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Inside Out Almond Joy


I've got another super easy Valentine's recipe for you. In this era of covid, all we do around here is think about the next exciting thing we get to eat. At least I have an interesting hobby and Bruce loves being my taste-tester.  Since I joined Hannah Freese, RD's group, I'm getting caught up on all the latest nutrition research which is great for me since I am now retired.  And chocolate is one thing I've learned A LOT about.  Hannah talks a lot about chocolate because part of her eating plan is to stop eating sugar. Horrors! I know... I didn't think I could do it but she weans us slowly and everyday part of our early meal plans includes dark chocolate. I can give up sugar if dark chocolate is part of the plan.  The dark chocolate needs to be greater than 70% cocao because then you are getting beneficial chemicals called flavanols. Flavanols have benefits regarding blood flow, blood pressure, cholesterol, enhancing exercise performance, memory and cognition, skin wrinkles, and blood sugar control. To get these benefits, you need to eat about 200-600 mg of flavanols per day. This is so easy for me to do! However, it gets a little more complicated...as most issues in nutritional science. I found out my favorite dark chocolate bar from Trader's Joes was really high in cadmium. I was selecting this bar: Trader Joe's Chocolate Lover's bar. It is 85% cocao so I thought it was really a good one.


Not so.  Boo hoo!  We get in discussions with Hannah via Zoom every month when we join her group and she talks in details when answering our questions.  Turns out that some dark chocolate contains high levels of cadmium, a toxic heavy metal like arsenic and lead.  No thank you!  She encourages us to join consumerslab.com that reviews hundreds of products.  I've been signed up with consumerslab.com since 2010 because it's a really good site for checking on things like vitamins and supplements to tell you which are the best.  Hannah actually does most of the research for us and has listed the top three dark chocolate bars with low levels of cadmium.  Here is the list:

 Trader Joe's Pound Plus 72% Cocoa Dark Chocolate   

Ghirardelli Intense Dark 86%

                     

Chocolove Extra Strong 77% Cocoa

                                                     

The other confusing issue is that the higher percentage of cocao does not necessarily mean the higher percentage of flavanols.  The "percentage of cocao" on the label of chocolate bars do not correlate with percentage of flavanols because the confectionary industry has defined the "% cacao" as the sum of cocoa liquor + cocoa powder + cocoa butter in the formulation.  Flavanols are found in the pure cocoa powder, not the cocoa butter so a product could claim "99% cocao" on the front of the package, but contain little flavanols because most of the bar is cocoa butter.  This is where ConsumersLab.com comes in handy and why you now know not all dark chocolate is created equal.  This recipe is fairly easy, but picking out the best dark chocolate isn't so easy.  However, now you know and I felt the need to include what kind of dark chocolate to use in this recipe because you can't just pick out any dark chocolate like I did initially.  The research has been done for you so go ahead and make these cute little delicious treats for your Valentine this weekend.  They will be eating something with a whole list of wonderful health benefits and what better way is there to tell someone you love them than with chocolate?

Makes 24

8.5 ounces dark chocolate (at least 70% cocao, chopped) See above list 
2 tsp. coconut oil
2 cups almonds
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1.  Melt dark chocolate and the coconut oil in a double boiler on the stovetop or microwave in a large glass bowl at 50% power for 30 seconds at a time until melted.  Stir well to combine. 



2.  Meanwhile, line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

3.  Add almonds to the melted chocolate and stir to combine.


4.  Use a spoon to drop small, even clusters (containing about 4 to 5 almonds each) onto the parchment paper. 

                      

5.  Sprinkle coconut over top of each cluster immediately.  


6.  Transfer to the freezer until the clusters are set, about 15 minutes.  

7.  Remove from the freezer and enjoy.  You can halve the recipe and make them smaller for the same number of clusters, if desired.


You may also use hazelnuts, walnuts or peanuts.


Package them in a tin or jar lined with parchment paper to give as gift.   




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