Day Nine | Conscious Chocolate | Chocolate coated banana pops
Day Eight's 3 winners are :
Winner #1 (copy of 'Seduced' eBook): Ana Goncalves
Winner #2 (copy of 'Seduced' eBook): Kathy Kordas
Winner #3 (Raw Chocolate workshop): Philippa Walden
The winners were chosen at random, check out their and others' answers to 'What one book do you wish everyone would read?' here and here. Congratulations Ana, Kathy and Philippa!
ELEVEN DAYS OF RAW CHOCOLATE GIVE-AWAYS
TODAY'S PRIZE: Conscious Chocolate's range of bars
1 x Wild at heart
1 x Essential Orange
1 x Plain
1 x Love Potion No. 9
1 x Mint Hint
1 x Chili Hot
1 x The Nutty One
1 x Goji and Coconut
Worth £24.00 (US $38.00)
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MY REVIEW
Wild at heart Chocolate Ingredients: cacao solids 50%, cacao butter, agave nectar, cacao powder, coconut butter, wild carob, maca, vanilla, wild blue-green algae, cinnamon, salt
Essential Orange Chocolate Ingredients: cacao solids 50%, cacao butter, agave nectar, cacao powder, coconut butter, wild carob, essential oils of orange and tangerine, cinnamon, salt
Plain Chocolate Ingredients: cacao solids 50%, cacao butter, agave nectar, cacao powder, coconut butter, wild carob, cinnamon, salt
Love Potion No. 9 Chocolate Ingredients: cacao solids 50%, cacao butter, agave nectar, cacao powder, coconut butter, wild carob, maca, essential oil of rose, cinnamon, salt
Mint Hint Chocolate Ingredients: cacao solids 50%, cacao butter, agave nectar, cacao powder, coconut butter, wild carob, essential oil of peppermint, cinnamon, salt
Chili Hot Chocolate Ingredients: cacao solids 50%, cacao butter, agave nectar, cacao powder, coconut butter, wild carob, cayenne chili pepper, cinnamon, salt
The Nutty One Chocolate Ingredients: cacao solids 50%, cacao butter, agave nectar, cacao powder, coconut butter, wild carob, brazils, cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts, cinnamon, salt
Goji and Coconut Chocolate Ingredients: cacao solids 50%, cacao butter, agave nectar, cacao powder, coconut butter, wild carob, coconut chips, cinnamon, salt
What an amazing list right? Can you believe it's not even Conscious Chocolate complete list of flavours? Wow!! I certainly had some fun and lots of privilege sampling some of these...
Unless you keep your chocolates in the fridge (which many prefer for that 'snap' when breaking a bar), I found these bars to absolutely melt in your mouth, they are so lovely and creamy and soft like truffles. I am guessing it is due to the coconut butter that Conscious use, as it's liquid at room temperature, which is also the reason this incredible ingredient is so rare to find in store bought raw chocolates. I looooove it that this chocolate has coconut butter!
I also love it that every recipe combination includes a little cinnamon. Such a vital ingredient for blood sugar regulation amongst many many benefits, a big tick for me when choosing a chocolate bar based on healthy ingredients. Even the 'Plain' bar has cinnamon, making it not so plain at all with just slight hints of this medicinal bark, a little salt to bring out the chocolate intensity and even wild carob that doesn't just act as added aromatic flavour, but is naturally sweet, earthy and perfect chocolate companion.
I want to say my favourite of all was the 'Mint Hint' (and it was one of them no doubt), but that would just be far to predictable, so I'm going with 'Love Potion No. 9'! Oh my word- how did I get so lucky? I honestly thought I would float away when I tasted this heavenly gift from the Cacao Gods and Conscious Chocolate! It reminded me of turkish delight, summer gardens and pure luxury all at the same time.
Goji and Coconut was surprisingly another favourite. I tend to refrain from buying foods with dried coconut, as I've had many a bites of rancid disappointment. Coconut is so delicate and very prone to going off quickly, so must be managed really carefully to keep the freshness, Conscious Chocolate really know how to make this happen! It was incredible! Totally fresh with actual flakes of coconut, as though I've just chopped up my own.
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RECIPE SUGGESTION: Chocolate Coated Banana Pops
3 ripe bananas
2 Conscious chocolate bars
Optional for dipping: chopped nuts, desiccated coconut, goji berries, cacao nibs, etc
9 wooden skewers
Peel the bananas, chop them into thirds, and insert the skewer into each piece.
Transfer to the freezer for a minimum of 1 hour to freeze until firm.
Grate the chocolate bars and melt them over 'hot to touch- not boiling' water in a double boiler or in a dehydrator to regulate the temperatures below 47degrees C.
[Note I melted 2 flavours of chocolates in different bowls to keep the flavours separate, but feel free to mix them or just melt the 'Plain' and add your own flavours and essential oils]
Remove the bananas from the freezer and dip each piece fully into the chocolate sauce while holding onto the skewer.
Dip into chopped nuts right away while the chocolate is still soft, put on a non stick tray and return to the freezer to set.
How do you like the recipe? If you do, just wait till you see another 22 in my eBook Seduced- Raw Chocolate Recipes to get very excited for! Available to download in seconds! More please>>
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HOW TO ENTER TODAY'S GIVE-AWAY
Your entry is 3 steps away:
1. Go to Better Raw's Facebook page and 'Like' the page if you haven't done so yet
2. Click the 'Share' button on today's Facebook announcement for the Give-Away and paste this into your status "I'm in the draw to win this awesome Raw Chocolate prize, you should enter too!" and then click 'share status'
3. Click the 'Comment' button on today's Facebook announcement and answer this question "What is your favourite healthy snack?"
The terms: All three steps must be completed for your entry to be valid. Competition is open to everyone worldwide, I will post anywhere. You must be a Facebook user, sorry no answers will be taken into consideration if posted elsewhere on the internet this time. (Please note this promotion is in no way sponsored by Facebook). There are 11 prizes to be won, one prize per day. Today's entry is for today's prize only, please come back again tomorrow to enter for a different new prize. Winners will be chosen randomly using random.org.