:Recipe and Photo by Dr Alexis Weidland
Easy
Portions per batch: 20-30
Time:
Active: 5min mixing; 20min rolling and choc coating
Waiting: 30min “freezing” time; 15min “setting” time
Bought chocolate snack bars are full of processed sugar, poor quality fats (including the most dangerous trans or hydrogenated fats) and are high in calories without having any nutritional value.
These simple and delicious treats use organic shredded coconut, providing fibre and healthy fats, removing the highly processed or totally unnatural, hard to pronounce “ingredients” used to produce that soft, chewy, melt in your mouth patty.
A small amount of minimally processed sugar (your favourite organic – coconut syrup, maple syrup, raw honey…) allows an enjoyable treat, without added chemicals, or too many calories and the potential added benefits of raw honey (as it is potentially anti-microbial and useful for asthma type allergies).
Using organic essential oils provides safe and tasty flavouring with the added health benefit of the oils themselves – peppermint has been shown promising to improve clarity and focus as well as assist gut issues (bloating, discomfort, indigestion and even IBS).
When covered in a thin layer of high quality dark chocolate (preferably vegan, organic, fair trade and low processed), we can enjoy the flavour and sweetness of cacao while our body gets the benefit of the antioxidants found in low processed cacao without the high sugar or unnecessary fillers (that allow the products to be produced cheaper and go further) that may also be harmful. One can even play with making one’s own chocolate from cacao powder, cocoa butter (or coconut oil, but this is much softer and melts quicker) and a touch of low processed sugar such as maple syrup or raw honey- simple and delicious)
Ingredients:
- 4 cups shredded coconut (approx. 220g)
- 35g (1/8cup/2 Tbs) maple syrup or fav “healthy” sugar
- 2Tbs coconut milk (I use cocoquench by pureharvest)
- 10-15 drops peppermint essential oil (organic)
- 200g dark vegan chocolate
Method:
- Use strong blender/Thermomix place shredded coconut in blender and blend on highest speed until you hear it change sound/it becomes “coconut butter” and the oils release (30sec in thermomix)
- Add maple syrup and coconut milk and essential oil and mix thoroughly
- Take full teaspoon scoops and roll into ball, flatten and place on tray
- Place in freeze for at least 30min
- Heat 200g (more is better) high quality dark chocolate (at least 70%) either in double boiler or microwave method, use a fork and dip each of the patties into the chocolate.
- Allow drips to run off and place back on the tray.
- Reheat the chocolate if it gets too thick due to the ice-cold patties sitting in the melted chocolate. Allow to harden
Suggestions:
1. Try with:
- Orange essential oil
- Orange blossom water
- Rose water
2. Try making Peppermint bars instead – pat down the patty mixture into a slice tray (either silicone, or lined with baking paper). Place in fridge to cool then place cut marks in the slice and then place in the freezer. After 30min, take out of tray, slice into bars and the coat with chocolate as above
Tips
- If a cool day, on bench is fine to set
- If hot or humid, place in fridge to set
- To get the smoothest finish, its best to have more chocolate in the bowl than required, so that the patties can be immersed in the chocolate. Therefore, I suggest melting at least 200g chocolate, 250g even better. You will find you will only use 170g or so of chocolate around the patties
Best stored in fridge, yum at room temp or cold
Lasts a few weeks in the fridge, but I’ll bet there won’t be any left after a few days!
Peppermint Oil Patties
Servings per pack: 20-30
Serving size: 16g
Nutrient Qty per serve per 100g
Energy (kJ) 371 2319.39
Protein (g) 0.8 5.27
Fat, Total (g) 7 44.01
Fat, Saturated (g) 5.3 33.19
Carbohydrate (g) 5 31.59
Sugars (g) 4.4 27.27
Sodium (mg) 5 29.55
