Monday makeover chocolate
Megan May’s easy-to-make gooey salted caramel in a chocolate shell
These incredible looking chocolates are made from wholefoods so they don’t contain any highly refined sugar or other questionable ingredients. You can feel good about sitting down to one in the evening, and because they are so rich and decadent you will be satisfied with just one!
You can make a larger batch of these caramel chocolate delights and store them in the freezer — just pop them in the fridge for a few hours before you eat them. I really like them straight from the freezer as well, as it makes the caramel really chewy.
I’m giving you the chocolate ingredients in grams as chocolate is a little less forgiving than other recipes. When you’re purchasing your ingredients for the chocolate make sure you get a coconut oil that has a fresh but mild coconut smell and flavour — you don’t want anything that is too strong or it will taint your chocolate. You might have a little caramel left over — we usually use it up in a delicious salted caramel milkshake.
Salted caramel chocolate cups
Makes 16 Salted caramel ½ cup cashews, soaked 2-4
hours 1 cup pitted medjool dates 3 Tbsp melted cold-pressed
coconut oil ½ cup sweetener (coconut nectar, organic maple syrup or brown rice syrup) ½ tsp vanilla extract ¼ tsp flaky sea salt Raw chocolate 100g cacao butter 50g coconut oil 50g organic maple syrup
or coconut nectar 75g cacao powder Pinch sea salt ½ tsp vanilla extract To garnish 1 tsp flaky sea salt 1 To prepare the salted caramel, combine all ingredients in a high-speed blender or food processor and blend until smooth and creamy. Keep in the refrigerator until you start making your cups. 2 To prepare the coconut oil chocolate, melt the cacao butter and coconut oil by placing them in a dry mixing bowl and sitting that bowl on top of another bowl that’s been partially filled with almost boiling water. Be very careful not to let any water get in your bowl (water and chocolate are not friends). You may need to add more hot water to your water bowl if it cools down. 3 Now add sweetener to the butter and oil while still over the warm water and mix together gently, then add the cacao powder, salt and vanilla and mix again. 4 Keep stirring gently until the mixture is well combined — you will need to mix for at least 10 minutes. The temperature should remain around 41C while mixing to ensure a smooth, consistent chocolate that won’t separate. 5 Though this chocolate won’t temper properly, it still benefits from a slow reduction of temperature. To do this place some ice in a bowl with water and make a cooling version of the double boiler. Place your bowl in the ice water and stir continuously for approximately 1−2 minutes to reduce to around body temperature. You can test this by placing some under your lip area on your chin, the chocolate should not feel warm or cold. 6 To make the cups, spoon ¾ tablespoon of the chocolate into the bottom of 16 silicon mini muffin moulds. Tilt and twist it around so the chocolate coats the side of the mould, repeat with remaining moulds and place in the fridge or freezer to set for 5−10 minutes. 7 Take out of the freezer and gently place about one teaspoon of the chilled salted caramel filling into the centre. Spoon a tablespoon of chocolate over the top to cover, adding more if needed. Don’t make this top layer too thick or the chocolate will become too dominant in flavour. 8 Place back in the freezer to set for 15−20 minutes or until the chocolate is hard. Sprinkle the sea salt on them when the chocolate is half-set so that it sticks to the top. 9 Remove from the moulds and store in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 weeks or in the freezer for a few months.