makes
12
prep
15 minutes
cook
5 minutes
difficulty
Easy
makes
12
serves
preparation
15
minutes
cooking
5
minutes
difficulty
Easy
level
Lucuma is a super fruit and a total superfood. It hails from Peru where it is known as “Gold of the Incas”, and has been cherished for centuries. Here in the west, the golden-coloured pulpy fruit is rather difficult, if not impossible to find, so I purchase it in dried, powdered form.
Lucuma is sweet, but low on the glycemic scale, so it’s perfect for anyone looking to decrease their sugar consumption. The flavour is similar to caramel or maple, so it lends itself to a wide variety of sweets. For breakfast, add a tablespoon of lucuma powder to smoothies, yogurt, and oatmeal. You can of course use it in desserts as well by blending it into pudding, cakes, cookies, candies, and bars. It is especially delicious in homemade ice cream! Lucuma contains antioxidants, good amounts of fiber, healthy carbohydrates, and minerals such as zinc, calcium and iron. Judging by the bright, yellow-orange hued flesh, we know that it is packed with beta-carotene, a powerful anti-carcinogenic compound.
Ingredients
Chocolate
- ½ cup coconut oil, melted
- 3 tbsp cacao butter, melted
- ¾ cup raw cacao powder
- ⅓ cup raw honey
- 2 tbsp lucuma (or maca or cacao powder)
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- extra flaky sea salt for garnish, if desired
Nut butter filling
- ½ cup almond butter (or any nut butter)
- 1 tbsp raw honey (or maple syrup)
- 1 tbsp lucuma powder (or pinch of stevia)
- sea salt to taste
Chilling time 1 hour 15 minutes
Instructions
In a double boiler (or a glass bowl over a pot of simmering water), melt coconut oil and cacao butter. Add honey and whisk to combine. When completely uniform, remove from heat and sift in cacao, lucuma and add sea salt. Taste for sweetness and saltiness, and adjust accordingly.
In silicon or paper muffin cups, spoon enough liquid chocolate to cover the bottom (the amount is up to you – I kept mine rather thin). Place in the fridge or freezer and cool until solid, about 15 minutes. Just make sure you’re only using about a third of the chocolate at this stage.
Make the nut butter filling by combining all of the ingredients until it’s a dough consistency. Add more lucuma if it is too wet and runny. Taste for salt. This dough should be quite salty, but if you are using store-bought nut butter with added salt, don’t go overboard.
Spoon the nut dough into ½ tablespoon amounts, roll into balls, and flatten between your palms to just under the size of the chocolate in the cups. Add nut butter filling to each cup on top of the solid chocolate and drizzle the remaining liquid chocolate on top, making sure to cover the filling completely. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt if desired. Place in the fridge to harden for at least one hour.
When you have patiently waited, try removing one of the forms from the nut butter cups. If the chocolate sticks at all, return to the fridge until completely solid. You can keep the chocolates in their forms or remove them, but either way, store the nut butter cups in the fridge in a sealed container. Enjoy!
Note
• The wonderful thing about this recipe, is that you will learn how to make a basic raw chocolate that you can turn into anything. Candies, bars, syrup, chocolate coating, whatever! Even if you just want to eat the chocolate all on its own you can do that too. It’s super simple to make, only requires a few ingredients and is so much healthier than the regular kind of chocolate you buy at the store and melt down yourself. It’s totally raw, full of superfood antioxidants and energizing enzymes. Food to love that loves you back.
Cook's Notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.
Lucuma is a super fruit and a total superfood. It hails from Peru where it is known as “Gold of the Incas”, and has been cherished for centuries. Here in the west, the golden-coloured pulpy fruit is rather difficult, if not impossible to find, so I purchase it in dried, powdered form.
Lucuma is sweet, but low on the glycemic scale, so it’s perfect for anyone looking to decrease their sugar consumption. The flavour is similar to caramel or maple, so it lends itself to a wide variety of sweets. For breakfast, add a tablespoon of lucuma powder to smoothies, yogurt, and oatmeal. You can of course use it in desserts as well by blending it into pudding, cakes, cookies, candies, and bars. It is especially delicious in homemade ice cream! Lucuma contains antioxidants, good amounts of fiber, healthy carbohydrates, and minerals such as zinc, calcium and iron. Judging by the bright, yellow-orange hued flesh, we know that it is packed with beta-carotene, a powerful anti-carcinogenic compound.
