Chocolate Mint Clusters

Chocolate and mint is one of my all time favourite flavour combos, especially when it’s created in such a way that the minty part is a little crumby and crunchy. It reminds me of treats I had when I was a kiddo, and you know how much I love that! 🙂 These are crispy, minty, crunchy, chocolatey bites of heaven. You can make them tiny and bite sized or a little bigger for a two bite situation–either way, they’re scrumptious.

Chocolate Mint Clusters

Stage 1
200g ( 2 ¼ cups ) desiccated/shredded coconut
50g ( ¼ cup ) chocolate powder
½ tbsp lemon juice
5 drops mint Medicine Flower Extract or essential oil
150g ( ¾ cup ) coconut sugar
1 tsp tamari
½ tsp vanilla extract or 3 drops vanilla Medicine Flower Extract

Method

• Soak the coconut, in enough filtered water to cover by 1 inch, for 20 minutes – 1 hour.

• Strain the coconut and save the water for a nice refreshing drink. 🙂

• Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well with your hands.

• Roughly drop or spread the mix onto a solid dehydrator tray.

• Dry the mix for 8 hours on 115f and then transfer it to a mesh tray to dry a further 8-15 hours or until dry and crisp, about another 8 hours.

• Once cool, break it up into bite sized pieces and, in small batches, pulse on low speed in the Vitamix or food processor. You want some nice little clusters and some “sandy” stuff too. Clusters give the nice texture and the sandy bits help bind it all together in the mix.

• Place to one side while you prepare for stage 2 below.

Stage 2

200g ( 1 ¾ cup ) chocolate mint coconut clusters
60g ( ¼ cup ) cashew butter or white almond butter
30g ( 2 tbsp ) cacao butter, melted
50g ( ¼ cup ) powdered xylitol
3 drops mint essential oil or Medicine Flower Extract

200g ( 7 oz ) chocolate of your choice, preferably stone ground
Fresh mint leaves – for garnish

Method

• Whisk together the cashew butter, melted cacao butter, xylitol and peppermint essential oil in a bowl until very smooth.

• Add the chocolate mint clusters and mix to combine.

• Line a baking tin with greaseproof paper, roll a small ball of the mixture in your hands and place on the lined tray.

• Repeat until all mixture is rolled.

• Place in the fridge to set whilst you melted and temper the chocolate.

• Don’t know how to temper? No worries, click here and learn how to temper like a boss on my free raw chocolate mini course.

• Once your chocolate is in temper, dip each cluster and garnish with a fresh mint leaf.

• Alternatively, mix a handful of the small crumbs from the chocolate mint cluster through the dipping chocolate and then enrobe them. This will achieve a more “rocky” finish as opposed to a smooth finish.