stevia-sweetened chocolate bars

Alright, so as I've mentioned before, I've been on this crazy diet since July.  I'm thinking I will modify it a bit when the baby arrives, although I'm still unsure exactly what that will look like.  But back in October I took it upon myself to make a change in what I was allowing myself.  I decided to bring cocoa powder back into my life.

See, on the Body Ecology Diet, cocoa powder isn't allowed, at least not for a long time.  But I know of other anti-Candida diets which do allow it.  For me, after three months without, it ended up being a quality of life issue...of a sort.  So I decided to try it, and I've been a quite a bit more fulfilled since that day, I've gotta tell you!

I played around with some quality ingredients and came out with a stevia-sweetened chocolate recipe I really like.  In all kindness, I decided to share it here with you, on the blog.  Well, kindness, and also so I can find the recipe quickly and easily.  I guess that qualifies as a win-win situation...?


Stevia-Sweetened Chocolate Bars
1 c. gently melted coconut oil
1 T. alcohol-free vanilla
dash sea salt
1 t. milk chocolate liquid stevia or other stevia, to taste
3/4 c. cocoa powder
2 drops pure, food-safe essential oils, optional:  cinnamon bark, orange, or peppermint are nice choices


Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Stir well.  Pour into a pan* lined with parchment paper and refrigerate.  The coconut oil gets really hard in the fridge, so you may want to set it out 5-10 minutes before you plan to cut and/or eat it.

*Pan size depends on how thick you'd like your chocolate.  My perfect size is to use two loaf pans, but you could also use just one, or an 8x8 pan too.  Feel free to experiment!

This chocolate is absolutely divine used in my friend Kathleen's Sunbutter Cups recipe!

scrumptious peanut clusters

Last week I pieced together something which turned out to be the best experiment I've had in a long time. The chocolate-covered candy I made last year was good, but it seemed to be missing some vital element. Therefore, I went digging...and determined that the lacking note was a little thing called butterscotch.

I preferred to not use packaged butterscotch chips, so I poked around some more, and came up with a recipe for butterscotch sauce. It called for brown sugar, butter, heavy cream, vanilla, and salt. I've found that Rapadura and Sucanat are excellent substitutes for brown sugar, so I decided to go for it. I used Sucanat which I had powdered for a few minutes in my food processor.

The butterscotch sauce turned out beautifully! As for the chocolate, I followed Kimi's recipe for a wonderful honey-sweetened, dark chocolate coating. As soon as the chocolate was ready, I mixed in my butterscotch sauce. I then stirred in the peanuts, and dropped them in clusters onto waxed paper, and chill. So easy!

And so delicious. They turned out far better than I ever imagined. Now, the only challenge will be making them last until our guests arrive next week!

I didn't measure all the amounts, but this is approximately what I used:

10 oz chocolate sauce
8-10 oz butterscotch sauce
3 cups peanuts

I will absolutely be making these again. Definitely homemade Christmas candy at its best!

sweet bliss

Chocolate milk* mustaches...a sure sign of happy boys.

*If you're interested, I used Wardeh's Chocolate-Almond Milk recipe, substituting raw cow's milk for the almond milk, and using honey instead of agave nectar. Delicious!