In a small saucepan, add salt to water and dissolve. Heat water to boiling. When boiling, stir in coconut cream concentrate. Sprinkle grits over coconut cream ‘milk’, stirring with a whisk to make sure there are no clumps.
Cook for 3-4 minutes, until grits are soft and of a creamy consistency; remove from heat. Serve with coconut oil (or butter) and honey to taste.
For-The-Crowd Servings
For 4 servings – use 3 cups of water to 3/4 cup grits, and 1/4 teaspoon salt
For 6 servings – 4 cups of water to 1 cup of grits and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Melt down the coconut cream concentrate until completely smooth and melted.* Slowly add cocoa powder until thoroughly mixed in and smooth.
Add in your sweetener, starting with 1 teaspoon for a rich taste and increasing to desired sweetness. Add your choice of other ingredients (see below) into this base and mix until evenly distributed.
Pour mixture into a mold, or any suitable bowl of choice and stick it in the fridge or freezer to re-harden.
Enjoy!
Notes: Sunflower seed lecithin really adds a much smoother texture and is worth adding 1/2 teaspoon to recipe.
Additional ingredient ideas:
Sprouted and dehydrated buckwheat groats, shredded coconut, nuts and seeds of choice for a great crunchy texture.
Dried fruit of choice.
Different types of herbs, spices, or superfoods such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, maca, spirulina, chlorella, etc…
Season fish with lemon and salt. Set aside. Thinly slice onions and seeded bell pepper. Peel, seed and slice tomatoes. Cook onions in olive oil until translucent. Add green pepper and cook 3 minutes. Add tomatoes to pan and cook a few more minutes. Place fish in pan, top with the Virgin Palm oil, cover the pan and cook until fish is almost cooked through. Add chopped herbs and red pepper and cook uncovered over high heat to evaporate some of the liquid. Just before serving add the coconut cream concentrate and bring almost to a boil. Before serving, sprinkle the lemon juice over the top and add more freshly chopped cilantro, if desired. Serve immediately.
Prepared by Sarah Shilhavy, Photo by Jeremiah Shilhavy
It’s true! These creamy little bark-like “crunchies” are seriously better than candy. No lie.
When this recipe was first published over 2 years ago it became an instant hit. Readers raved about the stuff. When I made it myself, I did too.
It is very simple and easy to make. The only really long part is waiting for the Coconut Cream Concentrate to warm up to a liquidy-ish state (see our video on how to do this) for proper measuring and mixing. After that, it’s just a throw-it-all-together-and-refrigerate process. How much simpler can it get?
The first time I made this 2 years ago, the whole batch was gobbled up and then (it being Christmas and everything, with various other sweets lying around) was promptly forgotten. Now, at around the same time this recipe was first posted two years ago, we’ve finally gotten around to making another batch. At the first bite the taste of the salt turned me off, but on the second piece, I remembered why I liked this recipe so much. It’s creamy, rich, versatile, easy, crunchy and low on sugar without sacrificing any taste. That is a nice thought considering how much one can overload on sugar this time of the year.
I like to cut down on the salt (not a big fan of the sweet and salty mix) and add a bit of vanilla extract. Chocolate is a great addition to this as well. Just melt and spread over the bark before chilling or drizzle. Use your imagination (this recipe will actually let you, it’s next to impossible to mess it up), watch the video below for a step by step tutorial and mix up a batch to add to your Christmas cookie and candy plate. You won’t regret it. I’m sure of it.
Process sugar in a food processor until very fine.
Spread nuts in a cookie sheet and toast very lightly in a low heated oven. Place Coconut Cream Concentrate jar in hot water to soften. In a medium sized bowl, beat desired amount of Coconut Cream, your choice of sweetener (see below), coconut oil, and salt with a mixer until creamy. Make sure the sugar and salt are mixed in well.
Fold the toasted nuts into the mixture and mix well with a large spoon until all nuts are well coated. Spread mixture evenly on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.
Sprinkle the coconut shreds or flakes toasted lightly if desired over the Nut Crunchies and place cookie sheet in the refrigerator.
When cold, break apart the Nut Crunchies into bite-sized pieces and store in covered containers in the refrigerator.
Note: all measurements are approximate and can be varied to suit your taste. It is pretty hard to mess these up.
