Friday, August 20, 2010

Healthy chocolate crackles, with coconut oil


Phew, so I've fiiiinally put a new template in. 

Wow, it's like drawing blood, it takes me ages to find something that suits me, I don't go for bright ones, except on other people's blogs haha, I don't really want graphics, I want two columns, one of them being wider than average, I want a white background for posting, I want decent size headings on my sidebar and I 'spose I'm just extra fussy.

 No kidding, right?

This one's not perfect, the text is a bit light but overall it does not offend me, which is the main thing. 

We'll see how it goes.





Aaaanyway, gotta share a recipe.

Remember chocolate crackles? Oh yeah, mmm mmm mmmmm.


Well, the original recipe contains copha, correct? Or, if you're in New Zealand, it's kremelta.

What is copha/kremelta? 
According to Wiki', it's a form of vegetable fat shortening made from hydrogenated coconut oil.
And, it contains soy.

Both big no nos when it comes to me cooking for my family.
(The hydrogenated part of the coconut oil is what's bad, coconut oil itself is lovely stuff)

So I did some tweaking and here is my version.



Chocolate crackles, done my way.

4 cups of wholewheat puffed rice
 (just plain, puffed, wholewheat rice. Found this in my regular grocery store in the health food aisle)

3/4 cup of icing sugar
(this was cut down from 1 cup, next time I'll try 2/3 cup and use fine ground rapadura)

1 cup of desiccated coconut

5 tablespoons of good quality cocoa powder

250 grams of coconut oil, melted
(I like using coconut oil, you can read about coconut oil on the Weston A. Price foundation site)


Method

Mix all ingredients together and spoon into paper cupcake cases.

Refrigerate till hard.

Store in the fridge or freezer.


And oh my, they are GOOD!

Next time I'll spoon them into my silicone cupcake molds, which I can never get cupcakes out of but these little guys pop out of their papers once they're refrigerated, so I'll save the paper and dump them straight in a box from the silicone molds instead.

Wholegrain puffed rice gives this treat just a little more nutrition than usual, it's a couple of steps closer to a whole food than rice bubbles, that's for sure.

And one more tip, be careful adding extra rice if your mixture appears too 'wet'. I've made this twice now and the 'wetter' mix I had the first time gives a much more melt-in-the-mouth experience, such as that of traditional chocolate crackles.

The second batch I made drier and it's more chewy and also more prone to falling apart, which the first batch did not.




Enjoy!






Ok, wanna see my recipe for coconut oil chocolate? Just as yummy as these chocolate crackles but grain free, great if you're paleo, or primal.


There is a link to it it my side bar or you can find it here: Coconut oil chocolate.



12 comments:

Charlotte Scott said...

Yum! Just bought some coconut oil in supermarket today - first time I've seen it there. Now I know what will be the first thing I make with it. And I like your new template xx

Cathie said...

your blog world is lookin mighty fine!
they look good & heathier than that copha stuff.
i made some using a variation on a donna hay recipe with golden syrup & nuttelex, do you use those ingredients?
happy weekend

Louisa said...

Yum! I love coconut oil too - in my soap. Although I have resorted to copha in there a couple of times when I've run out of the good stuff. Still makes good soap - slightly harder and whiter but not much difference.

Cat J B said...

Hey Lottie, I have never seen coconut oil in a regular supermarket here, I buy mine in bulk over the www. And thanks :) Hey, yours looks good too, I got used to it so quickly, I forgot you changed it.

Cat J B said...

Cathie, I've heard of that Donna Hay variation somewhere on the blogosphere and I most certainly do use golden syrup when it's needed, anzac biscuits anyone? I have to restrain myself from scooping it up and licking it off the spoon, yum. Never used nuttelex though...

Lou, coconut oil in soap, yum! Bet it smells a treat.

Kath Lockett said...

Oooooh! I'm going to print this out and find me some coconut oil, stat!

Laura @ Our Wee Farm said...

oh yummy!
I hear you with the blog layout thingy. I like plain and simple but would like the main column wider - have no idea how to do it!!

Cat J B said...

Hey Laura,

This is a link I bookmarked last time I fiddles with columns and blog widths.

http://www.blogdoctor.me/2006/10/how-to-change-width-of-blog.html

Lauren said...

Thanks for this! We have just discovered the nourishing traditions way of eating too and I have two blocks of copha in my fridge (I am in Sydney) and was wondering if it was ok to use but was unsure about the hydrogenated bit.
Most of the Weston price stuff is American and copha is very Aussie so wasn't sure how to figure it out!
Am so sorry to read about the loss of your little boy- we have just experienced the same thing, losing our son at full term on day of induction.. The grieving is tough, but essential, and I know he is around us and it wasn't part of his journey to be with us today :( it's not something you get over- you just learn to live with it.

Cat J B said...

Thanks Lauren.

So sorry to hear about your little boy too and you're right about it's not something you get over- you just learn to live with it. Life is going on, I still can't help but think baby LT would be xxx age now though, I'm sure I'll do that for the rest of my life.

Best wishes to you.

Bento Bits said...

Hi,
I will have to try these.
seems like we have a similar attitude to what healthy food is. I also own Nourishing Traditions and we even have our own chooks, too. I have a girl and a boy (almost 5 and 3)

I'll have to have a look around at your other recipes.

Alex
www.bentobits.com/wp

Arlene S said...

I just used your recipe to make "Gruffalo Pies" for a friend's birthday party.

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