Recipe; Carob Brittle

RECIPE; CAROB BRITTLE

This Recipe make a fabulous chocolate treat substitute for those of us that can't eat chocolate - click the link to see why I don't eat it anymore. It also avoids the ever persistent soy in commercial carob products.

I know this recipe probably breaks most of my rules about ingredients being easily available for many of you, but I hope you will forgive me this time for the sake of chocolate!

A big thank you to Megan for her Easy Raw Chocolate Bark Recipe, it was the inspiration and starting point for this one.

Prep Time; 4 minutes

Cook Time; N/A

Ready In; 24 minutes

Serves; 2

Tools;

• 1 Small Bowl
• Measuring Spoons
• 1 Flat Dish
• Parchment Paper
• Freezer

Ingredients;

• 2 tablespoons melted Coconut Oil
• 2 tablespoons Carob Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon room temperature Honey
• Pinch of Sea Salt

Method;

1. Measure out all your ingredients into the small bowl, mix well.
2. Put the mixture in the fridge for 30 seconds at a time, stir, and repeat until it holds together just enough to stop the carob powder from settling to the bottom of the mixture as it cools.
3. Line your pan with parchment paper, spoon the mixture onto it and smooth out.
4. Put in the freezer to set for 20 minutes.
5. Break into bite sized pieces and enjoy directly from the freezer!

Tips;

• It is important that all the ingredients are at least room temperature, or else the coconut oil will set up next to the cold ingredients and won't mix properly.
• Some people find that they get good results with the coconut oil soft but not melted, I personally think it distributes the carob powder better if it starts out melted, but you could try it that way and see how you like it - if it doesn't work out you can always melt it back down and try again!
• You can set this up in the fridge for a softer texture and a more intense flavor, but be aware that it will melt much more quickly out of the fridge, and it won't have that "brittle" texture.
• You can substitute cocoa powder for the carob powder in equal portions. Carob powder is naturally sweeter though, so you may want to adjust how much honey is in this - just taste and adjust accordingly.

Please Note; Homemade chocolate will never come out as smooth textured as the factory produced stuff due to several processes, but especially the conching machine - a machine that runs for a minimum of four hours for cheaply produced chocolate, up to seventy eight hours for the finer kind!

The coconut oil and carob mixture;

As you can see, my coconut oil  is already melted because of the crazy summer heat this year, we are keeping our thermostat at 78F at the moment - coconut oil melts at temperatures above 76F.

Oops, left it in the fridge too long. (Hey look, my knife's made in Japan!)

After being outside for a minute and stirred back together it is softened back up just enough without being melted again;

Spread out on the parchment paper, ready to go into the freezer;

So glossy!

Frozen up nicely;

Don't worry about any "blooming" that takes place, it is natural and doesn't affect the flavor at all.

All snapped up and ready to eat;

So good!

It really does melt pretty quickly, so I find it best to only take out a small portion from the freezer at a time, especially as I find my cravings for something sweet are much more quickly met by this recipe than with typical chocolate - it is very rich.

This post was shared through Monday Mania.