A Treat Everyone Can Enjoy

I recently made some dark chocolate covered fruit cups for guests. I don’t care for overly sweet things, so these were perfect. Usually, I either have some dark chocolate or mints and some sliced fruit. However, I thought I would change it up this time. I made chocolate covered fruit and mixed in nuts and/or dates to some of them. These were the perfect size for a small treat. I used a mini muffin pan and paper cupcake cups for quick clean up. The key to this recipe being low sugar is not adding any sweeteners. The taste of dark chocolate that’s at least 70% cacao is that the flavor can take some time getting used to.

Benefits

Benefits of eating dark chocolate include antioxidants – polyphenols and flavonoids. Dark chocolate also known to be heart healthy, a mood enhancer – endorphins and serotonin are released, great for your brain – the flavonoids increase blood to your brain. Adding fruit to the dark chocolate just adds to the nutritional value, adding more fiber. By the way, one square of 70% dark chocolate has approximately 1 gram of fiber per square. But don’t go overboard on this chocolate covered fruit cups. Have these as a treat. I really like the combination of blueberry and walnut. The pistachio and date were sweet and crunchy, and the freeze-dried strawberries add a natural fruity tang to the cups.

When choosing a dark chocolate bar look for it to be 70% or high in cacao to get all the benefits discussed above. If you are new to eating dark chocolate, I would try the 70% first, and work your way up.

You can also try covering tangerine slices, blackberries, raspberries, pitted fresh cherries, bananas with peanuts, dried prunes and hazelnuts, and dry cranberries and almonds for a variety.

This is a non-dairy treat so everyone can enjoy!

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Chocolate Covered Fruit

Yield: 10 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Author: Maria Dominick, NTP
I used a dark chocolate 70-78% to make these cups along with some coconut oil. Make sure your fruit is ripe for better flavor. These desserts are perfect for anyone trying to eat less sugar.
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Ingredients

  • 1 3 or 3.5 oz bar of dark chocolate of your choice
  • ¼ cup melted coconut oil
  • fruit of your choice. I used blueberries, strawberries, and dates
  • ¼ cup of pistachios and walnuts
  • 4 dates
  • ¼ cup freeze dried strawberries

Instructions 

  • break up the chocolate bar so it fits in a bowl and add 1/4 cup of coconut oil to bowl. Heat in microwave 30 seconds at a time, mixing between heating. Do this until it's a smooth consistency.
  • Put the cupcake papers in mini muffin pan and add a tbsp to each paper. This recipe makes a dozen of each flavor. Add 1 tbsp of melted chocolate mixed with coconut oil to each cup.
  • Roughly chop your walnuts, pistachios, and dates and set aside.
  • For the blueberries: add however many you like, I added 2 per cup. A pint of blueberries is more than enough and sprinkle walnuts on top. However much you like. I just drizzled a little bit on the top.
  • For the strawberries: Slice your strawberries lengthwise, so they almost look like hearts. For the freeze-dried strawberries, you can either process in a food processor or just crumble however much you want to the top of each
  • For the pistachio and date: add a few pieces of dates to each cup. I only added a few pieces to each because they are really sweet. Then top with chopped pistachios.
  • Freeze for 2 hours. Remove from freezer and put into a storage container and keep in the refrigerator.