Healthy Chocolate?!?

If there is one thing I do love it is chocolate and when I found cacao I swooned!  Healthy chocolate - I didn't even know this was possible.  So what is cacao?  Cacao is the dried fatty seeds from evergreen trees  that are used to make cocoa, chocolate and cocoa butter.  Unlike cocoa or chocolate cocoa where the cacao bean has been roasted and processed, Cacao is raw and crushed to powder form.  The heat used to process cocoa kills all nutritional goodness.  However, cacao is packed full of fatty acids, fiber, iron, copper, zinc, magnesium, calcium, and iron!  Chocolate that is good for you, I have died and gone to heaven!

Cacao is usually bough in powder form and can be found in most stores in the "raw" section of foods. I bought cacao a while ago and then it sat in my pantry forever cause I didn't know how to use it.  But I have learned and must share this deliciousness with you!  

Cacao sauce is super easy to make, it's made with coconut oil (which is also super good for you!) and agave syrup.  Here is the recipe!

Ingredients:

1/3 cup cacao powder

4 T coconut oil

4 T agave syrup

1 t vanilla extract (you don't have to add this to the recipe it just turns out a little sweeter if you do!)

Directions:

Blend all ingredients together in a food processor or blender.  A hand mixer doesn't work very well and it will still be a little gritty.  Blend till all grit is gone and it is a smooth consistency.  

Uses:

My favorite way of eating the cacao sauce is to dip fruit it in.  Because the recipe has coconut oil which hardens when cold you can dip fruit then put it in the fridge or freezer and you get the most yummy hard shell chocolate on fruit.  The sauce is also great with ice-cream or yogurt, I make banana ice-cream with my juicer and use the chocolate with that.  And tomorrow I will be posting a no bake cookie recipe that I use this sauce for too!  So stay tuned!