Dessert

Two Bite Cashew Butter Lovies

February 13, 2018 Leave a Comment

No doubt, your Facebook and Instagram feeds are blowing up with chocolate and Valentine’s Day treats in all of the ways. I’m about to add to that, but in a really, really good way. Like in the “Hey, I’ll actually make that because it looks easy enough” or “Hey, no refined sugar? I think I’ll like it here!” way.

Don’t get me wrong, I love looking at the beautiful cakes, cupcakes, and cookies people so carefully and lovingly create but I have zero patience for making them so delicately- and I’m kinda sorta jealous of all you awesomely talented people. These days, by which I mean since I started having kids, I’m all about the speed and instant gratification. I’m in the kitchen, racing against the clock most days, and by the time the kids are in bed, I have zero energy to do anything else but Netflix the evening away. I mean, I occasionally do things like fold laundry, make lunches, or curl up into a ball and fall asleep. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to do special Valentine’s Day things like make awesome looking desserts.

The other problem is I have zero self-control around sugar. If I make it, I’ll eat it all. But if you’ve been following me the last few weeks, you’ll know I’ve recently found a way to try and balance things out. Like with these two-bite cashew butter lovies. They are decadent and luxurious in all of the ways dark chocolate can be. Tiny, loveable bites of dark chocolate, lightly sweetened with a natural sweetener of your choice, filled with creamy (or crunchy) all-natural cashew butter, and topped with a touch of decadence like slivered almonds, chopped nuts, or coarse sea salt, in the way of Salt Bae.

It’s like opening up a box of chocolates and having one indulgent one, maybe two, putting the lid back on because you’ve had a couple of pieces and you know how to limit yourself. That, my friends, is my way of adulting. My cashew butter lovies are my answer to adulting and my method of adulting. I have gotten closer to finding zen. Probably not, but let’s just roll with it.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve made several different combinations of these lovies ranging from almond butter to cashew butter and my favorite has been cashew butter. That’s not to say other combinations haven’t been good because they’ve been delicious. Both The Mister and the kids went crazy for this combination, sprinkled with sea salt, specifically so I’ll stick to this combo for the time being.

Let’s talk a little bit more about these bite sized candies:

√ This is a minimally processed type of candy so the enzymes you find in commercially prepared chocolate candy to prolong shelf life are absent. I use unsweetened chocolate, natural sweetener, and coconut oil. That’s all that goes into this chocolate base. Because coconut oil has a much lower melting point than most fats, you’ll need to store the lovies in the fridge, ideally, the freezer-in an air-tight container. They also remind me of ice cream bites out of the freezer so indulge away, in the good way, my friends.

√ I used this all natural sweetener, which has a lower glycemic index, great for people who don’t want to see their blood sugar spike- if you want to stick to keto and use this a fat bomb, use a keto friendly sweetener. The sweetener I used specifically is like a liquid sugar and more concentrated so you end up needed less. I got mine from Whole Foods for half the price, but you can find it at any health food store. I’ve used as little as 3 tbsp for entire batch and still have had my candy turn out sweet enough for me. Or if you prefer to have it sweeter, you can use more. I’ve also used maple syrup and needed more, sometimes over 1/4 cup to get it sweet enough. When you’re tasting the chocolate, as you’re preparing, the bitter notes will come through when the chocolate is melted. Don’t worry, once it solidifies, and when combined with a nut butter where the sweet notes of the nuts are naturally enhanced, the chocolate will be sweet enough.

√ I prefer to use unsweetened baking chocolate and usually get the best quality possible for me. Don’t go broke and spend all your savings on crazy expensive chocolate if all you can afford is cocoa powder. Use that instead. Just know that your texture will be different. When working with the chocolate, I like to melt it over a double boiler (pot filled halfway with water, brought to a simmer on the stove, with a larger heat safe bowl that fits over the pot, but doesn’t sink into the water, filled with the chocolate so the diffused heat melts the chocolate) so I don’t scorch the chocolate but other people have really great results with microwaving for 30 second increments until fully melted. Use whichever method you like best.

