I am a firm believer of the notion that one can never have too many chocolate-based recipes. Particularly ones that can be whipped up quicker than you can utter the words “honey, where are the car keys? I’m gonna to pop to the shop and get some chocolate”. And then subsequently drive to the shop, pick out the chocolate, purchase said chocolate, and drive home. (We live around the corner from the nearest store, so this is actually quite a quick excursion!)
Yes – these will be melting away in your hungry little mouth quicker than you can you can do all of that.
These came about when I initially started experimenting with raw chocolate at Easter time, and playing around with the best way to flavour and sweeten the raw chocolate mixture. I used various liquid sweeteners – honey, maple syrup and rice bran syrup – when playing around with the Easter Egg recipes, but I wanted to try chocolate made with no added sweeteners. They needed something though to sweeten them slightly, and the obvious choice was dates – so dates it was. And the lavender I had picked a while back and added to a batch of cookies, but there were two branches left over begging to be turned into something more spectacular… Which I can happily say they were.
The pictures here aren’t fantastic to be honest which is why it’s taken me so long to post this recipe. We’ve just experienced the shortest day of the year here and as such it’s pitch black dark when I leave home and return in the evenings, which only allows a few hours of sunshine a week to take photos.
And it’s not so much that I’m a perfectionist when it comes to this kind of thing – though I did slice through my finger the other day trying to core a pear while still keeping the whole thing in tact to photograph… the perils of a food photographer! – it’s more to do with the fact that I would whip up another batch, pop them in the freezer, and then by the time I would go to get them a few days later to photograph they would be all but gone… I blame the dog…
- 3 soft medjool dates
- 40g cacao butter
- 15g coconut butter
- 15g raw cacao powder
- Flaked or ground sea salt
- Dried lavender
- Mash dates with a fork in a saucepan over very low heat. Add in the cacao and coconut butters, and the cacao powder and continue mashing together until melted and combined. Do not let the chocolate mixture get too hot here - you want it just warm enough to melt the butters.
- Once you have a smooth mixture, pour into moulds or alternatively spread out on a sheet of grease-proof paper, and sprinkle with a little sea salt and some dried lavender.
- Allow to set in the freezer.
They still look delicious to me lady! I hope your finger is OK :)
I don’t think I have had lavender chocolate before, I am intrigued!
Haha, yes fine now Lauren, thanks :) You should give it a go, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised! x
What beautiful truffles! I love using culinary lavender with chocolate so I can imagine these tasted divine.
Thanks Thalia! Its such a lovely flavour combination isnt it :)
These look beautiful, and what a nice idea to use lavender in them.
Thanks so much Tina :)
These chocolate hearts sound fantastic! Pinned.
And I am sorry to hear you cut your finger – it’s tough being a photographer ;)
You have an amazing website!! It’s so beautiful and seamless! I’m so jealous! What software do you use to get that filter? That’s so beautiful!
Thank you,
Aaron
Thank you Aaron. I use photoshop and create my own filters, through a lot of trial and error! :)
These are really beautiful little chocolates! It’s great that they’re sweetened with dates, and the hint of lavender would be lovely.
Thank you so much Patti – they are a great option for a healthy, chocolatey treat.