Chocolate Covered Strawberries and Chocolate Clusters

I have a brand new work space that I am very excited about. It is very organized, which I love, and I have plenty of space to spread out. My area is made of mostly up-cycled materials; the tabletop is even made of green recycled glass (green in color and green as in good for the planet). I took some crafting time out of my busy schedule and made a new memo board out of an old picture frame that was collecting dust in the garage. I love creating new products from worn out materials. I am pretty good at envisioning new life and purpose from typical materials – kind of like the recipes I come up with using just fruits, veggies, seeds, and nuts.

My office chair is one of those big gym balls used for exercise and stability. I’m not sure if there is any scientific research proving it is better than a chair, but I like it. This giant purple bouncy ball is quite comfortable, and I prefer it to sitting in a standard desk chair for hours at a time. The ball keeps me more alert and attentive, plus, I get to bounce on it when a good song comes on.

I have two recipes to share with you today. (Maybe because of all the organized, bouncy productivity this week.) The first is Raw Chocolate Covered Strawberries.  I came up with the second recipe when I realized how much extra chocolate I had left over after dipping berries. Amusingly, I think the Chocolate Clusters came out better than the planned recipe, but the Chocolate Covered Strawberries are good too!

Raw Chocolate Covered Strawberries
makes about 1 dozen

12 fresh strawberries (or more if you aren’t making Chocolate Clusters)
½ cup cold-pressed coconut oil, melted
3-4 Tbsp raw cacao powder
pinch vanilla powder
(optional, ½ tsp sweetener such as coconut sugar, but I think strawberries are sweet enough on their own)

• In a small bowl, add cacao and vanilla powder (and sweetener if using) to coconut oil. Stir until smooth.
• Dip strawberries into chocolate and place on a wax or parchment paper covered tray.
• Place in refrigerator to harden for 15-20 minutes.
• After hardened, remove berries and re-dip in chocolate to ensure a thick coating.
• Optional: Sprinkle with toppings such as shredded coconut or chopped nuts while chocolate is still wet.
• Return to fridge to harden or until ready to serve. 

Chocolate Clusters
makes 8-10

Remaining chocolate mixture from above (or make another batch of cacao+ vanilla + coconut oil)
½ – ¾ cups in total of: nuts, seeds, and dried fruits – chopped

• Stir in ½ cup of any combination of chopped nuts, seeds, and dried fruits into chocolate mixture (such as almonds, cashews, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, dried apricots, raisins, goji berries, etc.). 
• Add more nuts, seeds, and fruit as necessary so that there isn’t too much melted chocolate at the bottom of the bowl.
• Scoop mixture out by the teaspoonful into mini muffin liners.
• Place in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or until ready to serve.