Oh Chocolate! Glorious chocolate! How I love chocolate! Chocolate: the food of the gods.🍫💝 The Aztecs believed the cacao seed was a gift from the gods & was used as a form of currency at one time. I can see why. Chocolate can lower cholesterol levels, prevent cognitive decline and reduce the risk of cardiovascular problems*, as well as make us feel jovial. I try to stick to the 85-90% dark chocolate & have been looking more into raw ceremonial grade cacao. Chocolate boosts serotonin in the brain & just gives us that overall feeling of bliss. Every now and then I come across a recipe or try to invent a new recipe for a chocolate dessert of some kind. The key for good health with chocolate is to try not to have a very sugary version of it (although, I break down & break that rule on occasion! 🙂 ) I came across this recipe not too long ago in a book called “The Metabolic Factor” and adored it! It is very decadent, so I wasn’t even able to finish it, which is very unlike me with chocolate, but still very worth it! Hope you enjoy it. It does have eggs in it, and I’m going to try to figure out in the weeks to come how to make it vegan! Until then, here’s my variation of the recipe:

Yields: 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups stevia (the original calls for raw sugar, I’ve just been trying to have more stevia & let go of sugar)

2 TBSPNS unsalted butter, plus 1 tsp for greasing

1/4 cup potato starch

1/4 cup oat flour (from certified gluten free oats)

3 egg whites

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp grated nutmeg (optional)

**The recipe also says optional for an 1/8 tsp grated cayenne (I opted out of this, but try it if you’d like it with a little kick!)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425° F. Grease 4 six ounce ramekins (you can use coffee cups too, if you wish) with the one teaspoon of butter. In a small saucepan, stir with a whisk, over low heat, the cocoa powder, stevia, remaining butter, and 3/4 cup water and cook for 2 – 3 minutes, whisking well until the mixture melts & is smooth.
2. Pull off the heat and cool 1 – 2 minutes. Whisk in the potato starch, oat flour, egg, egg whites, vanilla & nutmeg (optional), until a smooth loose batter forms.
3. Divide the batter evenly among the ramekins or coffee cups. Bake 12 – 14 minutes, until the edges begin to firm but the center is still soft to the touch. Cool for 2 minutes before serving. Run a knife around the inside edges to loosen and invert onto dessert plates, or serve warm directly in the ramekins or cups. ***We preferred keeping the dessert right in the ramekins.

Hope you enjoy this decadent and delicious treat! Let me know if you try it with the raw cacao! I’d love to hear your thoughts on this dessert or any recipes you love with the wonders of chocolate! Have a Beautiful day!

*www.healthline.com “The 7 Proven health benefits of Dark Chocolate” July 17, 2108