Cacao paste, stone milled from the cacao nibs, comprising approximately 55% cacao powder and 45% cacao butter. The ingredient we use to create a heart opening, toe tingling cup of ceremonial cacao. You may have read my other article on How to Make Ceremonial Cacao Drink at Home, this is how most people initially intend on using the ingredient when we first purchase. However, Cacao Paste is a nutritious and tasty superfood ingredient that can be quite versatile in the kitchen. Why not use it in other dishes and drinks as much as you can!?
Here are my favourite ways to use cacao paste at home..
Porridge
Porridge is a fantastic healthy and filling breakfast, especially in the winter months, and it’s even better with the addition of cacao paste or powder, but I think the paste works better, or a mix of both. The fat (butter) content of the paste works really well with a creamy bowl of hot porridge. I like to make my porridge as usual, after soaking the oats overnight in coconut milk. I then add the flavours to the individual bowls. I like to add peanut butter, honey, a generous helping of grated cacao paste and blueberries and raspberries. I often use frozen berries which I defrost in the fridge overnight. Maybe top off with a scattering of toasted nuts and seeds.
Overnight Oats
Very similar to the porridge recipe except you combine everything the night before in a beaker like container (such as a blender beaker) and eat in the morning without cooking. I often prefer to eat porridge this way. This is how I usually make mine.. I add around 6 tablespoons of oats to the container, a tablespoon of cacao powder, 1 tablespoon of maca powder. Chia seeds are a good addition at his stage, but you will need to add more liquid as they will soak a lot up. I then add coconut milk to cover the mixture by about 1-2cms, a dollop of honey and a capful of vanilla essence. I then add 2-3 tablespoons of yogurt, grate a decent size chunk of cacao paste over the yogurt and then add frozen berries of your choice. Again, my preference are blueberries and raspberries. Put the lid on the beaker container or cover with a beeswax wrap or foil, pop in fridge overnight and enjoy when your belly starts rumbling in the morning.
Superfood Smoothies
I really enjoy a Superfood Smoothie for breakfast in the summer, there are so many recipes out there so have a good look around and play around with what works best for you. But here's my go too.. Add a couple handfuls of spinach to a blender beaker, a few chunks of Cacao paste, tablespoon of maca powder, tablespoon of Ginseng powder, tablespoon of Chia seeds, handful of goji berries, some peanut butter, capful of vanilla essence, blob of honey and a few handfuls of frozen or fresh berries. Add cold water to cover, give it a good whiz in the blender and Barbara’s your auntie!
I find the best thing with smoothies is to have a play around and experiment with the ingredients to see what you like the best!
Yogurt Snack
This makes for a lovely little healthy snack whenever you feel a little peckish. To a bowl, add a few tablespoons of yogurt, a few dollops of peanut butter, honey or agave to taste, cap of vanilla essence, and grate in a decent size chunk of cacao paste. Stir everything together, I like to loosely combine so there's still chunky bits of peanut butter or you can mix to a smooth paste texture. Again have a little play with the best amounts of ingredients to suit your taste buds and texture preferences. This tastes a little like a snickers bar 😃
Grate over ice cream and other desserts
I have mentioned grating the cacao paste into recipes a few times and I highly recommend the Microplane graters as they make it such an easy task. Excellent for grating cacao paste and many other ingredients.
I often grate cacao paste into a bowl of ice cream, I may also add some crumbled biscuits, honey, peanut butter etc. This is an excellent way to spruce up a simple bowl of ice cream. It's also worth grating over shop bought desserts to add a little extra chocolate taste to them. Our Cacao Powder can be substituted for normal cocoa powder in any recipe. I’m sure you will notice and love the difference it makes! Any recipe that calls for a dusting of cocoa powder can also be complemented with the addition of grated cacao paste.
I hope you like my suggestions for using cacao paste in the kitchen on a more everyday basis. I would love to hear your suggestions too! Please leave comments below on your favourite ways to use cacao paste…