Chocolate Fest 2011 (A.K.A. February)

 

The ingredients used to make raw fudge and truffles.

Here is the Fudge still setting. There are two flavors: (Spicy) Mexican Chocolate and Traditional

I also made truffles:

There are 3 flavors: Goji-berry, Traditional and Coconut.

Finally, my friends birthday was a couple days after Valentine's so I made her a gift box of chocolates per her request. (She actually just mentioned it casually and I kept her in mind as I was doubling and tripling some recipes for sis' party).

In this assortment: 

Vegan PB cups, Date caramels, Raw fudge: spicy and traditional, Raw Gojiberry and Coconut truffles

Quick and Easy Date Caramels:

These taste just like chocolate caramels!

• (2) 1 lb. bags or boxes of good quality chocolate chips or powdered chocolate ( I buy Guitard's dark chocolate chips and grind them down to a powder so they'll melt quicker/easier and add vanilla beans if on hand (or some vanilla extract would be ok too if you don't have beans). I also add a sweetener like agave but you can just as easily buy semi sweet chips and grind in a coffee grinder or magic bullet (don't laugh- I LOVE mine!) or powder, don't go for milk chocolate it'll be way to sweet ). Note: see vegan PB cups recipe if you'd like to make raw chocolate to go with these...
• (approx.) 1 lb pre- packaged or approx 15 Medjool dates.  This will make approx. 30 "caramels" as each date is cut in half. Trick: refridgerate before use and they'll be less sticky.
• approx. 30 Raw Almonds or your favorite nut. (I go the extra mile to soak, sprout and dehydrate mine to maximize nutrition- they are just as tasty raw.  Note: roasted almonds will also work but keep in mind they are not as nutritional as raw. ) 
• candied orange peel cut into 1 inch (slender) pieces, optional

1. Prep pan/cookie sheet (line with parchment paper) for cooling prepared dates
2. Melt the chocolate on medium low heat. 
3. While chocolate is melting pit dates.
4. Cut in half width-wise so that now you have 2 "mini" sized dates that will close over the "filling"
5. Wipe down almonds with a damp cloth or paper towel or skip this step if you soaked and dehydrated them!
6. Set aside orange peel in a bowl for quick assembly
7. Check on chocolate
8. Assemble the date caramels: 
• open the date and stuff with one almond and one sliver of candied orange peel
• pinch closed (the dates should sticky enough to self adhere so that they do not open when you are dipping them in chocolate, if not just press them around all sides firmly)
9. Dip in melted chocolate set onto prepared cookie sheet and cool in the refridgerator for about 30 minutes to one hour.
10. Enjoy! (I store mine in the refrigerator, even though the chocolate is tempered. They'll keep for several weeks.

Vegan PB Cups

Here are the ingredients to make vegan PB cups.  (note: I tried to make "almost raw" PB cups with raw chocolate but overcooked it which basically just made it vegan. You can substitute coco butter for raw cacao butter and powdered chocolate for the cocao powder but it won't be the same and you'll have to adjust the sugar unless you buy a dark or unsweetened kind )

First prepare the baking cups for molding and filling once the chocolate is ready
For the PB filling:

• Cacao butter (approx. 1/2 cup)
• 2 cups of Marnatha Organic PB (no salt)
• 1/2 cup agave nectar (the clear kind is best)
• 4 tbsp powdered sucanat (unrefined cane sugar), finely ground (use a coffee grinder or Magic Bullet)
• 2 tbsp cacao nibs
• 3/4 tsp. Sea Salt

1. Cut cacao butter into small chunks and melt (in a double boiler over very low heat- no more than 100 degrees)
2. While the Cacao butter is melting combine all other ingredients in a bowl
3. Add melted cacao butter and mix well
4. Place mixture in a piping bag (or ziplock) and set aside mixture in the fridge to set and begin chocolate preparation

 Raw Chocolate

• 31/2 cups cacao butter, melted
• 4 vanilla beans (scraped insides only)
• 1 cup , + 3 tbsp powdered sucanat (again finely ground)
• 1/3 cup agave syrup
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 22 oz cacao powder (weight)

1. Blend melted cacao butter and vanilla bean in a blend until vanilla is broken down and mixture is warm
2. Pour 2 cups vanilla butter in food processor (reserve remaining 11/2 cups in blender). Add 1/2 of the cacao powder to the vanilla butter and process about 1 minute
3. (stop processing) Add salt and powdered sucanat (resume processing 1 minute)
4. Turn on blender (with remaining portion of vanilla butter) while running add agave and blend until well comebined
5. Add agave mixture to processor (1 minute)
6. Stop processing and add remaining cacao powder and process for another 2 minutes scraping the sides with a spatula
7. At this point you can temper the chocolate or just leave it raw (which is where I got a little mixed up, I think I had over processed it and then proceeded to temper but it all worked out in the end. It still tasted good, I just lost most of the nutritional benefits... oh well next time).  It will need to be refrigerated if you do not temper.
8. Pour and set cup bottoms. I used a spoon to scoop out small amounts of chocoalte and then my pinky to swirl it around and make the bottom layer of the cup.  Play around with it to see what works best for you.
9. Once cups are set pipe in the PB filling
10. Cover the filling to finish the cups
11. Set finished PB cups in fridge or freezer to set.  I recommend keeping them in the fridge until you're ready to eat them.

These cups will keep for about 2 weeks in the fridge (or longer if the chocolate is not raw).

Apricot Oatmeal Bars

Apricot Oat Bars

(low glycemic/ no sugar added)

Prep time: 15 minutes

Bake time: 25 minutes

1½ cups rolled oats

½ cup ground flax seeds

½ cup organic buckwheat flour or organic whole wheat flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg, optional

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp sea salt

1/3 cup honey, maple syrup or brown rice syrup (I used sugar free maple syrup, next time I'll try brown rice syrup to see if I can get a more chewy granola bar for something different. Mine were crunchy and crumbly. NOTE: if you change the sugar these bars will no longer be low glycemic.  Brown rice syrup- available at health food stores or online- would be the best alternative to honey or maple syrup.  It is not low glycemic, however, it is processed slower in your body and is more "stable".  Agave or Yacon syrup would be another choice although both are raw and would significantly lose their nutritional value if cooked. )

1/3 cup canola oil, corn oil (non-hydrogenated)or coconut oil (when baking make sure it's refined for medium to high heat)

½ tsp vanilla

 1/3 to ½ cup unsweetened apricot fruit spread (any no sugar added fruit spread will do but I like apricot with the spices used.)

Variation: add 1/3 cup of dried fruit and or nuts such as raisins and sunflower seeds for oatmeal raisin bars, or dried cranberries and pecans.  Maybe next time I’ll add a bit more flour and oats (like 2tbsp) and use this as a topping for an apple or other fruit crisp…

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl combine the dry ingredients. Once dry ingredients are combined add wet ingredients and mix well.  In an 8x8 baking dish press ½ of the oat mixture into the dish (like you’re making a crust). Evenly spread on the fruit spread. Add remaining oat mixture on top and gently press. Bake for 25 minutes and cool before cutting. Makes 8 rectangular bars.

 Make sure they cool completely before you cut them!

New address

Hello and I apologize for the change of address but 2 things recently occured to me:

1. My blog address doesn't match my name and that can't be good for marketing
2. The name Imagine foods is already taken and by a giant company no less

Thus, new address. Thanks for your understanding and patience. Stay tuned for more recipes and food adventures. Next up on my list is oat bars, coconut macaroons and Persian shortbread cookies. Mmmmmmm!