Shake your (chocolate) bonbons: my 3-ingredient recipe
The first time I ate a piece of extremely dark chocolate was well over 20 years ago. I thought it was the most bitter, chalkiest thing I ever ate. So I started chocolate-training myself….
Why? Well, I had heard about the health benefits of the cacao bean but I also suspected that chocolate was, perhaps, an ‘acquired’ taste. A taste that, much like tea or wine, could reveal a world of sensory nuances and delights, once I was ready for it.
So I persevered, slowly upping the content of cacao in my chocolate. I started at 70%, to really reap the benefits from the disease killing chemicals in the chocolate: flavonoids and theobromine. And as I enjoyed the rich, earthy flavour more and more, study after study was proving that chocolate cures so much more than a broken heart.
Flavonoids increase the flexibility of veins and arteries, and make your skin less sensitive to the damaging rays of the sun. (Good news: a chocolate bar contains five times the flavonoids of an apple!) And did you know that the obromine, responsible for chocolate’s feel-good effect, works as a cough suppressant?
By the time I reached the 99% mark, I had become addicted to this sexy superfood. I even came up with a simple, but delicious recipe for raw chocolate bonbons! Enjoy them!
Ingredients:
- 2 dates, roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons of raw cacao powder (It’s claimed that uncooked cacao contains a higher level of antioxidants than the roasted variety used in most chocolate)
- 2 tablespoons of raw virgin coconut oil
Method:
Mix all ingredients together in saucepan and gently heat until the coconut oil has melted. Blend until smooth (in a blender or mixer), and pour mixture into an ice cube tray. Put it in the freezer, wait 20 minutes, and presto!
Once you get the hang of this basic recipe, you can add different types of dried fruit. I personally love dried apples, cranberries and mulberries! Enjoy!
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