I've been making coconut bark using the fair trade chocolate, but I want to get that last bit of sugar out of it. Can I substitute cacao paste! Most of the recipes I've found seem to use cocoa butter as well.
I've never even seen cacao paste in the real world, just online. It's fairly expensive, so I don't want to buy it unless I know how to use it!
TIA
buzzy110,
Feb 19, 9:56pm
I make a form of 'bark' using cacao butter. It doesn't come as a paste. But for sweetness I use creamed coconut along with a tiny amount of Trader Joe's stevia powder (it is just about the best stevia powder around imo but cannot be purchased here in NZ).
Once I have gently melted the creamed coconut (which comes with the oil on the top) I then add in cacao butter bits (you have to cut it up yourself). When that is all melted (I keep the temperature really low so as to retain all the goodness) I then add in nuts or seeds, vanilla, the stevia and whatever else takes my fancy at the time.
Refrigerate till nearly net then cut to size. Cacao butter and coconut oil soften at room temperature so it has to be kept chilled.
p.s. Please do not confused CREAMED COCONUT with coconut cream. They are 2 entirely different products. Chia seeds and goji powder are also favourite additions. If using white cacao butter, I add in partially fermented cocoa powder.
buzzy110,
Feb 19, 9:56pm
I make a form of 'bark' using cacao butter. It doesn't come as a paste. But for sweetness I use creamed coconut along with a tiny amount of Trader Joe's stevia powder (it is just about the best stevia powder around imo but cannot be purchased here in NZ).
Once I have gently melted the creamed coconut (which comes with the oil on the top) I then add in cacao butter bits (you have to cut it up yourself). When that is all melted (I keep the temperature really low so as to retain all the goodness) I then add in nuts or seeds, vanilla, the stevia and whatever else takes my fancy at the time.
Refrigerate till nearly net then cut to size. Cacao butter and coconut oil soften at room temperature so it has to be kept chilled.
p.s. Please do not confuse CREAMED COCONUT with coconut cream. They are 2 entirely different products. Chia seeds and goji powder are also favourite additions. If using white cacao butter, I add in partially fermented cocoa powder.
jacquie05,
Feb 19, 11:29pm
Which brand of coconut cream do you use Buzzy!
maximus44,
Feb 20, 1:51pm
Would you be willing to post your recipe jacquie05! It sounds nice and I love anything with coconut in it.;
Thanks pw. Yes. Do not get confused. The product is CREAMED coconut and Zenian is the only brand I have seen.
to describe it further, it is coconut meat ground to a paste. The oil in it settles at the top while the flesh settles at the bottom. Once that process takes place the creamed coconut flesh becomes semi hard and is quite hard to work unless you reintegrate the oil, hence the heating at very low temperatures.
jacquie05,
Feb 20, 9:42pm
Lol, I tried to be sooo careful when I typed that, too!
Maximus, at the moment my recipe consists of melting a whole bar of chocolate (current favourite is Free Trade sinless organic - but it has a fair bit of sugar in it), just over 1/2 a jar of coconut oil (the natural stuff that smells like the most amazing coconut ever, not the deoderised junk). Melt them together in a double boiler or a mixing bowl over a pot of boiling water. The melt fairly quickly. Then add whatever takes your fancy! I add dissicated coconut. You could also add sultanas, other dried fruit, nuts etc. If you don't use sweetened chocolate, add some stevia. Maple syrup just sinks to the bottom, so it's not good to use - but it does taste divine!
Spoon the liquid into patty tins, or cool it until it's thick and spread onto a baking tray. Refrigerate or freeze (I freeze them, so they are more crunchy). Wait for an hour or so, then consume! This recipe, if you can call it that, lol, makes about 30.
maximus44,
Feb 20, 10:31pm
Thank you for that jacquie05.
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