This will probably be my last ‘baking’ blog for a while as I’m now in Indonesia for 2 months working on my primate conservation project (to find out what I’m doing check out www.nancypriston.com). There may be some food posts but I definitely won’t be cake making! 🙂 I meant to post his before I left but ran out of time, so here goes!

I’ve been having a play with buckwheat lately! I haven’t had much success cooking it so was looking for other ways to use it. My friend Colette gave me a recipe for making buckwheat crunchies so I thought I’d use them in a chocolate-based snack recipe! I’m pleasantly surprised with the results! I’m still not too sure about the buckwheat but so far it’s the best I’ve come up with!

It’s fairly straightforward but first off you need to make your buckwheat crunchies. Purchase some raw buckwheat groats (grains/kernels/whatever they’re called!) from the local health food store. You need to soak these over night – use 3 times as much water as buckwheat. Rinse really well in the morning and drain. Then spread them out on greaseproof paper and either pop them in your dehydrator if you have one, or in the oven on low heat. They will need a couple of hours. When they’re done they will be crispy and crunchy.

You can eat these as they are (in fact I quite like them sprinkled on fruit and soya yoghurt for brekkie to give some crunch) but you can also use them to create these yummy chocolate treats!

I made two versions:

Chocolate topped crispie

1/2 cup Coconut butter (you need the proper butter, not the oil – you can get it here. Nb other brands call themselves butter but are actually the oil – you need one that uses the coconut flesh)

1/2 cup raw Cacao powder

2 cups Buckwheat crunchies

1/4 cup Cacao nibs

1/8 cup Chia seeds

squirt of Sweet freedom (adjust to taste)

For the topping:

equal quantities of cacao powder and coconut butter (to make enough to cover the crispies to whatever depth you want!)

squirt of sweet freedom (adjust to taste)

Gently melt the coconut butter in the microwave or in a pan until it is runny. Mix all the ingredients in together and stir well. Line a tin or tupperware box with greaseproof paper and push the mixture in to it to the desired thickness. Then in another bowl melt the coconut butter for the topping and mix with the cocoa powder and sweet freedom. Pour on to the top. Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Almond Cherry Chocolate Crunchies

1 cup Buckwheat crunchies
1 cup raw Cacao powder
1 cup soaked Almonds (soak in water for as long as you gave time for – ideally overnight)
1/2 – 1 cup Coconut butter (not oil)
1/4 Sweet freedom (or less – to taste)
2 tbsp Pure protein powder (vanilla)
1/2 cup dried Cherries/cranberries/goji berries

Once you have the buckwheat crunches and soaked almonds ready it only takes a few minutes to make these. First blitz the almonds in a food processor – just a few pulses to chop them up a bit and place to one side. Then gently melt the coconut butter and add the cacao powder and sweet freedom. Mix to a paste and stir in the protein powder, buckwheat and almonds, finally gently stir in whatever fruit you are using. Line a tin or tupperware box with greaseproof paper and push the mixture in to it to the desired thickness. If you find the mixture isn’t holding together melt a little more coconut butter and pour over the top. Chill for 30 mins then slice and enjoy!

🙂