I mentioned on Monday that a good friend had nudged me to share a recipe that turned out really well. I'm really grateful for the prod (thanks, Terry!) because I threw this together in a blur in the midst of grading, and if I don't post it, I'll forget what I did. It's already been almost two weeks, so let's see how I do.
That "blur" of work seems to be a fairly consistent state at the moment. It's midterm week, and there have been various technical bugs all along--I've spent hours on the phone with the technical support folks, which has eaten into lecture-writing time. Today was one of those gorgeous bright-sun-in-the-eyes days that's why Phil got me this billed cap for my birthday, together with the happy green top and some long underwear under my
jeans. I feel so lucky--and not just because I can keep working with the sun right in my eyes!
Yes, the little computer nook in the background of the next picture isn't so much sun-in-the-eyes, but most of my work for this course is on the "window workstation" computer.
So, about this second go at white chocolate/bark. You might remember my
"not quite white" chocolate for the holidays. That used quite a bit of coconut cream powder, which some people find undesirable for various reasons, including the 1% casinate (dairy derivative) in it. I wanted to make another version that didn't use that--and this resultant attempt uses quite a few "unusual" or not-right-there-in-the-supermarket ingredients. But it also features the embedded fig and goji pieces that I so enjoyed last time. If you omit those, it's sugar free and candida friendly. Given the recherche ingredient list, let me share this "easy to find" tip: this stuff--creamed coconut--is basically the same stuff as coconut butter! It's incredibly cheaply available in Europe, and you can even find it in Anchorage. Just make sure to get the organic kind: some of the conventional brands have sulphates or other preservatives added. This package is 7oz, which is just under a cup. I used a whole block for this recipe.
No-Sugar Maca Mojo Bark (no dairy either!)
1 cup coconut butter, melted (or use one package of "creamed coconut")
1/2 cup cacao butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla powder
1 teaspoon white stevia powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
7/8 cup lucuma powder
1 tablespoon maca
3/4 cup inulin (oligosaccharide, feeds good bacteria, naturally sweet-tasting)
1/4 cup yacon powder
3 dried figs, chopped
1 tablespoon goji berries, chopped
Mix together the coconut and cacao butters. Stir in the stevia, vanilla and salt.
Gradually add in the rest of the dry ingredients--lucuma, maca, inulin and yacon powder, and stir gently until everything is fully incorporated and there are no powdery pockets! Once everything is smooth, add in the finely chopped figs and berries.
You can pour it onto a tray, or into bar molds.
Refrigerate to set.
This is not very sweet, very rich, but in a tummy-comforting, not a stomach-turning, way, and I was taken by surprise by how maca-ish it is! It really has a predominating malty flavor--which goes well with the figs and gojis. And actually, maca and coconut is an incredible flavor combination--it's like they're made for each other--so having the chocolate base contain more coconut than cacao butter worked well for this combination.
What do you think? Do you think you'll make this, or is the list of unusual ingredients offputting? Lucuma is getting easier and easier to find, as are inulin and maca.
Recent Discovery--Flax Milk!
I'm probably not a pioneer with this, as Homer, Alaska, is often the last place on the planet to see new health foods, it seems, but I found this "Flax milk" at the store today, and had to try it out. I was puzzled and curious, because flax is not a creamy seed at all--you wouldn't get a "milk" if you blended flax seeds and water like you would with hemp seeds. It turns out that it's blended with flax
oil, not seeds, and contains a fair amount of tapioca starch and gums as well (as do most store-bought nut milks--I'm ok with it).
Only 25 calories in a cup! Lots of calcium, and obviously lots of omega-3's, with fewer omega-6's than hemp milk.
It's also unsweetened, which I really like, but it has the consistency and color of regular milk.
It doesn't have a distinctive "flax" taste at all. It actually tastes very good to me. I go back and forth on the economics of buying something with so few calories per serving--if I buy something with 100 calories in a cup, I'll take a quarter or eighth of a cup and water it down, thus getting more bang for my buck. Sure, I can do that with this too, but it'll end up pretty watery real quick (which doesn't mean I don't do it anyway!) Nonetheless--definitely worth a try, and a great new addition to the growing array of non-dairy milks!
I hope you enjoy the maca bark/white choc! Have you tried flax milk? Would you?
