Two divine raw vegan chocolate treats for this Valentine's Day
I’ve been passionate about Craft Foods and Beverages for many years. Coffee, tea, cheese, chutneys, you name it. One reason why I came to Pachamama in the fall of 2022 was to learn more about cacao and chocolate and how to make chocolate treats.
The eco village on Costa Rica’s Nicoya peninsula doesn’t only host hundreds of visitors each year for their workshops and retreats. They also have a beautiful hang-out spot in the middle of their Downtown area, Wild Treats. And what do they serve at Wild Treats Bar? Yep, their homemade chocolate treats.
I ended up volunteering at Wild Treats for a month, but alas wasn’t able to learn the craftsmanship of making their chocolate treats. I did eat a lot of them. They were the all time favorite of everyone visiting and volunteering alike.
I was quite disappointed at first not being able to learn more about how to make those treats. But just at the same time, a young woman, Jazz, from Canada joined the volunteering crew. And guess what, she knew how to make chocolate treats. And not just any kind. She got trained to be a Raw Vegan Chef with another Canadian, Danielle Arsenault, so her chocolate treats were raw and vegan, too.
Danielle has her own business and Culinary School just across the border on the island of Ometepe in Nicaragua, Pachavega - living foods education, teaching people about healthy plant based living and how to become a Raw Vegan Chef.
Before we dive into the two recipes that Jazz taught me to make, a raw vegan version of the classic peanut butter cup and a raw vegan bounty, let’s go back to Nicaragua.
Journeying through Costa Rica & Nicaragua
I had committed myself to stay at Pachamama for two months from the very beginning, November & December 2022. It’s been an intense inner and outer journey for me, as it always is, but didn’t feel like staying longer.
In the past couple weeks at Pachamama I was really struggling to find the next destination for me. I had an invitation from some German coffee friends to come visit them in the coffee growing region in Nicaragua, close to Jinotega and Matagalpa. But, I wasn’t ready to go there just yet.
Because I still had the desire and the dream to learn more about cacao and about chocolate.
Being a coffee & tea specialist, cacao intrigued me for a long time. I knew, where coffee grows, cacao isn’t too far away. Many coffee farmers even cultivate and produce cacao. Spending several months in Central America in the winter of 2022/23, I just had to dive deeper into cacao and chocolate.
So just a month later after learning from Jazz - and this was yet another synchronicity on my journey -, I traveled to Nicaragua to the island of Ometepe in early January 2023 to attend a Chocolate Retreat hosted by El Pital, The Chocolate Paradise.
Their Chocolate Retreat was a deep-dive full immersion into cacao - from harvesting the cocoa pods to making our own chocolatey Spa products - a full body massage included - and chocolate treats.
An unlimited number of cups of Ceremonial Cacao (if you’d like to have the recipe for that, reach out to me) was crucial, of course. If you’ve never attended a cacao ceremony, please consider doing so. Cacao and chocolate is one of the most heart opening plant medicines there is.
I learned about the history of cacao and chocolate, the spiritual history of the island of Ometepe with its two volcanos. Plus every step of the processing after the cacao beans had been harvested. I found many similarities to the processing of coffee, that is the fermentation of the beans, drying them on raised beds, and roasting them.
In their very own manufacture El Pital produces chocolate bars and treats to take home with you. After that disappointing experience at Pachamama I now was hoping to learn more about chocolate (treat) making at El Pital. Alas this wasn’t possible either…
Looking back now I believe the universe wanted to tell me something: That there’s no need for me to learn more about actually making those chocolate treats. Since I already was equipped with all the knowledge that I needed. Plus the creativity and curiosity, too.
I believe, making chocolate treats isn’t rocket science!
Of course I’m not talking about those French style pralinés made by chocolatiers around the world. I’m talking about homemade scrumptious treats, using as little ingredients as possible. When I have the choice, I always opt for homemade and as little processed as necessary. I prefer using whole foods of organic quality, too.
For Jazz’ raw vegan chocolate treats I used dates, walnuts, cashews, coconut flakes and 100% peanut butter. You’ll notice when having a closer look on those recipes that they look very much the same as for the ingredients. This is what I love, too, using the same ingredients, but receiving a different outcome. That’s just magical!
New series: Mel’s Staples
Dear reader, I’m planning something new for this Substack publication!
If you’re as interested in being efficient with your ingredients just like me, but still want to have an amazing jaw-dropping sweet or savory dish each time, my new series Mel’s staples is for you! The series will start this March.
Watch out in your inbox in late February, where I’ll drop some more info on that.
Before Jazz came to Pachamama she spent a couple months on a cacao farm in Costa Rica and learned a lot about the whole process of producing/making cacao and chocolate. Something that I got a glimpse of during the Chocolate Retreat on Ometepe island. From that very farm she brought a whole block of raw chocolate with her that we were able to use for making the raw vegan chocolate treats.
When I was making the two recipes again for this blog post, I unfortunately didn’t have that high quality chocolate on hand. If you can, always opt for chocolate that is as unprocessed as possible.
I chose a 70% dark chocolate of organic quality that other than the actual cacao only had cacao butter and some additional cane sugar in it. No additional preservatives or some other funky ingredients that are not needed in high quality chocolate.
2 Raw vegan chocolate treats: The recipes
Recipe 1: Raw Vegan Peanut Butter Cups
Makes about 6 big or 8 smaller treats
For the base
5 dates (soaked overnight and pat dried)
1 cup Walnuts and/or Pecans (soaked overnight and pat dried)
pinch of salt
lemon or lime juice to taste
Filling
1 cup cashews (soaked overnight and pat dried)
2-3 tbsp 100% peanut butter
⅔ up to 1 cup melted organic dark chocolate (70%) for dipping
Mix/Blend each in a food processor. Press the base in chocolate treats or praliné molds, I used muffin tins that are slightly bigger. Freeze after this step. Add the filling on top of the base and freeze again. Melt the chocolate and dip your treats in them. Let dry completely. Indulge as needed! ;-)
Recipe 2: Raw Vegan Bounty
Makes about 18 bite-sized bounty
1 cup cashews (soaked overnight and pat dried)
3 dates (soaked overnight and pat dried)
1-2 cups coconut flakes (depending on how coconutty you wanna make them)
pinch of salt
¼ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp lemon juice or to taste (you’d only want to add some freshness, no acidity here)
⅔ up to 1 cup melted organic dark chocolate (70%) for dipping
Mix/blend in a food processor. Use some of the coconut flakes while mixing. Add the rest to the mix. You’d want a dough-like consistency that can be easily formed into a bounty like shape, not too crumbly and not too sticky. If it’s very warm where you are, put them in the freezer before dipping them into the melted chocolate. Indulge!