Chocolate Coconut Truffles - Mound Bars
Just a few Saturday’s ago at the Mystic Water Kava Bar, we held our monthly Yoga*Kirtan*Sound Healing Fusion, an acoustic evening of Song, Community, and Relaxation. It is always such a delight to connect with members of our diverse community, meet a few new friends, and undoubtedly, bridge many gaps through coming home to the Heart and singing together. There is an old Zimbabwean proverb that goes like this:
If you can talk you can sing. If you can walk you can dance.
That is the liberating space Ari Marsh and I aim to create at our events. An intimate gathering space to come as you are, unwind from your week (or your month) and connect to the magnificence within through music! This last event, I had just returned from a 3 day Yoga Festival 2 hours East of San Diego, in our own state’s pristine desert, Joshua Tree. Joshua Tree National Park is home of the annual Bhakti Fest, an amazing synergy of yoga, kirtan, workshops, and loving community. It’s most definitely a weekend I look forward to all year. A time away from daily stressors, to reconnect to my own yoga practice, reflect and gain clarity, and most importantly, spend time with a host of incredible people that I don’t see nearly enough. You float away from Bhakti Fest with a heart full of abundance, knowing what it feels like to be unconditionally surrounded by GOOD VIBRATIONS! I had the honor and pleasure of singing with Jason & Pia Rotman’s band, Krishna’s Kirtan, Sunday afternoon, which provided for an extra blissful boost for all! The sustainability of events like that is surely intended to rejuvenate our own wellspring, and to return with a renewed understanding of our desires, our dharma; to return with an inspiration to share with the people who may need that love the most- to be the bridge between what no longer serves and the future we desire to create. To me, that is true power. To me, that is grace. To walk powerfully in a material world you may want to run from- with committment, devotion, and dedication to a vision that something greater, something beautiful, something balanced, IS possible, through you! I brought back a lot of energy, Shakti, one may say, from the desert and was so excited to share my freshly filled wellspring with everyone. With that, I wanted to deliver to everyone’s palette’s, nothing less than the culinary embodiment of Divine Sweetness. So, what better choice, than Ayurvedically minded, organic ‘Mound Bars’? They are so simple to make,not to mention, your kitchen smells heavenly as well. My brother was tricked into thinking I was baking decadent brownies. And yes, you can lick the bowl. During this late summer, early fall heat we have been intermittently experiencing, the coconut serves to help cool any excess Pitta dosha. The sweetness provides the love and comfort, balancing for Vata, which may become more easily disturbed in our Vata season of Autumn. This recipe is adapted from the beautiful, creative, and sweetest of sweet Alaina Blevins’s blog. Be sure to check out her offerings, as she dips her toes in the satisfying sea of the Earth’s Bounty as well!
RECIPE:
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 tbs. ghee
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 tbsp maple syrup
handful of goji berries
handful of chia seeds
a few dashes of cardamom
a few dashes of cinnamon
a few dashes of nutmeg
1 tsp of vanilla
pinch of sea salt
Procedure:
Mix the shredded coconut, coconut oil (I melted mine first), maple syrup, chia seeds, goji berries, vanilla, and salt & spices in a bowl. Roll the mixture into small nougats and place in the freezer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate chips and ghee in a double boiler or just in a pan over very low heat. For a vegan version, use coconut oil with the chocolate chips to improve the consistency when you roll the nougats.
Then roll the nougats in the melted decadent ghee infused chocolate, and place them on waxed paper. Place in the freezer and lick the bowl until the chocolate hardens~ Taste, savor, and feel the embodied sweetness that YOU are! I walked back into the kitchen after our crafting session to find my dear friend Emiscah, dipping organic strawberries into the pan of leftover chocolate sauce. It immediately reminded me of when I was in 4th grade and had to put in my ‘order’ for my Secret Santa wish.
My friend, Lauren Calland, picked my name from the basket, and my mom soon got a call from her mom saying, “We picked Whitney’s name for the Secret Santa, and guess what she asked for?” “What?” my mom inquired. “Chocolate Covered Strawberries! I was curious if there is a special way she likes them made?” My mom replied in amusement, “She has never asked for these. I have no idea!” Nonetheless, the ‘adults’ found great entertainment in my request of choice. Perhaps it was that sense of anonymity that gave me the permission to ask for my wildest culinary desires, as a 4th grader, for the very special time that is Christmas. And if anything else embodies Divine Sweetness besides truffles, especially at Christmas time, I’d make a bet Chocolate Covered Strawberries wouldn’t mind taking that namesake. Once you try this recipe, let me know what you think…and of course, enjoy, explore, and discover your own culinary combinations along the way.
