I have been enlightened. Never again will I make raw chocolate without orange! It is incredibly delicious, and I mean literally incredible. I added the zest of one orange to the chocolate to include a fruity component so it would pair well with the layered fruit - what a wonderful decision it was.
My boyfriend says these taste like "amazing flying chocolate fruit saucers of deliciousness" and I can go with that. It sounds like a compliment... right? Right.
Originally I was going to sprinkle some nutmeg and cinnamon on bananas and use them instead of the kiwi. I was also going to use fresh figs. But I wanted to make this recipe (it's been floating around in my lofty brain for quite some time now) today and fresh figs and bananas were not available; to my momentary dismay. Then I decided I could just use kiwi and dried figs instead. Nothing lost and gorgeous green colour gained!
I'm certainly in an orange phase right now, as you might have seen my previous recipe was an orange & blueberry "cheesecake". We get the treat of juicy, sweet mandarin oranges here in winter time for the holidays and I intend to take advantage of this. One thing I love to do with oranges after watching mum do it for years each Christmas is gently simmer orange peel, cloves, cinnamon sticks and nutmeg on the stove all day. It creates this vibrant, festive aroma that has come to immediately remind me what time of year it is.
spiced orange chocolate layered with fresh kiwi, orange & dried figs: serves 3
raw orange chocolate:
3 tablespoons liquid coconut oil
1-2 tablespoons agave/maple syrup
2 tablespoons cacao powder
zest of one orange
pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
fruit layers:
1 kiwi
1 orange
4 figs (fresh or dried)
goji berry coulis:
1/4 cup dried goji berries covered with water
1 tablespoon agave/maple syrup
To make the chocolate: stir all ingredients together by hand until smooth and SO YUMMY. On parchment paper, take a spoonful of the chocolate and spread it into a circle about 2 inches in diameter. Do this until you run out, you should end up with 6 or so. Put in the freezer.
To make the fruit layers: slice all the fruit... duh.
To make the berry coulis: blend the berries with the sweetener and water until smooth. If you have other berries add those if you like. I did not have any.
Now put it all together: Take the chocolate out of the freezer, they should now be solid. Decorate plates with coulis as you desire, then layer on the chocolate discs and fruit slices.
Beautiful. Raw. Love.
