Raw Chocolate Candy! Need I say more?

I'm a chocolate addict.  Maybe it's because I'm female.  Maybe it's because I need the minerals.  Maybe I just love chocolate.  I don't really care about the reasons, I just am.  To me, chocolate is heaven.  The darker, the better.  I HATE milk chocolate.  It's so gross.  If I wanted something that sweet, I'd just eat a handful of sugar.  I also have disdane for donuts.  Ugh.  Too sweet.  I think my obsession started my senior year of high school when I made friends with our German exchange student who's parents would send care packages full of European candies, and she would always share them in our art class.  Even after she went home that summer, she would ship Swiss and German chocolates to my house.  That was the first time I experienced REAL chocolate.  When you're 17 and American, you think Hershey's invented the stuff.  But after tasting that beautiful, bittersweet, richness that Christiana shared, there was no going back.  And so began my love affair with hard-to-find creamy, rich perfection.  As a vegan, my favorite store-bought brand is Endangered Species.  They have no animal ingredients and give 10% of profits to various environmental causes. Yay for living consciously!  If I'm going to buy a bar, I like their 88% dark or 72% mint chocolate.  Both are fabulous and low in sugar.  When you care about your health and want to gain the benefits of chocolate, always aim for 72% or higher cacao content.  

Lately, though, I've been trying to do more and more raw foods, so I started playing with some recipes for raw chocolate candy.  I bought a one-pound bag of raw cacao from Amazon.com and set to work.  Raw cacao is a great source of antioxidants (which help fight free-radicals in our bodies), as well as manganese and magnesium.  Manganese helps oxygenate blood, and  magnesium is a brain-balancing chemical, which could explain why we crave chocolate when stressed.  Raw cacao helps our bodies to release feel-good hormones.  Like you needed a reason to eat it? 

I've been adding superfoods to my candies lately, too.  I discovered the wonder of maca when I was trying to restart my hormonal systems in 2011 after being told I couldn't get pregnant due to my body not producing estrogen, like zilch, nada.  And since I now have my gorgeous, funny, wild, and sweet little girl, I think it helped.  This sweet powder comes from a root that grows in the Andes of Peru and is known for its hormone regulating effects.  It's been used for ages in both men and women to combat symptoms of menopause and andropause.  It's also been found to help increase energy, endurance, strength, memory, and circulation, as well as libido.  Ooh la la!  This stuff is so neat.  I purchase mine through TheRawFoodWorld.com.  They offer the highest quality maca that I've found.  Plus, I absolutely adore Matt Monarch and his wife, Angela.  (They have a YouTube channel all about the raw lifestyle.)

The main ingredient in my raw chocolates is organic, unrefined coconut oil.  You always want to buy unrefined coconut oil.  That means it's essentially raw and still contains all of the good fats, aka medium-chain fatty acids, which feed the brain and help you burn fat.  It's most affordable at Trader Joe's, but Kroger also sells it for just two dollars more per 16-ounce jar.  Unrefined coconut oil will actually smell and taste like coconut.  That's how you know it's the good stuff.  If you live in an area with limited resources, you can always purchase these ingredients online and have them shipped right to your door.  Doesn't get any easier than that.  

After a few batches of chocolate blobs, I invested in (if you can call $6 an investment) a candy mold, so now my chocolates are pretty as well as delicious.  And without further ado, I present my favorite new recipe:

Raw Vegan Chocolate Candy

Makes 30 small chocolates

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

6 Tbsp raw cacao (can use regular cocoa if raw isn't available, but it doesn't carry the same health benefits)

4 Tbsp liquid sweetener such as agave or maple syrup (could use powdered stevia, but add slowly and taste as you go since it's very concentrated)

2 Tbsp Maca (optional)

Pinch of sea salt

1 tsp vanilla extract or 5-6 drops of your favorite essential oil (optional)

These are so easy, and turn out absolutely creamy and smooth.  Just melt the oil in a double boiler or use a glass bowl in hot water.  Whisk in the other ingredients and pour into a candy mold, or chill until it starts to harden and scoop into balls on a cookie sheet.  Then, refrigerate or freeze until hardened.  (Since coconut oil melts around 76 degrees, you'll want to keep these refrigerated.  I've found that the maca helps to keep them from melting quite as quickly, though).  

I attended a raw food meetup group on Saturday and took two batches of six different flavors; cayenne, orange, peppermint, lavender & vanilla, cacao nib, and coconut flake.  They were a huge hit!  I didn't have a single piece to bring home.  There's nothing quite like eating guilt-free candy.