21 March, 2016
White Chocolate Bark (Dairy Free)
The Recipe Redux theme for the month of March is right up my alley. Using 7 ingredients or less in a quick, easy, no brainier, and healthy recipe with just a few simple ingredients. Those are my types of recipes because even though I enjoy cooking I still don’t want long and complicated recipes that so much work that I want to take a nap. Long and labor some recipes usually also mean a lot of dishes and I am not a fan of the clean up part of cooking. My White Chocolate Bark only has 5 ingredients and only one pot to clean up so that is a win win in my book!
White chocolate is actually a chocolate derivative. Unlike chocolate, white chocolate doesn’t contain any cocoa solids. It is typically made up of cocoa butter, sugar, milk solids, vanilla, and other flavorings. Most of the white chocolate on the market is of the cheap variety where the cocoa butter is replaced with highly processed and inflammatory vegetable oils. So can they really even call it chocolate?
Dark chocolate is considered a super food as it contains powerful flavanols. In addition to having antioxidant qualities, research shows that flavanols have other potential influences on vascular health, such as lowering blood pressure, improving blood flow to the brain and heart, and making blood platelets less sticky and able to clot. While white chocolate doesn’t contain these substances when made properly it does ,however, contain healthy fats(not the ones with vegetable oils). The cocoa butter is made up of equal amounts of oleic acid (a heart-healthy monounsaturated fat also found in olive oil), stearic and palmitic acids. Stearic and palmitic acids are forms of saturated fat, which our bodies need in the right forms.
I have never been able to find a real food white chocolate that would meet my standards, so what do you do? Live without white chocolate…heck no. Find a way to make your own! This recipe couldn’t be more simple to make and it just melts in your mouth. A great benefit to making your own chocolate is that you can control the sugar content. I don’t need (and don’t want) a super sweet chocolate to satisfy me. If you really wanted to you could even leave out the sweetener all together and this bark would still be delicious. If you love this recipe also check out my Strawberry White Hot Chocolate.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup cocoa butter you can also use coconut oil but the flavor will not be quite the same
- 1 cup coconut butter
- 2 tablespoons cashew butter
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Toppings as desired: Goji berries freeze dried blueberries, slivered almonds are what I used
- Other ideas: Citrus zest chopped nuts, dried fruit, chocolate chips, sea salt
Instructions
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Melt all of the chocolate ingredients together over low heat in a small sauce pan until well combined being careful not to let it come to a boil. Stirring every couple of minutes to not burn the bottom.
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Pour the melted mixture into a lined 8x11 pan.
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Sprinkle toppings over the top.
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Let set in the fridge about 30 minutes.
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Cut or break into pieces.
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*if you want a more uniform look you can pour into molds or mini muffin silicone cups.
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Store the leftovers in the fridge for up to one week in an airtight container.
Recipe Notes
*choose organic ingredients when possible.
I’ve been craving this since I saw it on Instagram! Dried blueberries are my favorite!
So good right! I thought the colors were perfect for spring too!
Fancy! I’ve never made my own bark!
You totally need to!
Could sunflower butter or tahini be used successfully in place of the cashew butter? We have nut allergies here.
Absolutely those would be perfect substitutions.
Does this have any coconut flavor? If so is there any sub for the 1 cup of coconut butter?
It depends on how sensitive you are to the flavor of coconut. You might be able to use tahini or almond butter but it would likely change the end flavor. I haven’t tested it so I can’t be sure.