Tropics Best Virgin Organic Coconut Oil Chocolate
The following recipe for homemade chocolate makes an appromixately 150-gram bar, or an equal amount of bonbons. You can easily double or quadruple the recipe without affecting the results. You may also add optional ingredients that will increase the amount of the end product.
How to Make Chocolate: The Basic Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons of Tropics Best virgin coconut oil
- 5 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa power
- 5 tablespoons of fine grated coconut
- 1 to 2 tablespoons of sugar, Agave or other sweetner
- 1 pinch of salt
Optional Ingredients
- If you have natural vanilla extract, a few drops are a wonderful addition.
- A pinch of powered cayenne pepper
- Whole, chopped, or ground walnuts, almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, etc.
- Almond flour
- Fresh mint
- Raisins or other chopped dried fruit
Use your imagination to add to this list!
Please note that there is very litte that is "hard and fast" in this recipe, and very much that can be varied according to your preference, including the amounts and proportions of the main ingredients. That's one of its beauties!
How to Make Chocolate: The Preparation
1. Mix (by hand) the cocoa powder with Tropics Best virgin coconut oil until thoroughly blended. (My wife was amazed at how well and quickly the cocoa blends with the coconut oil, since cocoa is not instant and doesn't blend with most liquids unless the liquid is hot.) Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
2. Place the mixture in either a mold or a tray approximately 3 inches by 6 inches, though this can vary depending on how thick you want it and what size tray you have available! Pat it down as evenly as possible. You can also use an ice cube tray or individual molds to make separate bonbons.
3. After filling the tray, place your natural, healthy, homemade chocolate in the refrigerator. If you are making a bar after about ten minutes in the fridge, you may want to score it to make it easier to break into nice little symmetrical bite-sized pieces once its hardended.
4. Leave the chocolate in the fridge until almost ready to serve if room temperature is over 24-25ºC (76ºF), since this is virgin coconut oil's melting point. If it is cold where you are and the room temperature is cooler than this, refrigeration is not necessary (unless you want to keep it out of sight to make it last longer!)
