Sweet Valentine

Did you forget to order Valentine’s treats?

Do you want a healthier and yummier chocolate confection?

It’s not too late to make your own simple & delicious candy for the holiday.

For those of you who know me, pull out all your Nakayummy ingredients this weekend and let the chocolate-making begin. For those of you who don’t know me, or have never tried a Nakayummy, get ready to satisfy your chocolate cravings with a whole-food morsel good enough to please the most savvy chocoholics among us. This is not only your answer to Valentine’s Day, but also a keen substitution for that tiny bit of dark chocolate that sneaks into your day, possibly providing the last bit of refined sugar that makes its way into your diet these days. A nugget or two of these candies is even friendly for those cleansers continuing on to a second week of the Revitalize: A Winter Cleanse.

Chocolate Nakayummies

ingredients:

1/2 cup gently melted coconut oil

another 1/2 cup gently melted coconut oil or (preferably) cacao butter*

scant 1/2 cup raw honey

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon peppermint extract (or more to taste) ~ optional

1/2 cup carob powder

1/2 cup cacao powder
preparation:

Mix all ingredients into melted oil in bowl. Work the ingredients to be sure they are well

integrated and there are no clumps of carob or cacoa. Scoop rounded spoonfuls into mini

muffin or candy cups. I actually use a flexible silicon ice cube tray that creates candies in the shape of a heart. Be sure to get some honey in each scoop so that it doesn’t all sink to the bottom.

Freeze for an hour or until candies are hardened.
Serve these candies directly from the freezer.

*This is the butter or oil extracted from the chocolate bean. You can usually find it in the raw food section of your health food store in bags. It smells deliciously like white chocolate, as that is where white chocolate originally came from! If you cannot find the cacao butter, the coconut oil works just fine. That option will tend to melt a little more quickly than those that use both oils.

By: Andrea Nakayama, FxNA Founder & Functional Medicine Nutritionist

Functional Nutrition Alliance provides the comprehensive online Functional Nutrition training in the Science & Art of the Functional Nutrition practice. Learn to address the roots of your clients’ suffering with client education, diet & lifestyle modifications.