Chocolate, Nut and Date Fudge

I haven’t made this recipe yet, but it sounds delicious and comes from one of my favourite manufacturers of raw chocolate, The Raw Chocolate Company.

‘This recipe makes around 40-50 pieces of fudge depending on how generous you are with sizes.

Ingredients

• 180g your favourite nut butter, or grind your own with a little oil if not an oily nut

• 240g Virgin Cacao butter (melted over steaming bowl of water)

• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon vanilla powder or vanilla seeds from 1 pod

• 120g coconut palm sugar or other of refined sugar alternative – sweeten to your taste

gradually

• 120g Raw Cacao powder

– handful of walnuts, broken

Cacao butter smells heavenly, so try not to swoon when you are melting it! You can melt it easily over a steaming bowl of water, but if you are impatient you can melt it over s double boiler on the stove. You will loose nutrients using the latter technique though.

Once liquid add the vanilla and stir. And now you can simply add the rest of the ingredients. It could not be easier.

Before adding the dates and walnuts (and whatever extras you would like to add) check the consistency of the mix. If it has a slightly grainy look to it, it may mean (if you are using coconut sugar) that the alternative sugar has not dissolved properly. Put the whole mixture over the steaming water again to dissolve the crystals if need be.

Add your lovely additions. Spoon or pour into a baking container lined with grease-proof paper. If you want it extra pretty you can also pour it into candy moulds that will be easy to pop out once it has been refrigerated.

Once all poured in you let it cool, and then put in the refrigerator for a good 2 hours until it is firm enough to cut. It is quite firm once it comes out, but if you leave it to stand at room temperature to go squishy if you like.

Recipe adapted with kind permission from Kelly Martin www.kellymartinspeaks.co.uk ‘