This was my first experiment at making a raw vegan chocolate recipe, but I knew I was going to make haystacks, chocolate and coconut are the most incredibly delicious combination! 
Chocolate comes from a tropical fruit that grows on trees called cacao, and inside the tough colorful shell of the cacao pods is a gooey white membrane of a deliciously unique sweet-tart flavor surrounding big brown cacao beans, the source of what most people know as chocolate. The cacao beans are sun dried and then separated into their two components, the bitter brown cacao powder and the lighter fat that is the cacao butter. The whitish cacao butter is the source of white chocolate, and when the powder is added back in, the more cacao powder added the darker the chocolate becomes.
South Pacific Cacao Pod
I have a few friends that have their chocolate recipes down to an art, so I asked a few critical questions to acquire the information gained from lifelong searches of knowledge, and for sharing that wisdom I am extremely grateful to Jacob Gilbert for his insight and experience. Chocolate production is truly an art form, as the trick to creating a great chocolate comes through an understanding of the tempering process, where the warm liquid mix cools into a solid at a specific rate of crystallization that creates a desired texture for the final chocolate treat. The key to raw food production is to maintain the temperature below 108 F in order to preserve vital living enzymes, so I keep my temps below 105 F. The goal is to warm the cacao butter just enough to melt so that the cacao powder can be added back in for a smooth and creamy mixture, easily dissolving the powder into the butter. Recipes can vary according to taste, with a larger ratio of cacao powder to cacao butter creating a darker chocolate.
My personal recipe used all raw organic ingredients of the highest quality, ideal for creating the best quality treat, both for health (personal and planet) and flavor. I use Sunfood Nutrition's raw organic cacao powder and cacao butter along with their agave nectar for a sweetener, along with their raw organic Italian almonds. An incredible synergy complimenting the cacao is to include the superfood maca along side it for amazing energy and stamina, and I use only the highest quality grade and strain of maca, Lepidium Peruvianum Chacon, from Sol Raiz Organics. Maca is a superfood grown in the highest elevation of the Peruvian Andes mountains, with this particular plantation located above 14,000 feet, and it is an incredible part of a vital and healthy life when consumed regularly, I personally swear by the stuff daily for increased energy and health. In this recipe I added one of my favorite foods, Artisana's raw coconut butter, which I will eat by the spoonful because it is so amazing. Also in this recipe was some lucuma powder, a fruit from Peru traditionally used in their ice cream providing a creamy maple caramel flavor, a bunch of shredded coconut, and a pinch of sea salt.
Ingredients for CacaoStacks Recipe
The specific ratios pretty much come down to experimentation and personal preference, mixing the ingredients to create the desired taste and texture, but the amounts for cacao butter and powder are somewhat similar depending on how dark you want your chocolate, with agave nectar maybe half that, and small amounts comparatively of the coconut butter, maca, and lucuma, and the pinch of sea salt. Once the mixture has reached the desired taste for a final product, add in a bunch of raw organic shredded coconut, the largest quantity of any one single ingredient, and a bunch of soaked and sprouted raw organic almonds. The almonds should be soaked and rinsed repeatedly a couple days ahead of time in order to remove the phytates or enzyme inhibitors which will create a more easily digestible and lighter tasting nut. Once the final mix is ready you scoop it into whatever size treats you want by selecting that size cups or tray and then placing them in the fridge to cool. In about an hour or so they should be ready. Absolute heaven, enjoy :)
SOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOD :)
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