Get Your Chocolate Fix

My brother-in-law was ordered by the doc to cut out both white sugar and white flour from his diet.  My sister-in-law was all too happy to jump on the bandwagon.  It’s so hard to watch what you eat on your own, to feel like you’re the only on in your house committed to healthy living while your better half is eating potato chips in bed (of course I am not at all speaking from experience so don’t read into this).  But when both you and your spouse are on the same page and under doctors orders no less it makes it all that much easier.

So we go to their house one night for din din and she serves popcorn for dessert.  I was like WHAAAAT?  I’m sorry I hear the no sugar thing but you are not serving me something salty for dessert.  I have a sweet tooth that must be satisfied.  Now if you invite me over to your house don’t worry I won’t be so bold and so rude but this is my sis in law – we are super close and I was nice about it and just said – “come on Devorah, talk to me, can this salty snack really satisfy your sweet tooth”?  It’s nosh, it’s snack, no doubt, and I love popcorn but on that day, like so many others (unfortunately) I needed chocolate.  (When I am being careful about my diet I always use this Soy Cinnamon Hot Cocoa as an after dinner trick.)  

So she pulls out the food processor and starts to make me/us (really me) Agave Chocolate Shots

She came up with this to help her and Hubby’s bro when popcorn just won’t cut it.  She had no measurements of course (why would my fabulous sisters’ in law have any complete recipes for me?) so when I tasted it, and I loved it, and dipped my popcorn in it, and told her I would steal it for my site she was so thankful because that would mean I would have to re-test it and come up with exact measurements for all of us.  Each time she made it, it came out different and now I was here to save the day.  See so it wasn’t all bad – she scratched my back and I scratched hers.

But even though I am technically stealing it and really most of the credit is due Devorah, I do see it as a bit of a collaboration.  She was using all canola oil and I told her to half the amount of canola, opt instead for a good, fruity, high quality olive oil and make up the difference with boiling water.  Got that nifty idea from mommy.  She hardly cooked anything for us growing up but the one thing she did make was homemade Chocolate sauce/fondue – this way we ALWAYS ate all our fruit.  

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It was her special potion of unsweetened cocoa, butter, sugar and water.  So I remembered the water trick from her — she would stir it on the stove top until hot and then we would dip in bananas or strawberries, or apples or grapes or our fingers.

My sis in law makes her version entirely  in the food processor no broken stovetop necessary.  The result: a silky smooth creamy consistency.  I tried it with stevia but it did not work at all – the granules never totally dissolved even after whisking them in the boiling water first it still tasted super sandy.  I could actually stand it because I felt that it was a sacrifice worth making for a low calorie, sugar free dessert but I would never purposefully recommend it to anyone.

The best part about this practically guilt-free dessert is that it can be made in advance, sealed in an airtight container and stored at room temp for a couple of days.  I grab just a (heaping) spoonful or two when I have a craving and because it’s rich and smooth and not too sweet it’s exactly what I need when I need it.  You can of course turn it from bittersweet to sweet by adding more agave to taste.  If subbing sugar for agave it’s 1 cup sugar.  But I would dissolve the sugar in the boiling water first.

Get the recipe for Chocolate Agave Shots here.

How do you get your chocolate fix?