√ Cashew butter is my nut butter of choice because it has these rich, sweet undertones. I use a nut butter that has no added ingredients other than the nut itself, which you can find in most grocery stores. Or you can try making your own which is essentially blending the nuts in a powerful blender or food processor, until you get a smooth, creamy consistency. If you really love peanut butter like Little Man does, go ahead and dish that stuff out in the middle- it’s a classic. And dark chocolate and peanut butter are a marriage with marriage goals.

√ I’m a fiend for sea salt anything. In this particular candy, the salt adds a complex note unparalleled by any other flavor. I’ve also been more into salt lately after reading Salt, Fat, Acid, and Heat and am discovering new ways in which salt elevates foods and their flavors.

√ I used this heart-shaped mold to make the lovies more festive, but you can simply use a mini muffin pan, lined with mini muffin cupcake liners and fill and freeze. Or use a regular muffin pan but the bigger your candy, the more chocolate and nut butter you’ll need to fill and the fewer pieces you’ll end up with.

How will you be spending your Valentine’s Day? As for me, given that I prefer a quiet night in most nights, maybe a fire, rogan josh, and a few of these lovies. I would love to see you make these lovies and feature them. Tag me on instagram!

Until next time, my wonderful friends!

Cashew Butter Lovies

Prep Time: 1 hour 15 mins
Cook Time: 5 mins
Total Time: 1 hour 20 mins
Yield: 20-24 hearts 1x

Scale

Ingredients

5 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, broken into pieces
4–5 tbsp natural sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, or apple sweetener* (or less if you prefer less sweet)
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 to 3/4 cup cashew butter or nut butter alternative**
a pinch of sea salt, plus more for garnishing
OPTIONAL GARNISHES: chopped cashews, chopped almonds, unsweetened coconut flakes, flaked sea salt

Instructions

Using the double boiler method, melt chocolate completely on low heat and stir in coconut oil. Stir in liquid sweetener and pinch of sea salt. Alternatively, combine coconut oil and chocolate and microwave in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second increments, until chocolate is fully melted. Stir in sweetner and pinch of sea salt.
Pour 2 tsp of melted chocolate into candy mold or paper lined muffin tin. Add 1 tsp nut butter on top, pressing down if needed. cover with 1-2 tsp melted chocolate, sprinkle with sea salt and garnishes of your choice and freeze until the chocolate is fully solid, about 1 hour.
To store, refrigerate in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer. Chocolate melts faster than regular candy at room temp.

Notes

*I got a low glycemic apple sweetener from Whole Foods.
**I’ve used almond, peanut, and pistachio butter but like cashew butter the best

Accidentally Outrageous Brownies

December 19, 2016 14 Comments

Friends, let’s talk brownies.

Who automatically thought about boxed brownies? *raises hand*

I’m not a patient person. Let me clarify. I’m not patient when it comes to measuring out ingredients and sticking with a recipe– or actually, you know, being precise. Great trait for a food blogger, right? I’ve gotten better and forced myself to measure and *gasp* pull out the food scale for precision over the last year, after of starting this blog. It turns out that it’s reeeeeeeealllly easy to give people recipes now. Though for my mother, I still give her directions in ‘palmful’ and ‘index finger deep’ speak. She is, after all, the woman I watched cook growing up and the woman who has never owned a set of measuring cups or spoons.

Back to these brownies. Confession: I’ve ventured out and try something like made-from-scratch brownies, at least until a couple of years ago. Why would I need to when a box of double chocolate brownies does the job just as well? Which is why these decadent brownies were an accident in the first place. I agreed to make brownies for a holiday party at The Little Diva’s school as couple of years ago. More like strong-armed into it. Remember me+baking from scratch —> not a good idea. So imagine my surprise when I went to grab that good ole box of mix from the pantry and I was out. With the kids all sleeping and no other adult to watch them, I made a last ditch effort to make brownies. FROM. SCRATCH.

