Vegan dark chocolate
For some people, the food they crave when tired, sad, or stressed is sweet. For others, it’s salty. Some may dream of rich and creamy comfort food, or a food they had often as a child. For me (and many other people) the primary go-to when feeling depleted…or even just feeling, is chocolate.
So as I drove home from dropping my son off at his university last Friday (in fact even as I drove him there) my mind was on chocolate. Hot chocolate, in particular, since it was cold and snowy, but really chocolate in any form. Leaving my youngest child at school isn’t nearly as heart-wrenching now as it was the first time I did it, but covid-19 adds an extra layer of concern for his safety, and an additional layer of solitariness to my empty-nesting as I work remotely from home.
Hence the need for chocolate. I routinely counsel my patients to limit saturated fat and to enjoy sweets only in moderation. I also routinely state that life is too short to not eat chocolate. I stand by both of those comments. The dark chocolate recipe I’m about to share is very, very high in saturated fat, being predominantly made of cocoa butter. Diets high in saturated fat are linked to elevated cholesterol and heart disease, so limiting our consumption of saturated fat is important. On the other hand, cocoa is high in phenolic antioxidants which are anti-inflammatory in nature and have been shown to improve cardiovascular function. So what’s a chocolate lover to do? Enjoy dark chocolate like this in very, very small portions* (and add cocoa powder to smoothies and other foods that aren’t full of coconut oil or cocoa butter). With the chocolate’s intense, rich flavor, though, a small portion is deliciously satisfying.
In this 5-Ingredient Vegan Dark Chocolate Bar recipe from the Minimalist Baker, the cocoa butter is melted in a double boiler (or a bowl over a pan of water) with a little coconut oil, then combined with cocoa powder, vanilla, salt, and maple syrup. The resulting liquid can be poured into molds to chill (if you want it to look nice) or just solidified in an 8x8 inch pan and then chopped up later. You can add cocoa nibs, coconut, or pretty much anything else you like in your chocolate, before it hardens completely, or leave it plain. I’ve enjoyed it plain, with cocoa nibs, and today I’m trying it with some shredded coconut.
I have made this recipe in the past and have found it to be rather oily; more so the longer it’s kept in the fridge or freezer. I made this batch with half of the coconut oil called for in the recipe, hoping to decrease that effect. I’m not yet sure if it worked. (Edit: It didn’t. I recommend placing the formed chocolate on a paper towel when storing. I think I’ll try eliminating the coconut oil entirely next time – I don’t mind my chocolate being “hard”.) The sweetness level of the chocolate can be adjusted by increasing or decreasing the amount of maple syrup used, and as the recipe describes, the flavor can also be altered by using more salt or vanilla. I find that when I make the recipe as stated it’s fairly bitter – maybe similar to an 80-85% dark chocolate bar.
My plan was to chill my chocolate until it was thick enough to cut and then use a cookie cutter to make pretty hearts for the sake of blog-related photography. Unfortunately I ended up working at my desk for longer than anticipated, so instead of nice shapes I had an awkward square slab of chocolate to photograph (Edit: I let the chocolate soften on the counter for a while and was able to cut it after all). Whatever the appearance of this chocolate, though, I’ll be enjoying it in small doses for the next few weeks.
* The recipe refers to making 12 “bars” of chocolate. A plain version of each one of those bars would contain 229 calories and 16 grams of saturated fat. This equates to almost 3/4 of the daily recommended limit of saturated fat in a 2,000 calorie diet. Cutting the chocolate into smaller chunks to obtain 30 pieces or more helps decrease the fat content of a serving, allowing this treat to fit into most diets.