Experimental Chocolates

Over the weekend, I made a second small batch of chocolate with my spice grinder.  I think that I burned it out!  I was so bummed.  I figured that I would need to wait until I could afford to replace it.  For my morning snack, I had carrots with almond butter.  The grocery store has a machine that will make almond butter for you.  It got me thinking, what kind of machine would I need to make my almond butter at home?  This evening I did some research and realized that I could use my Cuisinart food processor! Then that little light bulb turned on in my head, "I wonder if I can use my food processor for making chocolate?"


The answer was "YES!"  I roasted up the rest of the cacao beans and dumped them all into the food processor.  I added some cocoa butter and coconut butter to help the cocoa powder liquefy into a workable chocolate.
     Recap of the Process:
     Roast Cacao beans at 250 degrees for 10-13 minutes.
     Put roasted beans into food processor with stevia and begin processing.  When the powder turns to a clay consistency, add cocoa butter (I also added a small amount of coconut butter)
     In about 2 ounce increments, put chocolate into mortar and worked with the pestle
     Add flavoring if desired and temper chocolate on marble sheet.  I clumped mine into small balls for easier serving. Allow to harden and store for future eating.


At this time of year "chocolate covered cherries" is such a huge treat.  I decided to try a healthier twist.  I took some Bing Cherries out of the freezer. After thawing them, I used paper towels to pull the moisture out of several and left the oven at a low temperature drying them even more.  Although they weren't dehydrated, I still used them in the chocolate.  I will need to eat these first.

Cinnamon Sprinkled Bing Cherries

Well, then again maybe I will need to eat my bacon and cinnamon chocolates first?  I will be keeping both of them in the refrigerator to maintain freshness. I had just over eight ounces of cacao beans remaining in my bag.  I decided to make about two ounces of four different flavors of chocolate. (These are listed in no particular order.)

1. Coconut and Sea Salt
2. Bacon with Cinnamon
3. Cinnamon Cherry
4. Walnut with Sea Salt

They all looked similar once they were done.  To keep them separated, I put each two ounce flavor into a snack size Ziploc baggie after writing a description of the flavor on the outside. Even though I used stevia to sweeten the chocolate, they still taste very similar to 70% chocolate bars.  So if you don't like dark chocolate, you would not like these flavors.



2 oz bags of chocolate

The sky is the limit in regards to flavors.  I am going to take the rest of the cherries that I thawed and put them in the dehydrator.  That will give a different flavor and texture.  I might even dehydrate a couple of bananas and maybe a couple of apples with cinnamon.  All healthy choices that could be added with stevia sweetened chocolate for a fun and favorable treat.