Raw eggless eggnog cream cacao candy

I made candy. Lots of candy, for the holidays. Phew. It was far too much work, and I tested many mixtures of ingredients for several days straight, but I found a few gems for recipes that were too good not to save. I like them so much in fact, that I might be making a couple of these next year.

The following recipe is one I am extremely thrilled with. Despite not containing eggs, after setting it quite literally tastes as the nogg I love so dearly from younger years before I became aware of my food sensitivities. The Christmassy creamy flavours of eggnogg, coupled with the texture of chocolate-it's a marriage made in heaven!

As I have been cooking for many years, I often do not use measuring utensils; this is a close approximation and I believe for any recipe to have good results a degree of intuition and care is required. I would also like to note here that there are hundreds of variations to eggnogg from the type of alcohol used to the ratio of spices; and this is a recreation of the eggnogg that I remember so fondly in my own childhood. So feel free to taste as you go along (remember, since this is raw it is slow melting-it shouldn't be too hot to taste test).

Raw eggless eggnog cream cacao candy

110-120 grams cacao butter
2-3 tablespoons grassfed, salted butter
4-5 teaspoons strong vanilla extract (a highly alcoholic, flavourful vanilla is preferable-just add a little more if you only have a milder one at hand)
1 teaspoon almond cream (I use Ecomil's-you may sub regular cream or another nondairy if you prefer, though the taste may vary.)
1 slightly heaped teaspoon arrowroot powder
1/3 teaspoon lecithin (this is to keep the chocolate together, basically.)
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground clove
1/8 tsp cinnamon
About 2/3 Cups Lucuma powder (do not sub! This is essential as it is a thickening agent as well as a sweetener!)

If you have a sensitive gas hob like I do-which is ideal for this recipe-ignite a fire and turn it to the lowest possible flame. Ideally it will be on a setting so low that when you dip your finger in the melted chocolate, you won't be burnt. If you do not have such a hob; there are methods of melting raw cacao, one I believe is to have it in a bowl inside of another bowl of very hot water. One should probably research this, as I am not an expert, since I have a fantastic hob on my oven. Place a large pot on the hob and melt together the cacao and butter, stirring all the time. When they have thoroughly melted; one by one, in order, add the other ingredients in very slowly, stirring as you go along. When everything tastes right, turn off the heat and whisk vigorously for about 5 minutes. Pour into moulds or, like me, a pan lined with baking paper and sprinkled with additional nutmeg for decor. If desired, add chopped pecans/walnuts, chocolate chips, whatever to the candy. Leave covered at room temperature to set overnight. With a very very thin knife, slice into pieces-or break it up with your hands-or just have a gigantic bar of chocolate, ALL TO YOURSELF, bwahahahaha. The photo below is my finished product, broken up, which has plain bits, chocolate chunk bits, and pecan-chunk bits.

Enjoy. Happy Holidays.

Stay tuned, I have a completely dairy-free butter pecan truffle recipe coming soon.

xo