May 11, 2012 Posted by Lakapati Basa on May 11, 2012 in Raw, Recipes | 0 comments

RAWKIN’ RECIPE: Dark Mexican Chocolate Crunch Bark

what’s Mexican chocolate without the chili?

Coming back from Bali with my raw cacao haul had me engaged full throttle in chocolate alchemy. My resident Vitamix blender cranks out to live for chocolate elixirs with different  superfoods and whenever I feel up to it, chocolate cups with almond butter, chocolate bark in all sorts of flavors. There are days I feel like having cardamom, some days mint, some days a generous sprinkling of buckwheat crunchies, and some days, I like it unadulterated pure dark chocolate. And today, I like it hot and crunchy…muy caliente!

Loving to have more buckwheat crunchies (rice crispies is basically devoid of any nutrition and obviously not raw so I choose to use buckwheat groats instead. Please see link below to see the health benefits) and inspired by my favorite cup of hot chocolate (thick hot chocolate made with tablea with a sprinkling of cinnamon and a pinch of cayenne), I made this bark to share with fairies tomorrow.

SOFTWARE:

• 250 g raw cacao butter (or 1 1/4 cup melted cacao butter or virgin coconut oil)
• 1 1/2 cups cacao powder
• 1 1/3 cups buckwheat crunchies
• 3/4 cup coconut sugar
• seeds of 1 vanilla pod
• 1 tablespoon lecithin
• 4 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/4-3/4 teaspoon cayenne powder, optional
• 1/4 teaspoon himalayan salt

HOW TO:

1. Shave or shred cacao butter and melt it in a double boiler, making sure the temperature is comfortably warm to the touch until it melts to a pool of liquid. This is very important especially when working with raw cacao butter to preserve enzymes.
2. In the clean super dry blender, add everything (except for the buckwheat crunchies) and blend until smooth, stopping after every three to five minutes of blending,  rest for three to five. Blend in stages. Make sure the temperature stays comfortably warm. Blending the mixture continuously will generate a lot of heat.
3. Line 2 cookie sheets with wax paper or use 2 dehydrator sheets with teflex. Divide the buckwheat crunchies and chocolate mixture onto two sheets.
4. Make sure all buckwheat crunchies are coated with chocolate and spread the mixture to the sides. Put in the freezer for a few minutes.
5. Once the chocolate hardens, break into shards and keep in an airtight container to keep moisture out. Keep in the freezer if you live in a tropical country.

Enjoy!