I have tried on numerous occasions to make ‘sweet treats/desserts’ since beginning a low carb real food lifestyle. I’ve made jelly lollies for the kids, chocolate fudge brownies, chocolate chip cookies, cinnamon muffins and various other goodies that look and sound amazing. Sadly the ‘looking good’ and ‘sounding good’ is where it all ends. My family all take a couple of bites and then turn their noses up, mostly saying that they can taste the sweetener (and sometimes just saying YUK!). And I must say that I agree. I’ve tried different types of sweeteners but to no avail. I must say for the most part I’ve given up on all these things and the reality is that I don’t want or crave this type of food anyway. On the odd occasion, maybe when out at a restaurant or on a special occasion, I’ll indulge in a non-keto (yes sugar filled) dessert (shock, horror! Yes I am normal)– I’ll enjoy it for what it is and then move on. For me this balance is important and acceptable.
For some reason however this week I got a bee in my bonnet and decided I needed to make Keto chocolate. I looked at a bunch of recipes, which all contained all sorts of ingredients and then came up with the recipe below. Once again the chocolate came out looking amazing (as you can see from the pictures below). And the taste… well it isn’t chocolate like we know it and yes you can certainly taste that there is sweetener present BUT I’d give it a 6 out of 10 (maybe a 7 if I’m being generous).
With Easter this weekend I thought it would be timely to share the recipe. If you do give it a go, let me know what you think and also if there is anything that you think could be added to make it better.
Homemade Keto Chocolate:
Ingredients
- 250g cacao butter
- 4 tbsp erythritol
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 tbsp cocao powder
- 1/2 tsp fine Himalayan salt
- 150g hazelnuts, dry roasted and roughly chopped
Instructions
- Line a square baking dish (24cm x 24cm) with baking paper and set aside
- Finely chop the cacao butter and place in a heavy-based saucepan. Stir over low heat with a wooden spoon until melted
- Add the erythritol, vanilla extract, cacao powder and salt and keep stirring for 2-3 minutes until melted and well combined
- At this stage, I poured a small amount of the mixture into heart-shaped moulds, just to have a few plain options for those who don’t like nuts.
- Add the chopped hazelnuts and stir to combine
- Pour into the prepared baking dish and place into the freezer (place the heart-shaped moulds in the freezer) for about 30 minutes or until set
- Remove from the freezer. Take the hearts out of the moulds and break/chop-up the block of chocolate into rough pieces
- Store in a container in the fridge
Happy Easter everyone!
