Homemade Sugar & Dairy Free Chocolate

As Autumn arrives our minds and taste buds turn to the crisp air, the smell of apples being made into sauce and pies, and of course dangerous comfort foods like chocolate.
Now some of you may not be a seasonal chocolate fan and others maybe chocolate purists. I'm hoping to help those who'd like to stay healthy and still not give up on their chocolate desserts or snacks as the case maybe...

 I like chocolate, but prefer dark to all else. This recipe is out of a book called 'Trim and Healthy Mama'. They use a lot of stevia and truvia sweetener in their recipes. I have found that the truvia is best to use in this kind of recipe. It's also more forgiving in that it's about 1/2 tsp. to 1-1/2 tsp. of sugar. It doesn't have a bad flavor or after taste like most alternative sweeteners do. You have to watch how much you use or you will have a problem. If you've used stevia before and didn't like it I'd suggest trying out Nu-natural's stevia. It does have bad after taste if you use too much in a drink or recipe and is a bit difficult to work with at first. I use truvia all the time which is from the stevia plant and is better then xylitol which seems to give some people bad digestive problems.

~ Homemade Sugar & Dairy free Chocolate ~

1/4 c. Cocoa Powder (don't use dutch processed)
1/2 c. Coconut Oil
3-4 Tsp. Truvia (to taste)

1 ~ Melt Coconut Oil in small sauce pan on medium heat
2 ~ Whisk in Cocoa Powder
3 ~ Grind truvia in coffee grinder until powder then add to Cocoa mixture and remove from heat.
4 ~ Let cool for a few minuets.
5 ~ Use a jelly pan or cake pan cover with wax paper.
6 ~ Pour chocolate into pan and place in the freezer.
7 ~ Once hardened break up and put into a zip lock.

A Espresso variation - Grind up some coffee beans until powder and add to coconut oil in the saucepan. It takes about 1 to 1-1/2 Tablespoons.

Enjoy!!!