fat and produces and inflammatory cascade in the body. However, this is going to be a step by step process and plus I still have 4 more days until it is 2014 so I made this recipe with maple syrup. Next attempt I will replace this with rice malt syrup (a glucose based sweetener which does not have a such nasty effect on your blood sugar and insulin levels).

Here is the recipe & method I used:

100gms raw cacao butter (the fat that is extracted from cacao beans)

6 tablespoons of organic raw cacao powder

3 tablespoons of organic real maple syrup

a sprinkle of organic flaked coconut

a handful of organic dried sour cherries

a pinch of good quality himalayan rock salt

Heat 1/2 a small saucepan of water on the stove.

Over the saucepan place a heat proof bowl.

Place the cacao butter in the bowl and melt very slowly (make sure the water underneath does not boil).

Once it has melted, add in the cacao powder and stir with a metal whisk to combine.

Slowly add the maple syrup.