The mere whiff of cacao butter sends a cavalry of hormones pelting through my veins like a pinball machine. My chest swells and my nostrils levitate. It would be a tragedy to miss out on a cacao butter head rush. You think I’m joking? I get regular bulk deliveries and squeal louder than a One Direction front-row fan when the courier calls. This is a fierce twist ona classic.
Makes 24 servings
Ingredients:
Base
– 1 1/2 cups (180g) walnuts and/or pecans
– 1/2 cup (75g) Medjool dates, pitted and chopped
– 1 tablespoon raw cacao or cocoa powder
– pinch of organic unrefined salt
Filling
– 2/3 cup (190g) cashew nut butter
– 6 tablespoons hot water
– 6 tablespoons maple syrup or coconut nectar (maple is sweeter)
– 5 tablespoons raw cacao or cocoa powder
– 2 teaspoons tamari soya sauce
– 3–6 drops of culinarygrade peppermint oil or 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
– 4 tablespoons melted cacao butter
– fresh mint leaves, to decorate
Method:
1. To make the base, tumble the nuts, dates, cacao powder and a pinch of salt into a food processor and pulse until crumbly but sticky. You will need the teeniest splash of water to bring it together. Press the mixture firmly into an 18cm springform tin (you’ll find these on Amazon). Refrigerate.
2. To make the filling, give the cashew butter, hot water, maple syrup, cacao powder, tamari and peppermint a good whizz in the food processor. Every brand of peppermint oil has a different intensity, so start small (three drops) and work up to six if necessary.
3. Slowly add the melted cacao butter. You should have a dense, dark, glossy ganache by now. Taste and decide whether you’d like more peppermint, but too much will taste like mouth wash.
4. Once you’re happy, spread the filling over your base and decorate with fresh mint leaves. Store in the freezer, or your belly.
Following the enormous success of her debut cookbook, The Extra Virgin Kitchen, Susan Jane White is back with a brand new collection of recipes and advice – and this time, Susan Jane wants you to have your cake and eat it too by turning pesky sugar cravings into a nutritional slam-dunk.
The Virtuous Tart is packed full of treats to love that love your body back. As well as delicious recipes for Virgin Drinks, Virtuous Tarts, Saintly Treats and Born Again Truffles – which are all free from wheat, dairy and cane sugar – Susan Jane will guide you through wholesome alternatives to refined white sugar (such as coconut sugar, date syrup, maple and raw honey), and show you where to use superfood flours like quinoa and teff. You’ll discover how to raise your energy levels naturally, and learn tasty tricks to make your skin glow.
On why she wrote the Virtuous Tart, Susan Jane says: “I eat sweet treats every day. I’m not interested in denial – that’s never worked for me. I prefer to embrace my pesky sugar cravings and turn them into a nutritional hit. Think of it as alchemy.”
The Virtuous Tart is published by Gill & Macmillan and is available in stores nationwide and online, priced at €24.99.