A few of my favorite things? Coaching baseball. Growing vegetables. Walking on a sunny day. Hanging with my husband late at night after the boys have gone to bed. Cooking with children –of any age.
Recently I have had the opportunity to teach cooking to my son’s third grade class. This has been great fun. I get a real glimpse of each child and his or her temperament when we cook together –in the classroom mixing things up, working away.
I break the children into groups of 4, hand them a recipe, then pass out cooking equipment and ingredients. It is so much fun to watch, help and see what cute and adorable comments they make as they cook, “Elana, are these nuts chopped well enough?” That was a regular comment during our Charoset project in April. They are so careful and caring in their handling and preparation of food. It is quite awe inspiring.
Now, as the end of school approaches, the ice cream truck screams through our neighborhood, announcing the arrival of overpriced individually packaged treats. In direct competition, I respond with my own homemade goodies.
For this school year’s final venture into the classroom: chocolate from scratch. I taught my favorite 3rd graders to make the raw dessert that follows.
We made a big mess. We had lots of fun.
Raw Chocolate Fudge
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw cacao powder
- ½ cup coconut oil
- ½ cup coconut butter
- ½ cup macadamia nut butter
- 1 cup agave nectar or honey
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine cacao, coconut oil, coconut butter and macadamia nut butter
- Stir in agave, vanilla, salt and cinnamon
- Mix well, mashing lumps against side of bowl with a fork to smooth out batter
- Pour mixture into a 7 x 11 inch baking dish
- Place in freezer for 1-2 hours, until firm
- Cut into squares and serve
- Store in refrigerator or freezer to maintain proper texture and consistency
This recipe is based on one that I found at Circle of Healers. Many thanks to them for coming up with a fabulous superfood dessert rich in anti-oxidants and good fats.
To make a more exotic fudge add your favorite nuts, dried fruit and spices. The children and I added raisins, macadamia nuts and various spices to their fudge –it was fun to see them get creative. My personal favorite was Cutter and Elijah’s addition of toasted coconut, which resulted in little “Mounds Bars” treats.
What would you like to add when you make this delicious dessert? Don’t be shy! Go ahead, let us know; share your great ideas below…
elana says
Noa -Thanks for stopping by; I like that expression, “meh.” If you make this please let me know how it turns out for you :-)
noa says
i tried a “5 minute” raw fudge recipe once that consisted only of honey, cacao powder, and coconut oil. it was a pain to get it mixed together and tasted a bit…meh.
i like the additions here of nut butter and coconut butter. i will definitely try this recipe next time!
thanks for sharing.
elana says
Sagami -Yes, we had great fun; I can highly recommend making this with children, it’s a blast.
Linda -Yes, it’s quite easy and very delicious.
Susan -Coconut oil is very oily (pure oil I think), whereas coconut butter seems to have some solids in it like a nut butter though it becomes hard at colder temps because of its high fat content. Thanks for your question; I went back and linked each of these items to places that people can purchase them (with descriptions) to help differentiate these two closely related products. Also, coconut cream blocks are very different than coconut butter. Hope this helps.
Holly -I have a little post-it next to my desk with recipe requests from readers; I love your idea and am adding it to my list. I will definitely be trying to make this with less agave, thanks for your great idea!
zebe912 -Yes, agave is better than other sweeteners in terms of blood sugar, though some people need to avoid sugar altogether (such as avoiding fruit). Luckily I don’t fall into that category anymore! Cocoa powder I think would work fine.
Maggie -Thanks so much for stopping by and for helping to clarify the coconut butter/oil question :-)
Vittoria -I guess you could try substituting something for coconut oil/butter, though I’m not sure what would work. Maybe dairy butter? If you figure something out let us know!
Vittoria says
This looks great! I have one question, but it’s a biggy. Can I substitute anything for the coconut oil and coconut butter? I have a negative reaction and try to avoid coconut whenever possible. Thanks so much!
Maggie says
I love coconut butter! It’s one of my favorite ingredients. I mix it into oatmeal and baked squash and use it in Thai curries. I’ve seen coconut cream blocks but they are very hard. Coconut butter is softer like almond or peanut butter. I can’t wait to try this!
zebe912 says
I’m curious of your response to Holly since my reading has indicated that agave affects blood sugar less than most other sweetners and is low GI. I have tried using stevia and don’t like the taste of it at all. This recipe looks neat to try though. I’ve never run across raw cacao powder though…would it work with a regular cocoa powder if other dietary factors aren’t an issue? I’d like to try this with dried cherries, but I don’t think its in my budget.
Holly says
Hi Elana-
I love your blog:)
Great photo of the kids!
I would love it if you could possibly include a stevia sweetened alternative recipe since Agave affects blood sugar so much.
Do you have any ideas for making this recipe with stevia and how to alter the ingredients so it works? Maybe more of the nut butter?
Many thanks for your great recipes!
Holly
michelle says
My husband has the same problem with Agave. Maybe you can try coconut palm sugar. It is supposed to be low GI. You should taste it first though before you adding it to a lot of your ingredients, in case you do not like it. You do not need much of it for sweetness. It is good for some recipes not all.
Or you can omit the agave, like I do sometimes, when I bake, and just use dried turkish figs, it has a lot of fiber, and a few add enough sweetness, and they taste much better than stevia. I do not like the aftertaste of stevia in baked goods.
Hope this helps.
Michelle
Linda says
This looks easy and delicious! Can’t wait to make it.
Sagami says
Fantastic photo! Looked they really enjoying.
I want to try to make it with my children !
**Thanks for your comment to my flickr photo!
Susan says
What’s the difference between coconut butter and coconut oil?
I use the latter in baking and cooking daily, but have never come across coconut butter in England – are coconut cream blocks the same thing Elana?
Dying to try. Thanks!
Danielle says
Coconut butter has the coconut flesh and oil in it, whereas coconut oil is just that. Hope this helps!