Raw Chocolates in Maca-Cinnamon, Vanilla-Coconut, and Dark

Sweets and treats. We need them sometimes. The tricky thing in the raw vegan world is what to use as your sweetener. As often as possible dates or fruit juice suffice, but sometimes they aren't quite the right texture or consistency. So often I face the three possibilities: honey (not vegan), maple syrup (not raw), or agave (not always raw, and not all that healthy). I have heard arguments from both sides as to whether the consumption of honey is helpful or hurtful to our declining bee population. It is hard to know which is true. Raw local honey can be beneficial to people with allergies and skin problems (i.e. me).  While maple syrup is technically not raw, it is anti-inflammatory, contains more minerals than most other sweeteners, and is high in anti-oxidants. Agave can have the advantage of being both vegan and raw (read your labels), but really is lacking in any sort of health benefits.

So, pick your poison (hopefully lack of poison), and if these three still don't do it for you, try coconut nectar, which is raw, vegan, and has better nutritional value, but may be expensive and depending on where you live harder to find. After doing some reading on this topic, I definitely need to add this to my shelves...

Anyway, on to the sweets!

Dark

2 tablespoons coconut oil
3 tablespoons carob powder
1 tablespoon liquid sweetener of choice (see above options)

Warm the coconut oil on the stove enough just to melt it to liquid (as long as this is not over 118 degrees it still falls under raw) and turn off heat. Mix the oil, carob powder, and sweetener until smooth. Pour into a silicone mold of your choice (I got my cute flower one off of eBay for $1.50 with free shipping!) Place in refrigerator for at least 15 minutes to harden, or freezer if you can't even wait that long! WARNING: These will melt if you leave them on the counter too long! So once you take them out of the cold, eat them fast!

Vanilla-Coconut

1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 1/2 tablespoon carob powder
1/2 tablespoon liquid sweetener of your choice

1 additional tablespoon coconut oil
1 tablespoon coconut butter
1/2 additional tablespoon sweetener of your choice
1 teaspoon vanilla

In your first pan, warm the coconut butter and coconut oil just enough to melt and turn off heat. Mix in vanilla and sweetener. This is your top layer to pour into your silicone mold. For the second layer, follow the directions for "dark" above in a new pan, and pour into mold. Place in the fridge or freezer, as instructed above.

Maca-Cinnamon

1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 1/2 tablespoon carob powder
1/2 tablespoon liquid sweetener of your choice

1 additional tablespoon coconut oil
1 tablespoon coconut butter
1/2 additional tablespoon sweetener of your choice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon maca powder

In your first pan, warm the coconut butter and coconut oil just enough to melt and turn off heat. Mix in maca powder, cinnamon, and sweetener. This is your top layer to pour into your silicone mold. For the second layer, follow the directions for "dark" above in a new pan, and pour into mold. Place in the fridge or freezer, as instructed above.