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…
Shari from NC says
This is really yummy with hazelnut butter instead of the macadamia nut butter and ½ cup of agave and ½ cup water instead of 1 cup of agave. Delicious and not too sweet! Thanks, Elana
Elana says
Hi Shari, Nice to hear from you! I’m so glad you are enjoying this recipe :-)
jennifer wood says
Follow up on my last comment: I used half the honey and subbed peanut butter for the macadamia nut butter. This recipe is consistency good.
Elana says
Thanks Jennifer :-)
jennifer wood says
Thank you for this recipe Elana!
I made it with 1/2 the honey and it was delicious and all my friends thought it was sweet enough and SUPER DELICIOUS! Also, I made this with peanut butter and it was pretty divine.
Elana says
Glad to hear this was divine Jennifer!
Beth says
Just took a batch of this amazing fudge out of the freezer and cut it up.
My husband said “this stuff is addictive”.
I used 1/4 cup almond butter & 1/4 cup cocoa butter instead of the Macadamia butter.
Turned out wonderfully.
Next time I will reduce the honey to 1/2 cup and see if my husband notices.
Thanks for yet another winning recipe!
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tara says
ive been making this for a couple of years now, ive tried a few others aswell but this one is serisously the best recipe for raw chocolate ever! i adapt it a little, use a 1/4 cup agave and 1/4 cup raw honey. i also often add organic natural peanut butter ( which isnt raw but is sooooo delicious). and instead of cutting into squares i refrigerate it on a plate and then shave it with a spoon and roll it into balls, sometimes i coat them in coconut or nuts too, really good in little bags for presents, YUM YUM YUM, thanks so much for this recipe :)