Golden Milk Chocolate Crunch Cups

If you've never tried golden milk, you're missing out. It's a delicious, nourishing concoction that usually starts with some sort of non-dairy milk such as almond or coconut milk. Warming spices like cinnamon and ginger are whisked in and usually sweetened with a little honey or maple syrup and the golden ingredient: plenty of earthy turmeric, weilding a powerhouse of benefits including more restful sleep and reducing inflammation in the body.

So when I saw a golden milk chocolate bar with puffed quinoa at Trader Joe's I thought: that's genius. These chocolates are sort of like a golden milk version of a Nestlé Crunch Bar, only raw and full of healthy fats. The puffed quinoa adds a wonderful crunch to the creamy, almost fudgy consistency of the chocolate, thanks to the coconut milk. These little treats will definitely satisfy your sweet tooth but they're also full of nutrition, too.

makes about 15 chocolates

1 c raw cacao powder (preferably organic)
1/2 c coconut oil
1/2 c canned full-fat coconut milk (preferably organic)
1/2 c maple syrup
1/4 t Himalayan pink salt
3/4 t ground turmeric, plus more for dusting
1/2 t ground ginger
1 t ground cinnamon
few cracks black pepper
1/4 c puffed quinoa
flaky sea salt, for sprinkling on top

Prep
Refrigerate a can of full-fat coconut milk overnight so that the cream separates from the liquid in the can. Line a mini muffin tray with liners, or if you're like me and you actually don't have a mini muffin pan (how can that be??), you can just lay out mini liners on a sheet tray.

Make the Chocolates
Take the can of coconut milk out of the fridge and flip it upside down then open the can and discard the liquid. Scoop out the cream. Gently warm the coconut cream and oil together over low heat until liquid. Remove from heat and pour into a medium bowl. Whisk in the cacao powder, maple syrup, salt, and all the spices. The consistency should be about the same as hot fudge. (Actually, this stuff would probably make great hot fudge!). Pour about a teaspoon in the bottom of the mini muffin liners. Sprinkle about half a teaspoon of puffed quinoa in each muffin liner then cover with more chocolate, almost to the top of the liners. Refrigerate for at least two hours, until firm. Sprinkle each with a little dusting of turmeric if you'd like and a few flakes of sea salt. Store in refrigerator.