Homemade vegan chocolate hearts

The moment you have all been waiting for! After many trial runs, bitter tastes, unhappy measurements and discovering what doesn't work... I'm so happy to share this with you!

These dark chocolates are still a work in progress, we are all in love with dark chocolate in this house and the higher the percentage the better! Gus loves 85% and we never buy 'normal' milk chocolate. So it's been nice to experiment with making our own.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup Cocoa butter

1/2 cup vegan cocoa powder

1/4 cup Agave nectar (Groovy foods) or maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp ground almonds

Pinch of pink salt

Silicone heart shaped mould (ours was from the range... but I've just found THIS!)

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DECORATION

Bee pollen - for the non vegans (Buy here)

Chopped nuts

Edible rose petals

Shelled hemp seeds

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RECIPE

1. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil, add your cocoa butter 'buttons' to a heat proof dish. Place in the hot water and heat through until its melted. Rather than turning white they melt clear so don't be alarmed!

2. Once melted stir in the cocoa powder, vanilla essence and salt.

3. Add the agave (or maple syrup) and ground almonds.

4. Do the finger dip test... you may want to add more salt or sweetener.

5. The mixture will be very runny (nothing like when you melt a store bought chocolate bar).

6. Prep the silicone mould with your decorations, gently sprinkle in the bottom of the mould. We use all natural and organic ingredients... you can mix up your decorations... freeze dried fruit goes down reallllly well!

7. Once you're ready slowly pour the melted chocolate mixture into the mould.

8. Tap gently for a minute to release any hidden bubbles!

9. Place in the fridge for a few hours until hardened, time varies with different fridges but you will know when they're ready!!

10. Slowly pop them from the moulds and store in an airtight container (in the fridge is best).

11. Enjoy!

I hope you enjoy these wonderful mini bites, i'll be visiting the recipe often so if you have any new combinations or feedback I would love to hear from you. I've also made chocolate bars with the leftover mix, just line a lunch box with greaseproof paper (be precise with the corners) and pour in the mixture!

V x