BRT Insights - WW Kayaking & Hiking

Quick, simple, and healthy recipe for a chocolate spread that tastes great.

Ingredients:
2 cups (16 oz) nut or seed butter
4 to 6 tbs cocoa powder unsweetened
1 tsp vanilla or almond extract
1/2 tsp stevia powder concentrate

Instructions:
1. Pour off most or all of the clear oil that separates on the top of a jar of natural nut or seed butter.
2. Stir all the ingredients together.
3. Store in the refrigerator.



Variations:

Mexican chocolate recipe: add 2 tsp cinnamon and 2 tsp nutmeg to the recipe above.

Aztec chocolate recipe: add 2 tsp cayenne, 2 tsp cinnamon to the recipe above. Allow a few hours for the full flavor of the cayenne to be released. Carefully adjust cayenne amounts to suit your taste and the hotness of the cayenne you use.

Orange chocolate recipe: add fresh grated orange zest and 1 tbs orange extract to the recipe above.


Notes:
Commercial chocolate-nut spread tastes great, but this junk food contains sugar and palm oil which I prefer to avoid for a variety of health, nutritional and environmental reasons. In contrast, my homemade recipe contains no refined sugar, and only the healthy oil content from whatever nut or seed butter was used. This recipe is also low in sodium if you choose an unsalted nut or seed butter.

After pouring off most of the clear oil separated on the top, mixing, and consuming one or two servings of plain nut butter, then the chocolate and other ingredients can be simply stirred into the jar of store-bought nut or seed butter for maximum convenience and minimum dishwashing.

My homemade recipe amounts produce a spread that tastes like semi-sweet chocolate. Adjust all of the ingredient amounts as needed to suit your own tastes.

Stevia is a natural, noncaloric sweetener and flavor enhancer that is increasingly available in grocery stores or can be purchased online. You could also substitute whatever sugar or noncaloric sweetener you prefer.

Pouring off most of the oil separated at the top of the nut butter jar produces a thicker, stiffer spread. Later on you can very carefully add back oil if needed to achieve whatever degree of creaminess you desire. I like mine to be very thick and barely spreadable straight out of the refrigerator so that a very thick layer of chocolate spread on my wholegrain toast doesn't turn runny and melt too quickly. Add more cocoa powder if necessary to thicken the recipe.

Peanut butter is the lowest cost and most widely available, but a wide range of tree nut butters (e.g. almond, cashew) and seed butters (e.g. pumpkinseed, sunflowerseed, sesame/tahini) are available in stores or can be made at home using a food processor. All of the nut and seed butters are fairly good sources of protein (e.g. peanut butter nutritional value). Uniquely among the nut and seed butters walnut is a good source of omega-3 fat.

This recipe is a great way to enjoy the health benefits of dark chocolate without the sugar and less healthy fats found in chocolate candies. Many people with special dietary requirements (e.g. low sugar, low salt, etc.) can enjoy this guilt-free chocolate spread.

The Aztec Chocolate recipe adds the flavors of the traditional Olmec, Mayan and Aztec chocolatl/xocoatl drink into the nut spread recipe. See more about chili pepper nutritional benefits.

People with allergies to tree nuts and/or peanuts may be able to enjoy the recipe if its made with a seed butter instead. If you put the recipe in your own container with your own label make sure to identify the type of nut or seed butter used because some people are deathly allergic to certain kinds of nuts.

Please share this recipe with everybody you know who loves chocolate !! Forward the link via email and/or share the link on your Facebook.

Please post your comments, questions and recipe modifications here. Thanks !!

Labels: food-drink