By Emma Hatcher.
Come January every year, I try to be a bit kinder to my body and gut. Resetting from the whirlwind of Christmas, I endeavour to pack my diet with plenty of fruit and veg - especially with recent research suggesting we should be eating and drinking at least 30 different plant foods each week. But, although yoga (might) start creeping back into my evenings and a smoothie or two appear at the breakfast table, I’m still very much going to be enjoying my favourite foods; one of which is chocolate. These salted grapefruit rounds are rich, bright and packed with gut-boosting nuts and seeds. Store them in an airtight container in the fridge, where they will keep for up to two weeks (though I’d be very surprised if they were to last that long!)
If you don’t have any cupcake cases you could also pour the chocolate straight into a lined square baking tray. Top with nuts and seeds, allow it to cool and then break it with the back of a rolling pin into chocolate ‘bark’.
Makes roughly 12
Ingredients
350g dark chocolate
60g mixed almonds and hazelnuts
35g pumpkin seeds
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
Zest of 1 large grapefruit
1 teaspoon flaky sea salt
Method
1. Preheat your oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 5 and line up 12 fairy cake cases on a tray.
2. Break the chocolate into pieces and put into a heatproof bowl nestled over a saucepan filled with an inch or two of boiling water. Make sure the water isn’t touching the bottom of the bowl and leave the chocolate to melt, giving it a stir every now and then.
3. Roughly chop the nuts and pop onto a tray with the pumpkin and sesame seeds. Toast in the oven for a couple of minutes then remove from the oven and tip into a bowl.
4. When the chocolate is melted, remove from the heat and add the coconut oil, vanilla, grapefruit zest and salt. Stir gently until combined then pour into the cases. Scatter over the toasted nuts and seeds and press down gently to make sure they stick.
5. Leave in a cool place or the fridge to set, then turn the chocolates out of the moulds.