45 minutes and about 1,243,345 silent prayers later, I pulled the pan out of the oven, half wondering if I was going to be THAT parent. You know, the parent who brings a store made food item to the holiday party, pulls off the label, puts it in the most beat-up pan possible, you know, for authenticity, and presents it as her/his own. Until your traitor of a kid blurts out, to the classroom packed with judgy parents that “these brownies taste just like the ones we had from that store!” And you know your cover, and newfound fandom has come to an end. Never done that? Me? Yeah, me neither. Hey, remember, no judgment here.

Fortunately for me, the night of the accidentally outrageous brownie turned me into the brownie queen at the same preschool that Little Man now attends. In fact, I was “volunteered”again this year by his teacher to bring these outrageous brownies for their school winter celebration. This time, it wasn’t by accident that I made them. Who doesn’t love decadent, perfectly underbaked, chocolatey brownies? With a tall, ice-cold glass of milk, please and thank you. Can we just appreciate that beautiful combination, please? Because those are some serious #relationshipgoals right there.

What does that teach us? You too can bake beautiful, from scratch brownies like a bawss. One of the best things I did was underbake the brownies. Not the gooey messy, uncooked brownies. Think fudgy and the tiniest bit gooey as you pull them out of the oven. In my oven, that translates to 25 minutes in a metal pan. I usually don’t bake cakes and brownies in a glass pan because I find they tend to dry out quickly in glass pans. If you do decide to do a glass pan, try lowering the heat by 25 degrees to keep the brownies moist.

You know why else this brownie recipe have become my go-to recipe? The brownies literally go from pantry to bowl to oven in 5 minutes. That’s less time than it would have taken me to put on my layers of all things winter weather attire, drive to the store, get the boxed mix, then come back. Exactly my kinda recipe. And if you factor in the oven time, 30 minutes to make decadent brownies? Yaesssss, sign me up please. P.S. have you tried this triple chocolate mocha trifle? It one of the best things to do to a brownie. Or if you just need to get started on the chocolate early, hit up this baked chocolate chunk panettone french toast for breakfast!

Let’s talk ingredients. Let me introduce you to coffee. Okay so maybe you guys are BFFs and can’t live without each other, much like my own relationship with coffee. Why coffee? Because coffee highlights the boldness of chocolate. Next time, try it. Try a sip of black coffee after you take a bite of chocolate. When I first learned about this combination years ago —> mind blown. As the brownies cool and settle, IF they last that long (!), the coffee flavor mellows out and becomes undetectable but the boldness of the chocolate remains. I usually have a couple of jars of instant coffee in my freezer. I used decaf because I didn’t want texts in the middle of the night from 20 very angry parents of 20 very energetic preschoolers at 3 AM. Remember, INSTANT coffee, not regular ground coffee– trust me, you don’t wanna make that mistake.

I love brownies with personality. Like you bite into it and you’ve got bold chocolate but then you take another bite and you hit little explosion packets of melty chocolate from that warm brownie. Always warm brownies, guys. Those little morsels of chocolate are chocolate chips. I personally prefer to do dark (or extra dark) chocolate chips, but you can sub them in with semisweet chocolate chips too. I wouldn’t go milk chocolate though because those tend to make the brownie too sweet. And those same chocolate chips double over as a frosting. Seriously guys, I’m all about the lazy baking. I would rather just add chocolate chips on top of the brownies as the 25 minute mark, pop them back into the oven for less than a minute, or until the chocolate chips start to melt. And melt quickly they will, in a warm oven. Use a spatula, spread all over, let cool completely and you’ve got brownies+frosting.

Funny story with this particular batch of brownies. As I moved back to shoot at a different angle, a little hand reached in to grab one of the brownies. Little Man made off with a brownie, I chased him around the house for 5 minutes, got my cardio in for the day, and then he promptly stuffed his face with the entire piece. All of this of course, was followed by a big round of tickles and giggles by the two of us.

Guys, I can’t wait for you to try these out, really. I’ve been so excited about posting this particular recipe because chocolate holds a very special place in my heart. Make them, eat them, and love them. Then make some more, snap some pics, and tell me all about them in the comments or on IG: @mannaandspice.