Dark Chocolate Peppermint Cups

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Next week I am hosting Thanksgiving for my side of the family. It’s our first time hosting and I’m spending this time leading up to Thursday grocery shopping, organizing the dishes and cleaning up the apartment. It’s not going to be too extensive because there will only be 6 of us, but I am looking forward to it. And guess what… the meal will be totally grain and refined sugar free. And it’s going to be delicious! The whole meal is coming from my Thanksgiving ebook (learn more about it here).

For some reason when I think of the holiday season of Thanksgiving and Christmas I think of peppermint. And then my mind wanders from peppermint to chocolate. Peppermint and chocolate combined. A match made in flavor heaven (in my opinion). How about you?

These dark chocolate cups have a base of unsweetened chocolate and coconut butter. That base is mixed with the peppermint vitality essential oil. I am loving coconut butter and it’s so easy to make yourself (Find the recipe here).

When you are choosing an essential oil for baking, use one that is therapeutic and is safe to ingest internally.

Ingredients

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate

1 cup coconut butter (recipe here) 

1 Tablespoon Stevita stevia

1 can (~2 cups) coconut milk

1 Tablespoon grass-fed gelatin (I use this brand)

2 teaspoons raw honey (optional)

10-15 drops peppermint essential oil

Directions

•  Melt the unsweetened chocolate, coconut butter and stevia over medium heat in a sauce pan and stir with a spatula. Once everything is melted, turn the heat to low
• Add the coconut milk and stir to combine
• Add the Tablespoon of gelatin to a small dish and add 3 Tablespoons of cold water in the bowl. The gelatin will get thick. Once that happens add to the chocolate sauce and stir to break up the gelatin pieces
• Add the honey, if using
• Put the peppermint essential oil in the chocolate and mix with a spatula
• Transfer the chocolate sauce to a 4 cup glass measuring cup with a spout to make pouring into the cups easier
• On a cookie sheet lay out mini-muffin cups and fill 1/2-3/4 full with the chocolate (you can also use a mini-muffin tin)
• Put in the freezer to set up. Serve cold and store in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer

Are you a peppermint chocolate kind of person? Or do you just like your chocolate to taste like chocolate? Because, let me tell you, you can make this recipe without the peppermint essential oil!