Low-Fodmap Chocolate Bites

Over the last few months, I have had terrible problems with my health - stomach cramps, constant nausea, exhausted beyond belief - nothing seems to help, nothing seems to hinder. Needless to say, it's had a huge impact on my life. While I visit doctors, specialists, have scans and tests i've had to limit my time in the office, only working part time while everyone around me tries to figure out just what the heck is going on with my body.

Anyway, part of this journey to discover the root of my health problems lead me to a naturopath - who has put me on a low fodmap diet. There is a concern that the issues may be down to IBS and Chronic Fatigue, so i've had to make some major changes to my diet. Luckily, having previously been following a wholefood diet, I didn't have a lot of packaged crap to cut out - but there have been some challenges. One of which is eating out - fodmap cuts out most gluten, along with lactose, fructans (in things like vegetables, wheat products and sweeteners like agave and honey), galactans (pulses and beans) and polyols (found in most stone fruit, some veges and artificial sweeteners).

It's a lot to look out for, especially when you've got a craving for something sweet. What it means is there is a lot less eating out (and a lot more questions for poor wait staff) and a lot more home experimenting, which I don't actually mind :)

Today was one of those days, I was desperate for something chocolatey and bite sized - so i've come up with these chocolate bites - they're vegan, low fodmap, refined sugar free, dairy free AND they can be made gluten free if you replace the oats with your favourite GF flour.

Enjoy!

Chewy Chocolate Bites

1/3 C desiccated coconut
1/3 C oats
1/4 C cocoa
2 T pure maple syrup
4 T nut or seed butter (I used Tahini)
4 T almond milk
Pinch of salt

In a food processor or magic bullet, wizz the coconut, oats and cocoa into a powder. Add the wet ingredients and mix well.

Shape into balls and pop in the oven at 180°C (375°F) for 9-12 minutes, depending on how crispy you want them.

Should make around a dozen small bites, or in my case 9, because I ate too much of the dough ;)

Chocolate - The Wholesome Way

 Who loves chocolate? I do!
When I started the process of cutting out the additives and processed foods out of my life there was a couple of things I checked - whether I could still drink coffee and eat chocolate. While most store-bought chocolate is out of bounds, there are a few companies that make chocolate with little process involved. Problem is, most of them are sweetened with agave aaaand I don't like it that much. So I took to the internet!

It turns out, chocolate is actually quite simple to make, Kendahl, at Our Nourishing Roots has a great simple chocolate recipe, which I amended slightly to suit my tastes. So here it is!

Ingredients:
1 cup Cacao Butter
1 cup Cacao/Cocoa powder
2 tablespoons Honey

1/4 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Essence 

 First chop up the Cacao butter, and place it in a double boiler - the key is to melt this slowly and gently, you don't want anything to seize. I found it really hard to find Cacao butter locally and what I did find was ridiculously expensive. I ended up finding some reasonably priced organic cacao butter on iherb.com which I love, so if you're having trouble finding it locally, try it out.

Want to try iherb.com out? Use the code FMT194 and get up to $10 off on your first order - plus only $4 postage internationally!

(The cats love chocolate too, they wanted in straight away)

 Once the cacao butter is completely melted, slowly add the cocoa, constantly stirring. 

Next up is honey and vanilla - now - I like my chocolate rich and dark, so I only used 2TBS of honey and that was plenty. In my first attempt, I added 5 and it was just wayyy to much. It also had a really weird initial taste. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great, and I think it is down to the honey. In lieu of honey you could also sub maple syrup or coconut sugar/raw brown sugar... just make sure it's melted and remember to stir!

It will end up looking like this, YUM. Take off the heat and let cool, stirring occasionally. It will cool down pretty quickly. Poor into your mould (I used a silicone loaf tin) and leave until it's hardened. 

Aaaaand it will turn out like this! Eat up!

Just remember, this is not tempered chocolate, so it is a little softer than store bought chocolate and it won't snap in the same way. You can temper chocolate at home... but i'm still learning about that!

I'd encourage anyone to give this a go - it's really not as scary as it looks, and once you get it right, the results are worth it. 

Good luck!