Superduper Chocolate Fudge!

After sampling some delicious Goji Berry and Pumpkin Seed Pie made by https://www.rawchocpie.co.uk/ recently; something which is not stocked locally, and yet is so yummy, I decided to have a crack at making my own version, so here it goes …

First up, a bit of pre-prep if you can:

Make some date paste by filling a small jar ¾ full of chopped dates (I use ready chopped and rice flour coated, as opposed to ones that have oils and preservatives added).
Add enough water to cover and soak for several hours or overnight. Give them a brisk stir later on and you have yourself a jar of date paste. Alternatively, whizz up in the Thermie or use http://clevercook.net.au/’s tip: throw into the TM bowl, a few handfuls of dates and a splash of water, then cook on 100 degrees for 5 mins, speed 2, MC off.
Pop into the fridge until you’re ready to use some in this recipe (90g) and save the rest to use instead of sugar in recipes, eg I use the odd teaspoon in some soups, chilli, tomato sauce, or where it’s going to dissolve quicker than just ground dates. Besides, soaking dried fruit makes it more easily digestible!

However, if you can’t be bothered or forget, you can use ground up dates instead, so we’ll start with this step:

Mill on speed 9 / 10 seconds and set aside:

90g ground dates – NB, if you’ve made date paste or even got some date sugar on hand, leave out this step and use either the paste or sugar in the last step

Add and grind 30 seconds / speed 9 and set aside:

50g cacao nibs

Add to bowl and pulse briefly about 4 times on turbo, then set aside in the same bowl as the dates:

10g goji berries
10g pumpkin seeds
2 tsp chia seeds

Next up, unless you have some coconut butter ready made, you need to make some – I personally think the end texture is better if the coconut butter is freshly made – it doesn’t take long!
Whizz up on speed 8 / 37deg / 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl once every minute:

200g dessicated coconut, organic if poss

Et voila … coconut butter!

Now add to the coconut butter and gently heat speed 1 / 37 deg / 7 minutes:

the 50g ground cacao powder

It should be quite smooth in texture …

Now add to the bowl and heat again on speed 3 / 37 deg / 2-3 minutes:

2 tsp lacuma powder
2 tsp carob powder
Splash of vanilla paste (I use Madagascan, but you could even make your own. See http://tickofyum.webs.com/apps/blog/show/21122824-vanilla-bean-paste)
90g dates or date paste
the goji berry, pumpkin seed, chia seed mixture from earlier

If the mixture has become a little ‘stodgy’, I add a splash of coconut or almond milk to loosen it up – not too much that it become sloppy! It should have a bit of an oily sheen to it.

Use the spatula to push the mixture into a 25 x 20 cm baking tin (or smaller), lined with greaseproof paper (or use chocolate moulds, if you wish), press in and smooth over (I use a jar), making square scores in the mixture, before popping into the freezer to set for about an hour.