Let’s talk stevia for a moment, shall we?
If you’re not familiar with this sweetener – derived from an herb native to South America – you can read more about it here. I don’t consume a lot of it, but every now and then I’ll add a few drops of liquid stevia into plain yogurt for a sweet snack. I have tried baking with it in granular form; unfortunately with poor results. I’m sure there are decent recipes out there for baked goods calling for stevia instead of sugar… I’m just not well-versed with stevia enough to develop recipes of my own featuring it!
Not long ago my mom introduced me to Lily’s chocolate – which is made with stevia instead of sugar – and I instantly fell in love.
Perfectly sweet without the unpalatable aftertaste characteristic of some no-sugar-added products, these chocolate bars (which also come in crispy, coconut, and almond varieties), are delicious! I’ve been enjoying a few squares after lunch (with no guilt, I might add) and wanted to incorporate the original dark chocolate in a recipe.
I have been experimenting with creating a homemade version of Artisana’s Cacao Bliss and figured out pretty quickly that coconut butter + plus liquid sweetener (I tried maple syrup) + cocoa powder does NOT = a smooth, creamy chocolate coconut butter. It does make a delicious brownie crumb-like mixture, but it wasn’t what I was going for.
Then an unopened Lily’s chocolate bar caught my eye.
The stevia-sweetened chocolate bar melted perfectly into a batch of freshly made coconut butter, and I finally had my perfect homemade chocolate coconut butter (which so happens to be sugar-free)!
*Be advised that the consistency of this coconut butter will vary depending on the temperature inside your house. These photographs were taken after the freshly-made butter had a chance to harden at room temperature on a cool day. The coconut butter will turn into a liquid if your house is warm.
Sugar-Free Chocolate Coconut Butter
Prep Time: 10 mintues
Cook Time: 0 minutes
Keywords: dessert snack sugar-free vegetarian chocolate coconut
Ingredients (1 small jar)
- 1 eight ounce package unsweetened shredded coconut (such as Let’s Do Organic)
- 1 three ounce bar Lily’s original dark chocolate bar, finely chopped
Instructions
Pour the shredded coconut into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Process until the coconut turns into a liquid-y butter, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. This may take up to 10 minutes.
Add in the finely chopped chocolate and process until fully melted into the coconut butter. The heat from the steel blade will fully melt the chocolate. The mixture will be quite thin at this point.
Pour chocolate coconut butter into a jar or plastic container, cover, and allow to thicken/harden at room temperature. Store at room temperature. In warm weather, the coconut butter will be liquid; in cooler weather, it will be solid.
