She Saved Me with "Chocolate!"

Ever need just a little something sweet to end your day, your dinner, or to reward yourself for hard work or garden labor? 

Ever crave chocolate? 

Yeah, me too. But being a caffeine sensitive person, I have had to severely restrict my intake of dark chocolate (bittersweet is my favorite!) or be doomed to stay up all night. I have to eat chocolate first thing in the morning to give the caffeine time to work through my system. And that's not when I crave it. I crave chocolate after dinner. Arrgh. Just when I can't eat it.

And sugar--sugar is my bad boyfriend. Sugar tempts and seduces me and then leaves me desolate and feeling cheap. Ugh. Sugar.

My best fren Shila is the same as me. Sugar can be our overlord if we allow it to be. 

I had hit my COVID high weight when the kids were here for spring break, baking up a storm and luring me to indulge in everything they can eat without consequence. Which is everything delicious and carby and sweet. By God, the minute they cleared out of the house, I was going to be GOOD. Out with the bread, the pasta, the rice, the cookies (ohh the cookies). Out with the cake, the pie, the cobbler, the CEREAL. In an ideal world, I would live on cereal. I would live on cereal in Heaven. 

Along about the same time, Shila also quietly decided she was going to take her life back from sugar. But oh, the cravings. So she got smart and found a recipe for something we call Carob Treat, and started making it. And I swear it has saved me. She came over for dinner one evening bearing a small container of it, and I realized my life was changing.

Carob is a magical plant I had heard of but paid no attention to. I figured it was good for dog treats, whatever. Chocolate--cacão--was the thing for me. But here's the thing. Carob tastes just like chocolate. And when combined with cacão butter, you CANNOT TELL IT ISN'T CHOCOLATE. Let that sink in. 

The other thing Shila brought that night was a small bottle of liquid Monkfruit Extract. Monkfruit is a Chinese fruit that is a zillion times sweeter than sugar but doesn't have the nasty aftertaste that Stevia (sweetleaf) does. Diabetics and other folks who have to restrict sugar intake know all about monkfruit. It was news to me. I find liquid monkfruit extract at my local GNC store. I haven't seen it online.

So here's a recipe for Carob Treat. Its base is cacão butter. I like to buy the wafers, because they're easy to measure. I order them from Amazon.  I usually order four bags at a time. Terrasoul and Mayan's Secret are the best brands I've found. Quality of cacão butter varies widely, I've found. Brand matters. You want smooth, white, highly aromatic cacão butter, redolent of chocolate. Avoid the cheap stuff--it can taste pretty soapy. 

Here's the carob powder I use. Best price is at vitacost.com

You're going to use nearly equal parts Carob powder and cacão butter. I use a little more cacao butter than I do carob powder. Let's start with 1 cup cacão butter wafers 

and 2/3 cup carob powder. (I know, this is less than that. I've improved my original proportions).

CAROB TREAT

1 cup cacão butter wafers

2/3 cup carob powder

6 healthy drops liquid monkfruit extract

1/2 tsp vanilla extract. Peppermint extract is good, too!

Melt the cacão  butter in a saucepan over low heat.

When it's liquid, turn off the heat and whisk in the carob powder. 

Add monkfruit extract to taste. For a cup of cacão butter, I'd add maybe eight healthy drops of monkfruit extract.

Now, while whisking, add vanilla extract to taste. **

Pour the liquid and still hot mixture into molds. I use silicone mini-ice cube molds. Refrigerate until hard.

**You can also add peppermint extract or whatever tickles your fancy. I have noticed that peppermint extract causes the cacao to kind of lump up and settle. But it's still delicious. 

The first batches I made I just poured into plastic takeout trays. That will make something more like bark, and you can bust it up. 

Chonk it in the fridge to harden. It'll take a couple of hours. Stop checking it!

 Pop it out of the molds and store in a jar in the fridge.   I keep mine refrigerated because the snap of cold chocolate (um, cacão and carob), suddenly melting in my mouth, makes my heart go boom. And cacão  utter has such a ridiculously low melting point that it won't hold up in high temperatures. So it's really much better served cold. 

I cannot tell you how delicious, satisfying, fat-laden and sugar free this treat is. It has saved me. It isn't a low-calorie treat, but it sure is a low-carb one, and a sugar free one, and that's good enough for me. Fat isn't what makes people fat. Sugar is. And the taste and flavor of fine dark chocolate makes them happy. That I know for a fact!

So if you're up for a New Year's resolution you can stick to, try switching from sweet, caffeine laden chocolate to Carob Treat. And let me know how you like it!