Remember when you were young and your mum would tell you that all she wanted for her birthday/ Christmas/ mother’s day present was “a hug…or something homemade”? Even if we’re not seven years old anymore, we’re taking our mums by their word and are turning to the kitchen to create something deliciously homemade.

 

This homemade cashew and raw cacao butter is delicious, healthy, and wholesome in the kind of way only something whipped up by hand can truly be. Your mum would be proud, frankly.

Cocoa and Cacao: what’s the difference?!

Normal cocoa powder and chocolate have been chemically processed and roasted, which destroys a large amount of the antioxidants and flavanols (the things that keep you looking young and healthy). By contrast, raw cacao is bursting with antioxidants (40 times more than blueberries! Take that, blueberries.) packed full of magnesium for a healthy heart & brain, and  is the highest plant-based source of iron at a staggering 7.3mg per 100g! And there’s more good news… cacao is also a brilliant source of four scientifically proven happy chemicals – serotonin, dopamine, anandamide and phenylethylamine.

So now you can satisfy those sugar cravings without feeling guilty  -you’re sweet enough already! That’s surely enough to have your happy levels shooting blissfully through the roof!

Cashew and Cacao Butter Recipe

Ingredients

For the Nut Butter:
300g cashews
3 tbsp Cacao powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract

To serve:
Raspberries
Sourdough toast
Flaked coconut

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 180C.
2. Cover a baking tray with baking parchment, add the cashews and roast for about 10 minutes – they should turn a lovely golden colour but keep an eye on them as they can turn in an instant!
3. Pour the roasted cashews into a blender and blend until their oils are released and they begin to form a paste (this takes approximately 10 minutes, depending on your blender. You may need to stop half way through, scrape the sides and let the blender cool).
4. With the blender whizzing, add your cacao powder and vanilla extract and continue to blend until smooth (Note: Unlike bought chocolate spreads, it won’t go ‘smooth smooth’ because it still has some of the skins. That’s cool though, because texture is the spice of life.)
5. Remove the blender from the base and scrape the nut butter into a jar (preferably one with a sealable lid).
6. To serve, toast a couple of pieces of bread, spread with thick layer of nut butter and top with raspberries and desiccated coconut. Alternative topping ideas: bananas and walnuts, strawberries and chia seeds, blueberries and almonds.

 

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