THE recipe!

First off, let me start by saying that the cacao business worldwide involves child slave labor. I am committed to changing that by buying only fair trade cacao products that pay workers an appropriate wage. Please buy fair trade. When I first learned to make chocolate, I was on a mission to find the best cacao butter and cacao powder I could find with the criteria of tastes great, organic, fair trade, best price. I've provided links in the recipe to what I found.

And while I used to make all kinds of chocolate flavors involving chopped nuts and grated ginger or citrus rind, once I found essential oils, I basically discovered the lazier person's way to make fantastic flavors!

NOTE: Once your chocolate’s made, you must keep it COLD.

Ingredients

  • 4 oz cacao butter (this is about 1 packed cup chopped) (I get mine here. Get a 10% off coupon here)

  • ¼ cup unrefined coconut oil

  • ¼ tsp salt (or less)

  • optional: ¼ tsp vanilla extract

  • ¼ cup + 1 Tbsp maple syrup (I buy organic at Costco)

  • 1 cup + 2 Tbsp cacao powder (I buy organic fair-trade at Costco. Or you can buy here with a 10% off coupon)

  • Young Living essential oils (when you are ready to buy your own, go here)

Makes approximately 14-15 oz. of chocolate

In a double boiler, simmer water and place cacao butter and coconut oil in top pan. Heat until melted. 

While fat is melting, prepare surface(s) for chocolate. Easiest method is to use parchment paper on a baking sheet to make chocolate bark, but you may also use paper cups in a muffin pan.

Once the fat is melted in the pan, remove from heat. Add ¼ tsp salt (and optional vanilla extract) to the oil with a whisk. Add maple syrup and whisk until blended. Add cacao powder in two batches and whisk each time until thoroughly mixed.

Taste. If you want sweeter chocolate, add a little more maple syrup and whisk until desired sweetness is reached. 

Flavoring:

  • Add 3-12 drops essential oils for full batch, combine well

  • start with LOW end of essential oil drops and taste before adding more

  • examples of Young Living Vitality: lemon, lime, orange, peppermint, grapefruit, lavender, black pepper

  • most citrus can have 8-12 drops (for the whole batch)

  • Peppermint Vitality: 3-6 drops (for the whole batch)

  • Lavender Vitality: 3-5 drops (for the whole batch)

  • Lavender-Peppermint: 3 drops Lavender Vitality + 2 drops Peppermint Vitality (one of my favorites!)

  • Orange-Pepper: 7 drops Black Pepper Vitality + 2 drops Orange Vitality (another fave!)

Whisk chocolate until oils are mixed

If you don’t have essential oils, it’s easy to add flavor with spices you have on hand. Experiment! Try this combination:
1 Tbsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ginger, and 1 tsp turmeric.

When everything is mixed thoroughly and before the chocolate cools, pour onto the parchment paper or into paper cups, using a silicon scraper to transfer all chocolate.

(Don’t waste all that good chocolate on the whisk, scraper and pan! Lick them clean.)

Place the baking sheet or muffin tray in the freezer or refrigerator to solidify. Freezer takes 15-20 minutes. Fridge takes closer to 30 minutes. Once solid, break up the pieces and put in a jar. 

Enjoy and share (or not ;)!

Keep cold

(This chocolate is not tempered, so any return to room temperature will result in changed texture and taste of the chocolate. Don’t ruin your hard work by not keeping your chocolate cold!)