Eggplant Baked with Mozzarella

Deep Dark Chocolate Bar

Wishing all my readers a Happy Valentines Day! 

This valentines day is a little different for me. So, what's happening in my life is that I'm doing this 10 week weight loss challenge with my bootcamp group. Its going great and I love it - but the biggest change I made to my eating habits is that I cut out sugar. Totally. Big, huge, humongous step for me. You all know how much I love that nasty little thing. But I've given it up. And after 4 weeks, I don't even crave it. An orange seems way too sweet for me now. 

But what's Valentines Day without a little chocolate right? I bravely told my husband not to bother getting me chocolates this year - he has my permission to get a box of protein powder instead. But I did hear a separate conversation between my daughter and him - and she made sure he still gets her a box of chocolates because she too is his valentine and that she's not off sugar or anything like that. What a loving family I have. 

Anyways, on my quest for some healthy chocolate recipes (and also the fact that I indulged in a little impulsive shopping when I saw this little chocolate bar mold), I came across this wonderful recipe from a chocolate lover's blog -  Three-Ingredient Chocolate Bars from chocolatecoveredkatie.com. Thank You Katie for making my dream come true! I'm saving this as a classic favorite recipe for all my life. 

The recipe is very simple. Three Ingredients. About three minutes to make. That's it.

Start of course, with some Cocoa Powder.

Next, some Organic Unrefined Coconut Oil. I was surprised to see how relatively healthy this is compared to the other oils and butters. And it smells divine too. And no, I'm not a spokesperson for them. 

The original recipe from Katie's blog uses Stevia extract to make a sugar free indulgence. But I chose to use Agave instead just because I wanted to make it in the 5 mins after I saw the recipe and I could not wait to go to the store to buy stevia extract and besides Agave is amazing as well!

The ratio of ingredients is 1/4 cup cocoa: 1/4 cup coconut oil: 1 tbsp Agave. 

I doubled that ratio while making this as you can see below. 

Measure out 1/2 cup of coconut oil. Add 2 tbsp of Agave to the oil.

 Stir well together. I love this color btw.

Measure out 1/2 cup of cocoa powder.

Add to the oil mix and stir together scraping the sides.

There's some magic showing already. On a very tangential note, did you know you could probably get a facial done with this - well, maybe without the agave. Ok. let't not go there and just stick to the eating part here.

Pour into molds. Can you see why I was obsessed with making this. My new silicone chocolate bar mold. Love it!

I just poured the remaining on a parchment sheet.

Tried some sweetened coconut and almond toppings. We all need variety right?

I haven't yet perfected the art of filling these up just right - but hey, when has a little extra overflowing chocolate hurt anyone?

Pop them into the fridge and just in about 20 mins, they are solid and amazing. You can chop them neatly or break them rough. Just play with them. They've been good to you.

Since virgin coconut oil hardens at temperature below 76F, these turn solid really quick in the refrigerator  Hence this recipe won't work with any other oils.

Enjoy some gorgeous Deep Dark Chocolate. These are great to make hot chocolate drinks too. Btw - these are bitter and I thought my daughter would not like these but she turned out a surprise and loved them!

Happy Valentines Day to all!

Enjoy. Peace Out!