Submitted by: Richard Hammond
Servings: Serves up to 24
Ingredients: 1 lb. 100% pure Baker’s chocolate, room temp
2/3 cup Nutiva coconut manna
½ cup Nutiva coconut oil
½ cup filtered water
2 cups organic raisins
1/3 cup coconut palm sugar
1 large pinch of sea salt
½ tsp tangerine or orange oil
1 eyedropper liquid stevia or to taste
1 tbsp Penzey’s double-fold pure vanilla
Instructions: Chop the chocolate into very small pieces and place into a large glass mixing bowl. Place the coconut manna, coconut oil, raisins, palm sugar, water and salt into a 3 qt. saucepan and place over low heat.
Stir occasionally until the mixture gently simmers and cook for about 5 minutes until the raisins have plumped a little. Remove the saucepan from the heat.
Stir in the vanilla and citrus oil when the mixture cools but is still just a little warm to the touch (~110° F.) and pour this mixture over the chopped chocolate. Stir just a couple times and let the mixture stand in a warm place for 5 minutes or so.
Add the stevia and whisk the fudge vigorously until the chocolate is smooth and shiny. Scrape the fudge into a 13×9 baking dish, spread evenly and let the fudge cool to room temperature. Cover loosely with saran and store in a cool place. Cut into small squares when set.
You may stir in about a cup and a half of finely chopped walnuts, almonds, pecans, filberts or macadamias to the fudge if desired right before you pour it into the baking dish.
This recipe may be doubled and used to fill two 13×9 baking dishes. If you don’t have cold-pressed citrus oils, use about 2 to 2 ½ teaspoons orange extract instead of the tangerine or orange oil.
I had the privilege of trying some of this fudge last weekend and it was delicious! Very rich and chocolatey. I am never able to eat sweets in the morning because it throws off my blood sugar, but I had no side effects from eating several pieces of this before lunch – presumably because there is no regular sugar in this recipe, although it tastes sweet. This is something I will definitely be making for my family this Christmas!
For the ultimate fudge, feel free to substitute a very high quality imported baking chocolate like Scharfenberger or Callebaut for the 1 lb. of Baker’s brand…
Just so readers are aware, if you are assiduously avoiding SOY, then the Baker’s baking chocolate is actually your best choice as it does not contain soy lecithin; the Euro baking chocolates usually do so just read your labels!