‘Spring’ Break and ‘Chocolate’ Chips

I think the seasons got a little confused. I thought I left winter in Ohio. Apparently not.

When your backyard looks like this over spring break, there’s only one thing to do – stay inside cooking in the kitchen. 

Armed with a laptop, iPhone, pencil, paper and oodles of recipes, I began my cooking extravaganza. I didn’t make a ton of food, but I was able to try out two new recipes, both of them totally chocolate-, dairy-, corn- and tomato-free!

Now, for both of these recipes, tomato didn’t really matter – the original “normal” recipes wouldn’t have tomatoes anyways. Seriously. Who would put tomatoes in either chocolate chips or chocolate cheesecake?

Let’s start on the “chocolate” chips. I could just buy chocolate substitute chips, but they still have milk in them – in the form of nonfat milk powder and whey. So those are out of the picture. 

But, thanks to the internet, I found recipes to make them myself. My mom and I gathered the ingredients last weekend, and I set to making carob chips on Monday. 

Carob comes from the pod of a tree that grows by the Mediterranean Sea. The fiber from the pod is scraped out, dried and ground into powder. Carob powder functions just like cocoa powder, but they have different flavors. Carob also does not contain caffeine, and it is naturally sweeter than cocoa.

Carob Chunks

1 c. carob powder

¼ c. + 1 T sugar

1 c. coconut oil (I used unrefined, cold pressed, organic, extra virgin coconut oil)

½ T espresso powder

1 t vanilla extract

peppermint extract (optional)

Melt coconut oil in small saucepan on stove. Coconut oil has a very low smoke point, so it won’t take long. Remove from heat and whisk in carob powder, sugar, espresso powder and vanilla. The mixture will be a little gritty. (If you want mint carob chips, add your peppermint extract here. I only added the mint to between a third and half of the mixture, so I only used a half teaspoon. Use just a little – you can always add more. Seriously, you don’t want your carob chunks tasting like toothpaste.)

Line baking dish with nonstick aluminum foil and pour in carob mixture. Refrigerate until hard, then unmold your carob and chop into chunks.

My carob is still chilling in the fridge, mostly because I need to remelt then remold mine. I didn’t line my dishes with foil, so currenlty it’s a little difficult to get my carob out. But hopefully I’ll be baking carob chip cookies later on this week!

Next post: “Chocolate” “Cheese”cake