You may or may not know that I happen to LOVE chocolate.
My mom has dark (dairy-free) chocolate on stand-by during my weekly visit to my parents.
You see I NEED SOME TREATS IN MY LIFE especially if I am losing weight, watching what I am eating, breastfeeding, or lacking sleep.
I can actually check all those “especially’s” off right now. My willpower suffers a heck of a lot when I am sleep deprived…can I get an amen sister!
Well, I HATE store bought stuff. Seriously. I have to try to make everything from scratch. It’s just something I pride myself on. I want to show people that making foods from scratch is easy and tasty. I also have a toddler that only likes to eat what mommy makes (my pride and joy).
I called my mom this past week and I asked her what her fav ingredients are in chocolate. She answers, “hazelnuts and cranberries”. “Perfect” I replied, “I’m going to make you some tomorrow when I bring the kiddos by”.
So here I am in my moms kitchen with my mommy by my side (a great cook by the way) when people start flooding the room.
Let me back up and remind you (or perhaps you did not know) that I have 16 siblings, 20 nieces and nephews, 7 siblings in-law, and 3 soon-to-be siblings in-law (is that proper English?).
Yes you can read that again, it’s not a typo. 46 people + my parents + my kids + my husband + 2 great nephews…oh and 1 on the way = 54 people in my immediate family.
I look at my mom and ask for a second tray to double the recipe – ha!
One batch I added hazelnuts and cranberries and the other batch I added peanut butter. To EVERYONE’S surprise, the cranberries won the taste test, although both were superb.
I had all my family ask me how I made the exquisite chocolate so tasty and how I made it so fast.
It’s so simple and very easy to manipulate to add your own favourite ingredients.
Here you go. Explore and Enjoy!
This recipe was inspired by The Dessert Angel.
BTW — The Dessert Angel has a special 2 DAY ONLY sale for Flavilicious readers. It’s seriously a MUST-HAVE recipe collection for every kitchen. I use mine weekly!
- 4 tbsp coconut oil, melted
- 4 tbsp carob or cocoa or both (I did a mix)
- pinch of Aztec Sea Salt
- ¼ cup (or more) hazelnuts
- 1 tbsp of cranberries or peanut butter (or whatever you fancy)
- Roast hazelnuts at 300F for 15 minutes using a baking sheet. Or you can use filberts, which is what I love to use. If you do use filberts (chopped hazelnuts), skip to step 4.
- Cool hazelnuts for 5 minutes and then remove skin by massaging nuts in hands.
- Chop hazelnuts.
- Mix all ingredients together.
- Place in a freezer-proof tray and freeze for at least 30 minutes. The size of tray doesn’t really matter. If you prefer a thick chocolate (which I prefer), simply use a small tray like a loaf pan.
- Once it's frozen you can break it with a knife and enjoy!
- Cook time actually refers to freeze time 🙂
Where are the rest of the instructions after you place the mixture into the freezer proof pan?
I’ve made this and you just freeze it until it’s solid and then it’s ready to go! 🙂 You can break it up with a butter knife. I like to coat the glass pan with coconut oil so that it comes out easily. I add chia seeds to mine to give it a little crunch.
After the “Salt” in the Ingredients list it says “(add link)”. What is the link that is not provided?
Its supposed to be link where to purchase the aztec salt. U can use sea salt:)
These look great! I love filberts, which are hazelnuts by their original name. Since filbert didn’t sound delicious, the nuts are now called hazelnuts (except by those of us who live in Oregon where most filberts are grown), and the trees are called filbert. By either name, they are a favorite here!
Truffles grow on your Oregon filberts, yum.
Is this right, there is no sweetener of any kind??
That’s what I was going to say, unless this is a sweetened cocoa they are using. Otherwise, what is the sweetener?
Also wondering about the lack of a sweetening ingred. in this???
I had the same question regarding sweetener:) I was going to use puréed dates.
I like it dark but you can add a few pinches of stevia 🙂