The best edible gift idea, a super smooth healthy chocolate spread made with only two ingredients. Surprise your loved ones with a deliciously sweet gift.
I love gifting gift cards or plain money for Christmas to people that are super important in my life but that I don’t know too well personally. I found that this makes them the happiest and that makes me happy. My kids’ teachers for example are some of the most important people in our lives and they deserve a little something for Christmas and preferably something that does not end up in the landfills. Gifting just a gift card or money can be somewhat awkward though.
The best way to add a little something is to make an edible gift and attach the gift card or money to the edible gift because after eating it it’s….well…gone! Ha! No mug number 10344867 in the teacher’s cupboard, or candle number 3947492 in the post man’s garage.
Make someone special to you happy this Christmas, with this chocolate spread made with love.
Ingredients
- Cashews – any nut works of course but the advantage of cashews is that they are already skinless by nature and don’t have to be peeled. Hazelnuts, almonds, and other nuts have a bitter skin so I recommend you try and peel as much of as possible after roasting.
- Dark Chocolate – the healthiest chocolate is dark chocolate because it has less sugar than its other family members. If the spread isn’t sweet enough for you you can always sweeten it later with a little maple syrup.
How to Make Homemade Chocolate Spread
- Roast Cashews – Add cashews to a large baking sheet in one layer and roast them at 350F for 12-15 minutes. Keep a close eye on the nuts so they don’t burn. You want them to be a nice golden color with just a few brown spots here and there. I do not recommend leaving this step out as the roasting releases some of the cashews’ oil and makes them easier to blend smooth this way. Once you roasted them let them cool down on the baking sheet while stirring. You do NOT want to add burning hot nuts to your food processor or blender because the hot oils will melt your machine’s jar if it’s made of plastic or you risk it shattering if it’s made of glass.
- Melt Chocolate – Melt your chocolate either in a water bath or in the microwave. To melt it in a water bath, get a cup of water to the boil in a small sauce pan and once almost boiling, place a glass or stainless steel bowl on top of the sauce pan. You do not want the water to touch the bowl. The steam alone is enough to melt the chocolate. Turn the heat to low and add the chocolate broken up in pieces into the bowl and stir constantly until the chocolate melted. Then immediately remove from the heat and keep stirring for a few minutes.
- Blend – Add the cooled down roasted cashews and melted chocolate to either your food processor or high-speed blender with a tamper and blend until completely smooth. The food processor will take about 10-15 minutes until the spread is smooth. The high-speed blender will need less than 2 minutes. It’s important to take breakes and scrape down the sides when using the food processor. It’s important to use the tamper and press down hard when using the blender.
- Store – Store the chocolate spread in a sealable container. It lasts on the counter for up to 3 days or in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Frequently Asked Questions
3 days on the kitchen counter and up to 2 weeks in the fridge.
Unfortunately, you can only make this spread in either a food processor or a high-speed blender that has a tamper.
It depends on what kind of chocolate you use. By using 85% dark chocolate you only add 18g of sugar to the whole batch.
2-Ingredient Chocolate Spread
Ingredients
- 4 cups raw cashews
- 3 85% dark chocolate bars
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Add cashews to a large baking sheet in one layer and then roast for 12-15 minutes or until slightly golden.
- In the meantime, melt dark chocolate either in a water bath while constantly stirring or in the microwave in 10 second intervals stirring in between.
- Add cooled down (!) roasted cashews and melted chocolate to a high speed blender with tamper or to a food processor and process until smooth.
Notes
Nutrition
This post was sponsored by Vitamix. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Green Healthy Cooking!
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Melanie Lebeau says
This is so yummy! And very satisfying when craving chocolate. I did had à bit of honey though, as it is bitter when you are used to eating sweeter. Thank you! 😀
Joyce says
I do not have a Vitamix…can I use a Ninja?
Lorena says
I would assume it works in a Ninja, too. Maybe just in case, take breaks in between processing so the motor can cool down. Never risk burning your blender’s motor.
Bette says
I am sooooo going to make this! Likes fabulous. Quick question. Are the cashews first soaked for an hour or so?
Lorena says
I don’t but you could certainly do this to make it a bit easier on your blender.
Sue says
Can I substitute dates or apple sauce for coconut sugar?
Lorena says
Hi Sue, I think dates will work great. Apple Sauce would make it last a lot less time because it would rot faster.
Amber Hawkins says
Did this recipe change? I swear I made this last week and it used coconut oil and sugar and now it’s 2 ingredients that done even match the video….
Lorena Grater says
Yes! I am so sorry, I should have left a note that I changed the recipe. The old one needed coconut oil because the cashews aren’t roasted and I added coconut sugar before. It was good but couldn’t become as smooth and was overall more complicated and after testing around a lot more I find this new version much better so I changed it. Let me know if you preferred the old recipe and want it for your files. I kept it on file.
Jessica says
Yes please! I would love a copy of the old recipe!!
Lorena Grater says
2 cups raw cashews
1 Tbsp dutch-processed or raw cacao
1 cup coconut sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened chocolate, melted
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
Sandra says
Do you have the nutritional facts for this recipe? Thank you.
Lorena says
Hi Sandra, no I’m sorry. I’m not a registered dietician or nutritionist and don’t feel comfortable using an online calculator. You can google “nutrition calculator” and enter the ingredients to get an estimate but I don’t know how accurate they are.
Maureen says
Are the cashews salted or unsalted?
Lorena says
I used raw unsalted cashews but I can imagine salted cashews to taste great in this recipe, too.
Gaby says
How long does it keep?
Lorena says
I kept in for 10 days on the kitchen counter and on day 10 it smelled and tasted the same as day 1. I can’t tell like food-safety-police kind but friend to friend…. 10 days on the kitchen counter shoudn’t be a porblem and in the fridge probably more like 3-4 weeks.
Kathrin says
I have everything but Coconut sugar. Can I use normal organic sugar? If yes, should I make it finer? Or wait until I buy the coconut sugar? How about maple sugar (for those Canadians)
Lorena says
No need to make it fine. Coconut sugar is quite coarse actually. You can easily replace with maple sugar, turbinado sugar, dry brown sugar, even granulated refined white sugar. Just make sure it’s not powdered sugar or wet brown sugar because the blender might not be able to work through the heavy dense consistency and you’ll never achieve a smooth spread.
Stephanie@ApplesforCJ says
This looks sooo good and you’re Right perfect gift for the holidays. And agreed the Holidays are definitely all about being in the moment. Have a great week :)
Lorena says
Thank you Stephanie. What a lovely comment :)
Christa says
Looks great! Does it need to be refrigerated?
Lorena says
Thank you Christa, no, it doesn’t have to be refrigerated. At least not right away. I would say you’re fine leaving it on the kitchen counter for a week. If you think the jar will last longer put it in the fridge and take out about an hour before consuming so it softens up. It becomes hard in the fridge due to chocolate and coconut oil.
brita says
OMG this looks SO yummy. I’m going to try it this weekend. And, as always, your photography and video are beautiful!
Lorena says
Thank you Brita!! This means so much to me! ?