This stuff is the bomb! It’s just delicious!
Toasted hazelnuts give it that – dare we say “Nutella-y” flavour and Coconut Sugar is what gives it the wonderful light crunchy texture.
And my Hazelnut Chocolate Slab is so easy. You will need a few specialty ingredients like the Raw Cacao Butter which is a highly stable and sustaining saturated fat that’s great for brain and cell health, and you’ll also need low GI, mineral rich Coconut Sugar but both these ingredients are becoming much easier to get these days.
Mesquite is a beautiful carameley flavoured powder. You could leave it out and the slab would still 
be delicious but mesquite has lots of other advantages. It’s the ground up powder of the seed pod of the mesquite tree and it’s high in protein and loads of other minerals. It’s also high in the amino acid lysine which is often recommended in supplement form to deal with cold sores. You may know that (unfortunately) chocolate has been implicated in the development of cold sores so perhaps in this case, they cancel each other out? It’s a really nice ingredient to have on hand anyway and can be used in smoothies, deserts, baking and even sprinkled on your breakfast granola! You may need to look for mesquite in your specialty whole food/health food store.
Adding the salt gives a lift as salt often does to anything chocolaty. Leave it out if you want but try it with the salt first. I think you’ll like it. Less is more in this case so don’t add too much.
Ingredients
- 100 g Toasted Hazelnuts (skins rubbed off after toasting)
- 100 g Raw Cacao Butter
- 40 g Raw Cacao Powder
- 40 g Coconut Sugar
- 2 tbs Mesquite powder
- 1 tsp Vanilla powder
- pinch of Himalayan salt (optional)
Method
- Place Cacao Butter in a heat-proof bowl and place in a double boiler arrangement over a saucepan of water on a low heat to melt
- Rub the skins off the toasted nuts with a tea towel and then grind in a food processor until it reaches nut butter consistency. You may need to scrape down the sides a couple of times during the processing.
- Add the rest of the ingredients including the melted cacao butter to the nut butter in the food processor. Process until the mix comes together in a thick chocolatey goop.
- Pour into a container – I used a 15cm x 15cm container but you can use a slightly larger one and it won’t be as chunky.
- Place in the fridge and allow to set. When set, carefully remove from container (unless you don’t care if it breaks like mine did!) and cut into chunks.
- Eat. Take it easy though, its really addictive!
You could easily substitute the hazelnuts for any other nuts for a different flavour profile. I think I’ll try pistachio nuts next time but I do love Hazelnut Chocolate I must confess!
I hope you love this recipe. Please let me know what you think in the comments below.