Recipe by Karli McCarthy
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 4
*Rise Bar not factored in
Ingredients
Chocolate Pudding:
- Cacao Powder ½ c
- Coconut Cream 1 ½ c
- Maple Syrup 4 tbsp.
- Vanilla Extract 2 tsp
- Sea Salt ½ tsp
Coconut Mint Cream:
- Coconut Cream 1 ½ c
- Honey 2 tbsp.
- Peppermint Extract 1 tbsp.
- Strawberries 1c
Preparation
Chocolate Pudding:
- In a small saucepan over low heat, whisk together the coconut cream, cacao powder, and maple syrup until smooth.
- Continue to stir for 2 minutes on low heat, until the mixture begins to come to a boil.
- Remove from heat and stir in salt and vanilla; for a sweeter pudding you can add more maple syrup.
- Pour the mixture into individual containers (recipe makes about 4 servings).
- Put in the fridge to set. For thick and creamy pudding, keep in the fridge overnight.
- Enjoy!
Coconut Mint Cream:
- Discard any excess water from the cans of coconut cream and place in a small saucepan over medium heat for 2 minutes.
- Add in the sliced strawberries.
- Turn heat to low and whisk together strawberries and coconut cream for about 5 minutes.
- Add in the honey and cook for 1 minute.
- Remove from heat and stir in peppermint extract.
- Pour some of the cream on top of the pudding and let the jars sit in the fridge.
- After a couple of hours in the fridge (overnight for thicker pudding), take the jars out of the fridge, top with extra fruit, cacao powder, and enjoy!
Dietary Ingredient: Cacao
The use of cacao goes back to 1,400 B.C.E., where researchers found residues on pottery bowls in Honduras. The cacao plant is an evergreen tree that grows in South America and West Africa. When cacao beans are released from their pods, they can be made into cacao butter or cacao powder as used in this recipe. The white, fatty part of the cacao fruit is used to make cacao butter, while the rest of the fruit is used to make cacao powder. In addition to these edible forms of cacao, cacao can also be eaten in the form of cacao nibs which are just small pieces of cacao beans. Cacao can be used in many different foods and can be incorporated into anyone’s diet plan. It can be used in baked goods for a thick and creamy chocolate texture or raw cacao nibs can be added to smoothies or oatmeal. Cacao has a slightly bitter taste which makes it a great complement to dried fruits and nuts to use for a healthy trail-mix. In addition, cacao powder is a perfect option to mix into chia seed pudding to create a rich chocolatey flavor. If you feel like indulging in a chocolate shake over this holiday season, try adding a scoop of cacao powder to frozen bananas and almond milk to create a dairy-free, gluten-free, and guilt free treat for yourself.
Cacao has a profound number of benefits that can improve one’s overall health. Using cacao powder is one of the easiest ways to incorporate cacao into your diet. As seen in this recipe, a scoop can simply be added to a pudding for a chocolatey flavor without the added sugar. One typical serving of raw cacao powder (2.5 tbsp.) has 60 calories with 22.5% of those calories coming from fat. The total fat content is only 1.5 g. There are 0 mg sodium, 291 mg potassium, 8 g carbohydrate, 5 g of fiber, and 4 g of protein. Cacao powder is especially high in four nutrients: magnesium, iron, flavonoids, and phenylethylamine. First, magnesium is an important micronutrient needed to support healthy brain functions and maintain muscle strength, however many people lack magnesium in their diet. Some additional foods high in magnesium include almonds, spinach, avocados, and legumes. Second, for anyone who is anemic or has a difficult time incorporating iron into their diet, 1 tbsp. of cacao powder contains 0.7 mg of iron which can be a beneficial amount to aid in the transport of oxygen in your body and essentially give you more energy. Next, with the high amount of flavonoids, a group of plant metabolites, cacao is thought to provide health benefits through cell signaling pathways and antioxidant effects. Raw cacao has been shown to potentially lower blood pressure and improve heart health. Lastly, phenethylamine (PEA) is a hormone-like substance that occurs naturally in your body and acts as a central nervous system stimulant in humans. It is thought to improve your mood and your focus. While this dessert may seem high in carbohydrates and fats, remember that there are some key nutrients you can still add to your holiday desserts to make eating them worth your while. Also, don’t forget about the option of adding Rise Bars to your recipes that will increase the protein, fiber, and overall nutrient content.
Nutritional Analysis
With Christmas around the corner, it is almost time for warm cups of hot chocolate with mini candy canes, trays of peppermint bark, and nights of sugar cookie decorating. This chocolate pudding with a coconut mint cream mirrors the flavors of Christmas in just one small jar of delight. These pudding jars are perfect for holiday gift baskets or for small dessert bites at holiday parties. Each serving of pudding and coconut mint cream contains 500 calories, and with a mini rise bar added on top of each jar, it brings the total calorie count of each pudding jar to 630 calories. With the Mint Chocolate Chip Mini Rise Bar, you will get a crisp mint chip flavor with an additional 7 g of protein. This dessert will provide you with a similar chocolatey flavor you may get in a plain piece of chocolate or chocolate shake, but has additional health benefits with less sugar.
This chocolate pudding recipe has some key nutrients for our bodies. The cacao powder provides a majority of the calcium with 25 mg, while the coconut cream provides about 2 mg. Coconut cream differs from coconut milk in that it has less water and more coconut, therefore providing a thick texture and an additional coconut flavor. However, while it is free of dairy, coconut cream does contain a higher saturated fat content than coconut milk. In this recipe there is 18g of saturated fat that totals to 90% of the daily value. It is important to consume mostly unsaturated fats as a diet rich in saturated fats can drive up total cholesterol levels; therefore, it is recommended to limit saturated fats to less than 10% of calories per day. The pudding contains maple syrup and honey as sweeteners that contribute to the total carbohydrate percentage. There are 78 g total sugars per serving, with 13 g coming from added sugars. However, these sugars are coming from natural sweeteners as opposed to anything artificial. Honey and maple syrup are similar in calorie content and carbohydrates. A standard tablespoon of maple syrup contains 52 calories and 12 g of sugar, while a standard tablespoon of honey contains about 60 calories and 16 g of sugar. Honey has a slightly higher vitamin content and has been associated with preventing cancer and regulating blood pressure. As one of the main ingredients in the whey protein Rise Bars, honey adds a subtle sweet flavor. Maple syrup is a great sweetener choice for vegans as it contains no animal products; it is made by concentrating the sap of a sugar maple tree through a simple process of heating and evaporation.
Similar to cacao powder, Rise Bars are a great source of potassium. This sweet dessert jar has 224 mg of potassium which is equivalent to the amount of potassium in half of a medium banana and 1 cup of tomatoes. Potassium is a mineral that is considered an electrolyte because of its high reactivity in water. This allows it to conduct electricity which is important for fluid balance, nerve signals, and muscle contractions. Therefore, eating a potassium-rich diet, and keeping yourself hydrated can support good fluid balance and your overall health. If you are thinking about going out for some long endurance runs to burn those extra calories off for the holidays, remember to get an adequate amount of potassium as it is also essential to the process of breaking down glycogen in muscle cells, which helps give fuel to these cells as activity is prolonged. Strawberries were used in this recipe to increase the vitamin c, manganese, and antioxidant levels, while also adding a nice berry burst to your spoonful of pudding. While this dessert may not appear to be the healthiest from a first glance at a nutrition label, when you break down the ingredients, this whole recipe is made with nothing artificial - just like every single Rise Bar. If you are a lover of chocolate or coconut, this recipe is for sure one to give a try!
