Go Darker for Easy Chocolate Nut Butter

A friend of ours is a true artisan chocolatier for a popular food retailer I might have spent 15 years of my life writing for. Now we’re all in the middle of a pandemic, and I’ve been on an extended job search that includes frequent bouts of existential anxiety interspersed with bursts of creative energy to make it feel better. To that end, cooking has been helpful for many of us.

Inspired by some amazingly talented food bloggers, I have made a ton of new dishes (all of them keto-friendly). But some of my personal favorites were made up off the top of my head using simple, clean ingredients already on hand from a brand I really respect, Trader Joe’s. When I looked at the pecans, walnuts, great vanilla, and a really special dark chocolate languishing in my pantry, I saw buttery possibilities.

Back to Absolute Black

If you love TJ’s the way I do, you know they find some insanely good products you can’t live without, like Montezuma’s Absolute Black with Cocoa Nibs. As the name suggests, it is 100% cocoa solids (93% chocolate liquor and 7% cocoa nibs) produced by an award-winning, family-run chocolate company in West Sussex, UK. Check out their thoughts on World Chocolate Day (the day before yesterday at this writing!), and get a sense of this company’s dedication to the utter purity of this revered, feel-good super food.

Black Magic

The idea behind making my artisan-inspired treat was simple: use a few ingredients I had on hand (pantry cooking alert), and transform them into something special in my NutriBullet. So I chunked up one whole bar into pieces and threw in a handful each of pecans and walnuts, a drizzle of TJ’s Bourbon Vanilla, and about a teaspoon of granulated Lacanto Classic Monkfruit Sweetener to keep it keto.

Not Nutella

I’m not a big fan of Nutella, mainly because I don’t love hazelnuts or wimpy chocolate, but I do really like the idea of a spreadable darker than dark chocolate nut butter.

Since I was making this up on the fly, I kept proportions in mind for a balanced result more than measuring precisely. What I ended up with was a nicely spreadable texture.

However, as it was over 90 degrees out, I decided to chill the mixture which created cold, crumbly goodness. So rather than slathering it on anything, I decided to top some frozen berries with what I dubbed a Pecan-Walnut Dark Chocolate Crumble. Mmmmm …

Ultimately I chose the raspberries I had in my freezer (TJs of course!) as a classic tart counterpoint to this nutty deep chocolate combo. As I blissfully noshed — it seemed to me that any fruit would do. There’s a lonely leftover peach I need to use up that will serve as a crumble partner later.

If you’re feeling ambitious, this is something that would go equally well with on your favorite keto mug cake (here’s mine from Wholesome Yum). I luuuv mug cakes for their nearly instant gratification and lack of commitment to spending an hour making a normal-size cake.

These dark days getting a quick hit of pleasure from anything, especially something sweet, lights up my brain and brings a little light to my day. I hope this fast-fix, hot-weather dessert idea sparks some light for you, too!