Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Detox Chocolate Macaroons!


Chocolate Goodness!
I’ve had a love affair with coconut recently, I’ve been drinking the water of young coconuts, rubbing coconut oil on my skin, and using coconut sweetener in my tea.
After seeing this recipe I knew I had to try it out. I adapted this recipe from a few places after first seeing it posted on Craftster which lead me to Positive Ponderings and from there to Oh She Glows
I love a fabulous blog loop.
After making the original recipe, I decided to adapt it to my own tastes. And those tastes demand chocolate.


My Chocolate'd Version:
  • 2 & 2/3 cups of shredded unsweetened coconut to make coconut butter (or 1 cup of pre-made coconut butter)
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp almond extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
  • 2/3 cup maple syrup
  • 1/3 cup agave nectar
  • 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 1 1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut 
  • 1/3 cup psyllium husk
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • Parchment paper

The Troops!


Homemade coconut butter is a job for one of my favourite kitchen tools: the food processor. I can't remember what my life was like before I decided I ‘needed’ this beautiful and noisy implement! I had read that coconut butter can be a pain to make, and I have to admit that during my first batch I lost my patience and added coconut oil to the shredded coconut after a few minutes of whirling. This morning, I wasn’t fiending for a sweet treat immediately, so I let the food processor work its charms on the coconut. It turned out wonderfully, and although it is a slow process, I like the idea of not adding extra oils to my macaroons. 
My method:
Dump the 2 2/3 cups of coconut into the food processor and whirl it around in there, scraping the sides as often as needed (or sometimes, if I’m feeling lazy with a cup of tea in one hand I will just give the processor a hearty shake with my free hand). At some point, probably about 5 minutes in for me, you will notice that the coconut is getting gooey and sticky (yum!). 

At this sticky, gooey, but still chunky phase, you will have to set your tea down and actually do some scraping. 
Life is rough. 
I whirl for about 5 more minutes after this phase and my patience starts to run thin. At the thin patience point, I add my extracts to the food processor, the additional liquid speeds along the whirling. I process for about 5 more minutes, always looking for a beautiful and creamy coconut butter. 
Feeling extra lazy and a little awesome, I add the agave and maple syrup directly to the food processor along with the cocoa powder. 
Whirl it up some more. 
I just love to whirl. 
Yum!

Think about this fudge on ice cream, think about it on cake, think about how it doesn’t have any refined sugar and help yourself to another spoonful. 
If you have any of that fabulous batter left, add your coconut, psyllium husk, and sea salt. I mash mine in with a fork, since it can be pretty stiff. After everything is incorporated, eat some of this batter too. 
Tasty stuff. 
Although I wholeheartedly endorse eating the batter off your fingers (or a spoon if you could wait long enough to get one out) I still recommend saving a little of the mixture for baking.
This is a judgement free zone though, so follow your bliss. 
My bliss took me to my cookie scoop, making cute little round balls of pure chocolate coconut bliss and plopping them onto some parchment paper on an cookie sheet. 
Bake them on parchment paper for about 20 - 25 minutes at 300 degrees. 
Pull them out, and here is is most difficult part of the entire recipe: let them sit for another 25 minutes. 
...Maybe you should have saved some batter to hold you over. 

Enjoy!

2 comments:

Jaclyn Trecartin said...

Thanks for linking to me! I like your idea of adding the extracts and syrups....kinda genius.

Brianne! said...

I always think of extracts and spices as ways to give lots of flavour without extra calories. I tend to use lots of them in EVERYTHING for that reason.