CHOCOLATE JUMBLE CLUSTERS

CHOCOLATE JUMBLE CLUSTERS

Incredibly delicious!  I was obsessed with these and made several batches! These are like eating fancy chocolates you would buy at a chocolatier and even remind me of a no-bake cookie - a really good one! They are chewy with a slight crunch from the peanuts. They are also like energy bombs! For those who are grain-free at the moment, you can use unsweetened finely grated coconut instead of the minute oats.  If needed, add a tablespoon or two of cocoa or whey protein powder, as I think the oats are a bit more absorbent than the coconut and you don’t want the end result to be too oily (although it will be very much less so once set).  

The sweetener tables for all the most common scenarios are in my cookbooks for your convenience.  For example, ¾ cup sugar sweetness (not ¾ cup liquid) using my bottle of sucralose from the EZ-Sweetz brand (whether the smaller one of 0.5 oz or the bigger yellow bottle of 2 oz – Zero carbs) would be 18 or 36 drops respectively.  Here is an article and video about the sweeteners. Part 1  There is another article and video here: Part 2.

2 cups sugar-free chocolate chips (500 mL)

6 oz cocoa butter (180 g)

1 tbsp vanilla extract (15 mL)

¹/₂ cup vanilla whey protein (125 mL)

  (I used Gold Standard Whey Protein - from GNC or Wal-Mart)

1 cup minute oats, OR grated unsweetened coconut (250 mL)

1 cup lightly salted peanuts (250 mL)

Condensed Milk:

¹/₃ cup boiling water, PLUS (75 mL)

  1 tbsp boiling water (15 mL)

2 tbsp unsalted butter (30 mL)

2 tbsp salted butter (30 mL)

1 cup whole milk powder, OR heavy cream powder (250 mL)

Liquid sweetener (sucralose or stevia) to equal
  ¹/₂ cup sugar (125 mL)

3 tbsp powdered sweetener, OR (45 mL)

  4 coffee sweetener packets

In double boiler, begin melting sugar-free chocolate chips and cocoa butter.

Meanwhile in blender, combine boiling water, unsalted and salted butters, whole milk powder, OR heavy cream powder, liquid sweetener and powdered sweetener, OR coffee sweetener; blend well.  Add to chocolate and cocoa butter and stir.  Keep stirring occasionally until all the cocoa butter and chocolate has melted.  Stir in vanilla extract.  Stir in vanilla whey protein and then the minute oats.  Finally stir in the peanuts. 

Drop tablespoonfuls (15 mL) onto parchment-lined cookie sheets (this is important or the chocolate jumble clusters will stick to the cookie sheets).  Refrigerate until firm.  Enjoy!

Yield: 46 clusters
1 cluster/coconut

117.9/125.9 calories

2.7/2.6 g protein

9.0/10.2 g fat

0.5/0.7 g fiber

2.9/2.0 g net carbs