GIVE ME CHOCOLATE ALMOND BUTTER CUPS

Nothing fancy today, folks - just simple deliciousness. Raw chocolate almond butter cups with four ingredients? Gimme! I don't think I'll ever get tired of these, and believe me - I would know. I've eaten quite a number in my life thus far. As a bonus, this is one of those recipes that every kind of person can enjoy, not just vegans or raw food lovers. If you give them to your carnivorous, junk food-worshiping brother, I guarantee he won't even know they're healthy. My guarantee comes from personal experience.

So... how ARE you, anyway!? Is your summer turning out to be everything you hoped it would? As it winds up, I can't help but feel pretty great about myself and what I've accomplished in the past three months. If someone had told me that over the sunny season I was going to write a book and be nominated for the VegNews Veggie Awards (please vote! hehe)... I would have laughed and asked them to pinch me.

Yet here I am. I am so grateful for all these amazing opportunities that have landed in my lap! That being said, I AM looking forward to going back to school and returning to my "normal" routine. I put that in quotes because my regular routine is still pretty weird compared to the average fellow. Anyhoo. My classes start back up on my birthday (turnin' 20 on September 3rd, baby) and I am really excited about them all. I am taking a history course on Renaissance Europe, a gender and women's studies course called Gender Talk (!!!) and a philosophy course on religion. I cannot wait to sit down in my lectures and write some essays!

No, that was not sarcastic. I really do love writing essays. 

Enough about me though. I know what you came here for. RAW CHOCOLATE ALMOND BUTTAH CUPS. Yeeeah, maan. These guys are everything you want them to be and more, and on top of all that they are actually super good for you... in moderation *cough cough*! I'd say two or three is a decent single serving size? But I'm not one to count calories or anything else. I do what I feel and eat what makes me feel good. These make me feel like I'm flying!

I recommend you try out a raw cacao-based super food blend called Jump Up and Go Go instead of regular cacao powder. My new super cool friend Vanessa (who has an awesome blog of her own) gave me a bag of it to try out. I used it all up in no time! It's basically like cacao, but better. The powder blend includes powerful healing ingredients like maca, wheatgrass, chaga mushrooms, hemp, noni, goji berries and more! Use it just like you would cacao powder for an extra nutrition boost. I feel amazing after having it. And (hopefully this isn't too much information) I'm on my period right now so all the extra iron, etc. helps me to feel balanced.

raw chocolate almond butter cups: makes about six

Chocolate:

1/4 cup Jump Up and Go Go or cacao powder

1/4 cup liquid coconut oil

1/6 cup preferred liquid sweetener (like date syrup, agave syrup, maple syrup, coconut nectar, etc.)

Filling:

6 teaspoons almond butter

To make the chocolate: whisk together the ingredients until smooth. Optional add-ins: salt, cinnamon, maca, berry powders, nutmeg, chili, ginger, etc. Pour about 1 teaspoon of the liquid chocolate into the bottom of 6 cupcake papers, or at least enough to cover the bottoms. Put in the freezer for 5 minutes or until the chocolate has hardened. Scoop 1 teaspoon of almond butter onto each chocolate base, then cover with the remaining liquid chocolate. Put in the fridge for 10-20 minutes or until hardened. 

Chomp.