Mandarin and Vanilla Raw White Chocolate

So it has been quite a while since I have made any raw chocolates and I never really seem to make any white chocolate either – except maybe that time I made those ‘Caramac Bites‘ but still I don’t think that counts as white chocolate. These bars are sooooo unbelievably gorgeous! You will just eat one within two seconds and wonder what even happened. They really are that good. Imagine a sophisticated chocolate orange bar but without all of the darkness – just pure creamy orange indulgence!

The amazing thing about these bars is that there is only half a tablespoon of maple syrup in each one and a small amount of dried apricots – you can drop the apricots too if you like as they aren’t essential but provide a really satisfyingly ‘gummy’ like chew to the bars.  The delicate sweetness of the pecans couples perfectly with the white chocolate that I have to say I wouldn’t leave these out unless I absolutely had to.

I decided to play with essential oils in my chocolate and the results were astonishing, I don’t think you could get this sort of flavour without adding them really. What I will say is ALWAYS BUY ORGANIC otherwise you don’t know what you are ingesting. Make sure that they are food grade oils too. I have to say though that the vanilla extract oil that I used does state that it isn’t suitable for ingestion but I am a bit cheeky and used it anyway as it is non-toxic. I do think however that some people can have an allergic reaction so be careful! You can replace the extract with vanilla powder too if you want.

This Mandarin and Vanilla Raw White Chocolate is dairy-free and so suitable for anyone following a vegan diet as well as a gluten-free or Paleo one! It is however not nut free due to containing a large amount of cashew butter and pecans so I am sorry about that!

Yields: 3 chunky bars (I used this mould)

Prep Time: 5 minutes (plus 1 hour setting time)

Cook Time: 5-10 minutes

Ingredients:

100g cacao butter
85g raw cashew butter
3 tbsp coconut milk
1.5 tbsp maple syrup
4 drops organic mandarin essential oil
2 drops vanilla extract organic essential oil or 1/4 tsp vanilla powder
Pinch Himalayan pink salt (if coarse grind into a fine powder)
2-3 tbsp chopped dried apricots
2-3 tbsp chopped pecan nuts

Method:

1. Place all of your ingredients except for the essential oils, dried apricots, and pecan nuts into a small heatproof bowl. Place over a bain-marie on a low heat. Heat the ingredients until fully melted and make sure to stir frequently with a silicone spatula until fully combined. Remove from the heat and leave to cool for 5 minutes.
2. Sprinkle your chipped apricots and pecan nuts into your silicone mould being sure to divide the portions equally into 3 of the indentations.
3. Stir in your essential oils and pour into the 3 separate indentations of the mould. You might want to leave the chocolate for 5-10 minutes before transferring into your freezer to set. This is because sometimes it can just be hard to manoeuvre without spilling! Once in the freezer leave for 30 minutes to 1 hour until fully set.
4. Remove your mould from the freezer. Carefully pull away the sides of the mould before turning inside out, pushing the bars out one at a time. Leave to settle at room temperature for 5-10 minutes before scoffing the lot! Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for up to 1 month before consuming.