My diet has changed quite dramatically recently. I’m not sure when or even if I will return to how I was eating last year and I’m well aware the name of my blog doesn’t match how I’m eating at the moment, so for the time being I’m looking for healthier alternatives.
Recently I was trawling through instagram and found a photo of these salted caramel chocolate cups which came from a recipe on Kalifornia Love. The chocolate is made from raw cacao, coconut oil and a little maple syrup and the ‘salted caramel’ is made from dates blitzed with water and salt. That’s it!
I had all the ingredients in my kitchen cupboard so I thought I’d try them out. Wow! They blew me away. First of all, there is no added sugar , the sweetness comes from the dates and a little maple syrup. Dates have been a revelation for me over the last few months. I never ate them before but they are fast becoming my go-to sweet treat now that I’ve cut back on refined sugar and chocolate. They’re still high in natural sugar so I don’t eat them day and night but I always have a box of Medjool dates in the cupboard. Secondly, these chocolate cups taste amazing. Truly amazing. I was so shocked when I tried the first one, then quickly popped a second in my mouth. Then a third. You get the picture. I really need to learn some self restraint! My friend Carmen popped round to my flat and she tried them too and also loved them, immediately asking me for the recipe.
Oh and these little beauties take minutes to make. Minutes! You can make a batch, freeze them and then just grab and go anytime you need a sweet treat. Perfect.
For the chocolate
6 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil, melted
6 tbsp raw cacao powder
1.5 tbsp maple syrup
For the salted caramel
A handful of Medjool dates, I used about 5 or 6 large ones
1/2 tsp sea salt
4 tbsp water
Simply mix the melted coconut oil, cacao powder and maple syrup in a small bowl.
Line up cupcake cases (I used very small ones) and pour a bit of the chocolate into each of them. (I found that the chocolate mixture started to solidify quite quickly. It poured easily into the first few cups then I had to spoon it into the rest.)
Place in freezer until the chocolate is solid (about five minutes).
Meanwhile place the dates, water and salt into a blender (I used my NutriBullet) and blitz.
Add the mixture on top of the chocolate.
Then pour more chocolate on top until it covers the caramel. (I had to re-heat the chocolate mixture over a bain-marie to make it pourable again).
Place back in fridge and let it solidify completely for about 5 minutes. And then your cups are ready to be devoured!
4 Comments
I absolutely love chocolate and salted caramel flavours – these look so good, I can’t believe they’re so healthy too! I’m intrigued now, want to try for myself!
They look delicious! I love salted caramel too.. can’t wait to give these a try! 🙂
Hello,
Must say I love your blog. Amazingly good.
Could you please tell me if I can replace the cacao powder with cocoa powder? If so, what would be the difference in regards to taste?
Thank you from Australia,
Angela
Hi Angela, thank you so much! I’m so glad you like it. 🙂
With regards to replacing cacao with cocoa, technically cacao has a lot more antioxidants and is less processed than cocoa, therefore the nutritional benefits are higher. In terms of taste, as long as you use a cocoa that doesn’t have much added sugar, I’m sure it should still taste good.
If you’re looking for raw cacao powder and can’t find it in the shops, you can buy it online quite easily. I sometimes buy it from Amazon if I can’t get to health food shop.
However, I would be interested to hear if it does work with cocoa powder. Do keep me posted! 🙂