Valentine’s Day and Chocolate go hand in hand so we want to share with you a delicious and easy homemade chocolate almond butter cup recipe that you can make for yourself or your Valentine to enjoy. We also want to tell you about the delicious almond butter we used in the recipe, NatuAlmond from Georgia Grinders.
This almond butter is a labor of love dating back to the 1970s when the owner, Jamie Foster’s grandfather created it to combat his genetic predisposition to cardiovascular disease. This priceless recipe was passed down and enjoyed by family and friends until 2012 when Jamie launched Georgia Grinders featuring this recipe along with many other nut butters.
The delicious NaturAlmond butter really caught our attention for many reasons. All of their nut butters are sourced from only the finest, natural, non-GMO ingredients. They handcraft the almond butter in a 100% peanut and gluten free environment, creating these delicious jars in a completely separate facility from their other nut-butter offerings. The almonds are steam pasteurized from California, dry roasted and they NEVER add additional oils or sugars.
For the many reasons mentioned above, we chose NaturAlmond to use it in our special Valentine’s Day chocolate recipe, well that and we think it tastes amazing! We know you will love it just as much as we do!
Ingredients:
1 cup raw organic cacao butter, finely chopped (packed firmly)
3 T maple syrup
1/2 cup unsweetened cacao powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Jar of NaturAlmond Almond Butter
Instructions:
1.) Place the finely chopped cacao butter in the top a double boiler and melt over low heat or in a microwave bowl and microwave in 30-second increments stirring in between to make sure all the pieces are melted. If using the double boiler method, be sure that no water or steam gets in the melted cacao butter.
2.) Once all the cacao is melted, add in the maple syrup. Add cacao powder, vanilla and whisk to make sure there are no more clumps.
3.) Spoon enough chocolate to fill half of each of the heart-shaped molds. Gently tap the filled molds on the counter to make sure all of the air bubbles release and carefully place in the freezer for 10 minutes to harden up.
4.) Remove from the freezer and place a small amount of the NaturAlmond butter on top of the chilled chocolate. Be careful not to put too much. Finish filling each of the hearts with the remaining chocolate (If the chocolate becomes too thick you can reheat it in the microwave for about 10 seconds – it reheats quickly.). Gently tap the filled molds on the counter again and carefully place in the freezer for another 10 – 15 minutes to harden.
5.) Carefully remove the hardened almond butter filled chocolate hearts from the mold and enjoy! Store in the refrigerator. These little goodies make a great gift for a friend or the perfect end to a romantic dinner.
