With the holiday season upon us, it’s important to have a few go-to recipes that don’t completely derail your healthy eating, but are delicious at the same time. Invited to a last minute party? Have company pop in unexpectedly? This fudge is the answer to your entertaining dilemma! It’s super easy and takes five minutes to make, uses ingredients commonly found in the kitchen and is both gluten and dairy free.
As a bonus, this recipe contains cacao powder (the raw, unprocessed form of cocoa.) It’s cold-pressed and hasn’t been heated at high temperatures, keeping the many beneficial nutrients in tact. Cacao is loaded with antioxidants and is one of the richest food sources of magnesium on the planet. Given magnesium is involved in more than 300 metabolic functions in the body and can easily be depleted by stress, adding cacao to holiday recipes is a great way to boost the amount of magnesium in your diet. (Do I really need to give another excuse for you to eat some chocolate?!) 
I also love the versatility of this recipe – you can simply swap out the walnuts and cashew butter for any type of nut/nut butter you have on hand; and while we’ve topped it with Himalayan sea salt and hemp seeds, you can opt to use coconut flakes or other desired toppings. (You can also give it a bit of a festive twist by adding in some peppermint or orange extract or therapeutic grade essential oil.)
Enjoy!
INGREDIENTS
- 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/4 cup cashew butter
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup cacao powder
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup walnuts
- 1-2 drops of therapeutic-grade peppermint essential oil (optional)
- Pinch of Himalayan sea salt
- Extra sea salt and 2 tbsp hemp seeds for toppings
DIRECTIONS
- Line a small baking dish with parchment paper
- Add all ingredients to high speed blender and blend until smooth
- Top with additional Himalayan salt and hemp seeds
- Place in freezer for 20-30 minutes or until solid
** This fudge should be stored in the freezer to keep solid
Voila! Delicious fudge is ready to go 🙂
