Healthy Raw Chocolate Cream with Carob and Avocado
This raw chocolate cream is an extremely easy and quick dessert to make (prep: 9 minutes). It contains avocado, dates, cocoa beans, carob powder, and water.
Pit and clean the dried dates, making sure to cut off any bad spots (e.g., with a kitchen knife). Then place the dates in a mixing cup.
Halve the avocado and remove the pit. Scoop out the pulp, removing any dark spots, cut into cubes, and place in the mixing cup.
Add the cacao beans and carob powder to the mixing cup. Carefully process the mixture using an emulsion blender and then gradually add the water.
The mixture shouldn’t be so thick that it gets stuck and can’t be easily blended when you hold the immersion blender at an angle. It is fine if there are still some small pieces of cocao beans in the cream — this even enhances the taste.
Spoon the raw chocolate cream into small dessert bowls or dessert glasses — and enjoy this decadent raw dessert.
For an artistic presentation, we recommend garnishing the chocolate cream with fruit and herbs, for example, with raspberries and peppermint or lemon balm.
Detailed Nutritional Information per Person for this Recipe
The majority of the nutritional information comes from the USDA (US Department of Agriculture). This means that the information for natural products is often incomplete or only given within broader categories, whereas in most cases products made from these have more complete information displayed.
If we take flaxseed, for example, the important essential amino acid ALA (omega-3) is only included in an overarching category whereas for flaxseed oil ALA is listed specifically. In time, we will be able to change this, but it will require a lot of work. An “i” appears behind ingredients that have been adjusted and an explanation appears when you hover over this symbol.
For Erb Muesli, the original calculations resulted in 48 % of the daily requirement of ALA — but with the correction, we see that the muesli actually covers >100 % of the necessary recommendation for the omega-3 fatty acid ALA. Our goal is to eventually be able to compare the nutritional value of our recipes with those that are used in conventional western lifestyles.
This raw chocolate cream is an extremely easy and quick dessert to make (prep: 9 minutes). It contains avocado, dates, cocoa beans, carob powder, and water.
When we serve this dessert to company, after they have had a few bites we let them guess the ingredients. … Experienced raw foodists are familiar with chocolate creams containing these and similar ingredients. But those who aren’t are usually quite surprised when they find out what the ingredients are. Dates and carob powder can also be used to make other delicious desserts such as Sweet Date and Walnut Balls.
Optimal dessert base: This chocolate cream with dates and avocado is a good basic recipe that can be used to make a wide range of dessert creations, as we note under “Alternative preparation.” The raw chocolate cream is a recipe that can be quickly prepared and easily modified.
Raw avocado: Avocados are almost always eaten raw. They are mainly used for homemade dips and as a substitute for oil in salads for those who follow clean eating principles, that is who eat a diet of natural whole foods instead of processed foods. Avocados are very helpful in this respect, even though at 15:1 they don’t have a good ratio of LA:ALA (the two essential omega-3 fatty acids). See the nutritional information for avocados. However, this ratio can be compensated for by eating walnuts, macadamia nuts, or best flaxseeds. See Erb Muesli.
Tips
Quality of carob powder: When you buy carob powder, it will usually be sold in a closed container. As a result, you won’t be able to determine if you have purchased a high-quality raw carob powder until you open it. Raw carob powder has a light brown color, and high-quality raw carob powder has a relatively mild flavor as compared to the roasted variety. Roasted powders have a dark brown color and an intense flavor that is produced by roasting. It is actually difficult to find raw carob powder, but you’ll know you’ve found it when it says raw carob powder on the package.
Protect your blender: If you don’t have a high-speed blender, it is important to chop the ingredients before blending. And if you soak dates first, it will be easier to process them in the blender. And even a good immersion blender will be able to do this.
Consistency: The amount of water you add determines the consistency of the chocolate cream and the amount of time you blend it determines how smooth it will be. For example, we only use as much water as is necessary to blend the cream. The mixture should be able to move smoothly during the blending process. This is easier to achieve with an immersion blender than a countertop blender. It is better to add water as needed instead of using too much at the beginning.
Alternate preparation
Unfermented cocao beans: You can buy either fermented or unfermented cocao beans. We recommend using unfermented, hand-peeled raw cocao beans of the Criollo variety. Depending on the intensity of flavor and personal preference, you may want to adjust the amount of cocao beans called for in this recipe.
Spices: Would you like to add extra flavor and spice to your chocolate cream? Use cayenne pepper to create spiciness or vanilla and a bit of cinnamon to give your dessert a finishing touch. Be careful though because adding too much spice can take away from the chocolate cream’s own flavor.
Fruits: Fresh fruits such as strawberries, blackberries, and/ or raspberries go well with this dessert. Apples, kiwis, apricots, and bananas can also be served on the side. However, you should only include smaller quantities of banana as the dates and avocado in the chocolate cream make it quite filling.
