Green Chocolates and Other Sweet Treats!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!  How are you celebrating?
I know some people celebrate this day as an excuse to get together with friends and drink (green beer).  I spent the day with family and friends- including meeting up with Brandon of hyperion herbs to make green chocolates!
I've been dreaming of making white chocolate since I got my hands on raw cacao butter.  The light colored base was perfect to add a little chlorella to make it green and festive.  This version of white chocolate was made rich, creamy and sweet by lucuma powder.  Its an energizing sweet treat with maca and bee pollen- and I added in some vanilla, mesquite powder, and stevia just to make it extra delicious.

Green Chocolate Bites with Goji Berries

1/4 cup melted cacao butter

1 tbs coconut oil

3 tbs lucuma

1 tsp mesquite

1 tbs maca

2 tbs bee pollen

1 tsp vanilla

6 drops of liquid stevia

1 tbs of chlorella (optional)

Stir everything into cacao butter that's been melted in a double boiler.  Top with gojis, or throw them in the chocolate.  Freeze for 20 minutes.  Enjoy!

What is chlorella?  Its an algae that's cousins with the better known spirulina or blue-green algae.  I like the name because it reminds me that its full of chlorophyl.  Any green powder will work to tint your chocolates.  Or add to dark chocolate for a nutritional burst :)

We weren't done making chocolate- Brandon brought over some of his awesome reishi , he shou wu , and cordyceps to mix in with raw cacao powder and other goodies to make some truly medicinal chocolates.

We made cinnamon herbal chocolate squares with gojis thrown in, chocolate maca butter cups,

chocolate coconut truffles, and chocolate turtle bites.  All raw, all sugar free and dairy free.

Chocolate Turtle Bites

10 dates soaked and pitted
2 tbs coconut oil
12 raw walnut halves plus 1/4 cup to grind up (all soaked)
pinch sea salt
vanilla
melted chocolate

In your food processor make date caramel using finely chopped dates and coconut oil and let it run until its the consistency of caramel.  Take half of the date caramel out of the processor and add 1/4 cup walnuts, a pinch of sea salt, and vanilla in with the remaining caramel.  Process until sticky.  In mini-muffin cups, or just on a plate- layer a small round flat thingy of the date/walnut stuff, a rolled ball of the date caramel, a walnut half, and spoon some melted chocolate over it.  Freeze and enjoy!
I got all fancy with my melted chocolate with raw cacao butter and raw cacao powder and the whole shebang.  You can keep this recipe casual by melting a chocolate bar or chocolate chips you have hanging out around the house.  In the picture the one on the left is cut in half.  You can make these bite sized or roll them out into a layered bar or get as fancy/casual as you'd like.  I'm not precise in my food making- it should be a stress reliever not a stress causing thing for you!

Chocolates To-Go!

What is your favorite chocolate treat?  I love blended hot chocolate drinks with plenty of spice (cinnamon and cayenne), but my maca butter cups and raw chocolate truffles are favorites too.  Sometimes I bring a bag of cacao nibs to snack on at work or school.  How do you add chocolate into your daily routine?

Also, get ready for a change.  I'm working on aura-celeste.com ... Aura's Vegan Kitchen will still be around, but I'm looking to gain more readers by taking away the vegan emphasis (not that I'm switching up my diet) and talk about other stuff besides food that I'm into.  Did you know I'm passionate about massage and body work and especially natural healing?  I'll be talking about that more.

Thanks for stopping by,
<3 Aura

Sweet Maca!

My friend Adam LOVES maca.  He likes it so much that he practically eats it by the spoonful.  What is maca?  Its an Incan cousin to the radish that is crazy rich in nutrients like B-vitamins, zinc, potassium, magnesium, sterols, amino acids, fatty acids, and more calcium than milk.  It was an important part of an Incan warrior's diet and is available in powdered form here in the US at health food stores and online.
Maca is known as a hormone balancing adaptogen that provides strength and endurance as well as mental clarity.  I know some people who like maca on their popcorn, mixed into (coconut) yogurt, and in their morning smoothies.  I like maca best when its paired with chocolate.  Adam was over tonight, and although I still think he'd prefer to have maca alone, together we made two maca based desserts/snacks that I'm really excited about!


Raw Cacao Maca "Butter Cups"

Chocolate coating:
Cacao butter
Coconut oil
Agave nectar
Vanilla
Cacao powder
Lucuma powder
Mesquite powder


Maca filling:
.5 cup soaked almonds
.5 cup soaked cashews
1 cup maca
sea salt
2 dates, pitted plus 1/8 cup raw local honey


In a double boiler, melt cacao butter and coconut oil down.  I don't have exact measurements for the chocolate- feel it out.  Sugar would work instead of agave nectar.  Lucuma and mesquite are raw sweeteners and flavor enhancers that give raw chocolate an almost caramel taste.  They are not necessary to have great chocolate.  If you want to simplify- melt any good quality chocolate bar in a double boiler.
Turn the heat off and after chocolate cools slightly spoon into muffin tins.


The maca filling was actually doubled for the maca bars listed below- and it was made in the food processor.  I use raw, local honey and dates to sweeten and bind most of my nut mixtures.  [[I know honey isn't vegan.  I'm vegan first for health reasons- and I can't find a better cure for allergies than raw, local honey.  Plus its delicious and binds well in raw sweets :) ]] If you'd like to use only dates- I've found that 2 dates is about the same as 1 tbs of honey.  After the food processor mixes the maca "dough" roll into balls and then smoosh into flat pancake-ish shapes and throw on top of your chocolate hanging out in the muffin tins.  Spoon more chocolate over maca pancake-ish discs and freeze for at least 15 minutes.  


Cinnamon Maca Bars

.5 cup soaked almonds

.5 cup soaked cashews

1 cup maca

sea salt

2 dates, pitted plus 1/8 cup raw local honey

1 cup coconut flakes

1/4 cup coconut oil

2 tbs cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1 pinch cayenne

Process in food processor until a dough ball forms.  Flatten out into a small bar pan, freeze for at least 10 minutes and cut into squares.  Wrap in aluminum foil for easy transport.  

Better than Lara Bars!  Filled with Maca energy :)