It’s Friday and you know me, I have to finish the week with something chocolaty! Hmm when I think about it, I actually also started this week with something chocolaty (have you seen that yummy and creamy vegan chocolate banana ice cream!? In case you missed it, you can find it here) but who cares, it’s all good, delicious, healthy food anyway! That’s the best part when you switch to refined sugar-free, butter & cream-free and white flour-free desserts, you can have them more often (but still keep in mind they are desserts and treats so moderation is the word), they won’t make you feel too full or sick or take your energy levels down and your sugar levels up and you can still indulge and have your well deserved treats.
I know that naturally sweetened treats are much less sweet than those “regular” sugary ones but that’s just a matter of getting used to. Believe me I used to eat very sweet desserts, I used to put sugar in everything and now only the thought of eating something so sweet makes me almost sick, that proves how we can change our tastes and what we actually consider “sweet”! Same thing happened to my parents, for my dad because he is a diabetic and for my mum because she switched to refined sugar-free food to make me company on my healthier eating journey and they both cannot handle very sweet food even in small quantities. They used to and now they don’t crave it anymore. We all still love treats but now we crave less sweet, naturally sweetened desserts and we love them! 🙂 So anybody can do it, you just start by reducing the sugar and replacing it slowly with maple, agave syrup, coconut sugar, honey, dates etc… I know I already promised to write a post on all this and I will as soon as I find the time, I promise again! 🙂
Today’s recipe is for those who love dark chocolate and pistachio! If you are not a fan of pistachio, than you can replace the pistachio paste with homemade or store-bought almond or peanut butter but if you do like pistachios, I suggest you try it out. It’s a great little just mildly sweet but tasty treat to keep in your fridge for those afternoon “I need something sweet” moments.
Now I must say that I haven’t come up with this idea, I first saw it on one of my favorite blogs Bojon Gourmet where I go often to admire Alanna’s talent in photography and recipe creating, she is absolutely amazing! She made these Raw chocolate pistachio cups (see the recipe here) a couple of years ago and since the moment I saw those photos, I knew I need to make them too! I just changed few little things like using coconut oil instead of cacao butter to make raw chocolate and a small change in making pistachio paste, adjusted the quantities and that’s it. I didn’t change her toppings (chopped pistachios, cacao nibs and flaky sea salt) because they are perfect! So thank you Alanna for a great recipe! 🙂
- For pistachio paste
- 1 cup (200 g) shelled, raw pistachios
- 1-2 tbsp agave syrup (or honey)
- pinch of salt
- For chocolate
- 5 tbsp coconut oil, melted
- 5 tbsp maple syrup (or 4 tbsp agave syrup)
- 4 tbsp raw cacao powder
- pinch of salt
- For topping
- 1 tbsp chopped pistachios
- 1 tbsp cacao nibs
- 1 tsp flaky sea salt
- Note: 1 cup = 250 ml
- For pistachio paste, first toast pistachios on a large baking tray in the oven fro about 5 min on 200 C / 390 F.
- After you remove them from the oven, let them cool and than transfer them to your food processor. Process them for about 5- 10 min (depending on your food processor) and add agave syrup and salt.
- Process more until paste is formed, similar to marzipan in texture.
- You will have more pistachio paste than you actually need but otherwise the processor wouldn't work with smaller quantity.
- For raw chocolate, put coconut oil, cacao powder and maple syrup in a small pan and heat it over low heat until it's all melted and combined. Set aside.
- To make the cups, prepare muffin tin with 6 muffin liners.
- First put a small quantity of melted raw chocolate on the bottom of each muffin liner and place it in the freezer for about 5 min until firm.
- Remove from freezer and put another thin layer of melted raw chocolate in each cup.
- Than put about half tablespoon of pistachio paste in the middle of each cup and finish it by drizzling more chocolate until pistachio paste is completely covered.
- Put in the freezer for 5 min so it firms up a little bit.
- Add toppings: chopped pistachios, cacao nibs and flaky sea salt and put back in the freezer until the cups are completely firm (at least 1-2 hours).
- After that keep them in the fridge as coconut oil in raw chocolate melts very quickly on room temperature. Enjoy!
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