Variations:
Use any nuts you prefer, and/or use stevia instead of sugar to taste.
Stir dried coconut toasted into the mixture before spreading out.
Add flavoring such as a tablespoon or two of lemon juice and some lemon zest for Lemon Nut Crunchies.
Melt some organic dark chocolate, and spread over the mixture before or instead of sprinkling on the coconut and refrigerating.
Stir bits of dried pineapple into the mixture for Pina Colada Nut Crunchies
Use your imagination!
Beware: They are addictive! But sooo healthy too. Enjoy!
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate chunks
Over medium-high heat in a saucepan, heat honey, cream, coconut cream concentrate, vanilla and salt.
Stir constantly using a whisk – mixture will bubble – you want it to bubble lightly – continue to stir until mixture reaches about 260 degrees on a candy thermometer.
Turn off heat and stir in almonds and coconut.
Grease 8×8 pan – pour in caramel mixture and allow to cool or put in refrigerator to cool faster.
Once cool, cut into desired shape and size and place on wax paper – melt chocolate and brush on top of caramels – allow chocolate to harden and they’re ready to eat!
Cooler whether is coming. In some places it seems like winter’s already here. Hot Cocoa or Hot Chocolate is a classic winter drink that can be easily whipped up at any time. It’s one of my favorite hot drinks, especially topped with a fluffy dollop of vanilla whipped cream.
One of my favorite recipes for Hot Chocolate is the Coconut Cream Hot Chocolate, made with coconut cream concentrate. It’s so unbelievably good that it doesn’t even need extra cream! Me being me however, I will almost always add dairy for that extra creamy richness. See the picture below? It has a bit of heavy cream in it, giving it that milk chocolate brown color.
Don’t let the strange ingredients list turn you off; this is really amazing stuff. Follow it exactly, and do not skip the nutmeg! Use just a tiny pinch of freshly grated nutmeg and trust me; it does make a difference, for the better. Using the exact amount of water is also important. If you use too little it’ll be gritty; too much and it’ll be bland.
If you wanted to make this a high energy drink, simply add a couple tablespoons or so to the mug and enjoy before a workout. If you use virgin coconut oil it’ll add more of a coconutty taste. The drink itself is not very coconutty, but if you wanted it to have more of a coconut taste, add some coconut extract, more coconut cream concentrate, or the oil.
Hot Chocolate isn’t complete without whipped cream though, right?
To make the fluffiest whipped cream, chill your bowl and metal beater(s) in the freezer for at least 10 minutes. Make sure your heavy cream is also well chilled. Pour the desired amount into your chilled bowl and add a bit of vanilla extract and raw honey to taste. I never measure when it comes to whipped cream; everything goes by taste. I know, that’s extremely helpful, huh? Don’t worry though, it’s not that hard.
After you have everything measured out, turn the mixer with your frozen beaters on and whip the cream, starting out on a low speed and working up to a higher speed after about 30 seconds, or when the cream looks bubbly. The cream is done when it stands in stiff peaks. Stiff peaks are when the cream stands up without flopping down when you lift the beaters straight out of the bowl. Some cream should cling to the beaters as well. Be careful though to not over-beat the cream; it only takes a few seconds to go from perfect cream to clumpy stuff. It’s always best to err on the side of under-beaten cream. If you over do it, add more heavy cream to the mix and beat that in. If however, it’s already gotten into the clumpy butter stage, it’s hopeless. Just keep mixing until the butter separates from the buttermilk and then you’ll have fresh butter. 🙂
Some people add the vanilla and raw honey during the last stages of mixing, when the cream is nearing stiff peaks. I usually don’t though; it really doesn’t make that big of a difference.
Bring water to boil in a medium saucepan. Add oats and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
After 5 minutes add honey, cinnamon, Coconut Cream Concentrate and seeds (if desired). Let simmer for 5 more minutes. Serve with extra honey and cinnamon to add to taste.
Slightly warm the coconut cream concentrate over a bowl or pan of hot water until it can be stirred.
Stir in the honey, vanilla and chopped nuts into the coconut cream concentrate until well mixed.
Before it hardens, shape mixture into rolls and wrap in waxed paper. Let harden in the refrigerator and slice into rounds to eat as candy once firm. Store in refrigerator or at room temperature if below 75 degrees.
