What’s Easter without bunnies? And without chocolate? Impossible. But when you’re trying to avoid eating lots of refined sugar, an Easter basket filled with sugary chocolate candy poses a dilemma. I used to make Easter bunnies using melted chocolate chips, but a chocolate recipe in Chocolate Every Day by Bennett Coffey and Kyleen Keenan provided the key to creating melt-in-your-mouth chocolate Easter bunnies without refined sugar.
This is a versatile recipe you can use to make all sorts of chocolates. It requires cacao butter and cacao powder plus maple syrup and coconut oil to produce a delicious dark chocolate that’s smooth and satisfying, if not overly sweet. Raw cacao butter can be difficult to find. I buy it online or at my organic supermarket. Maple syrup is not a low-glycemic sweetener, but it’s healthier than refined white sugar. These chocolates melt easily, so you have to store them in the fridge.
I make these seasonal chocolates in plastic Easter molds I bought online years ago. Silicone molds are nice too because they create a shiny finish on the chocolates. But my plastic molds work fine to produce chocolate Easter bunnies, eggs and ducks.
Dairy-Free Dark Chocolate Easter Bunnies
Silky smooth dark chocolate Easter bunnies are simple to make and contain no refined sugar.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1/4 cup raw cocao butter, chopped
- 3/4 cup cocao powder
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- Pinch sea salt
Instructions
Put bunny shaped (or any shape you like) candy molds on a baking sheet. Set aside.
In a small saucepan over low heat or in a double boiler, melt the coconut oil and cacao butter.
Whisk in the cacao powder, maple syrup, vanilla and salt.
Fill the molds with the chocolate mixture.
Put the baking sheet into the freezer for 15 minutes.
Remove the baking sheet from the freezer and gently remove the chocolates from the molds.
Store, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or in the freezer indefinitely.
Melt cacao butter and coconut oil over low heat in the top of a double boiler.
Whisk the cocoa powder into the melted cacao butter and coconut oil mixture. Stir in maple syrup and vanilla.
Pour the chocolate into plastic or silicone molds.
Put the molds into the freezer for 15 minutes. Pull them out, and un-mold the chocolates. Store in the fridge or freezer because this chocolate melts easily.
If you don’t have Easter bunny or egg shaped molds, use any molds you can find. I made these chocolates in silicone candy molds.
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