Sometimes you crave something sweet. But if you are a chocolate lover, you must love to binge on your favourite chocolate or other chocolate recipes. However, to avoid gluten, processed food ingredients, and grains, you shouldn’t eat too much traditional chocolate dessert from a regular grocery or bakery store. Instead, make a healthy choice with organic cacao powder. Cacao powder is a superfood that’s healthier than cocoa due to its manufacturing process. With this natural ingredient, it’s much easier to add a healthy touch to your decadent chocolate treat.
What’s the difference between cacao powder and cocoa powder?
While the terms cacao and cocoa seem similar, the two are very different in terms of nutrition and processing. Both of them come from the natural cacao plant. However, cacao is very close to the raw state even after harvesting the seed. On the other hand, cocoa undergoes processing under high heat. So, cocoa is likely to lose some of its nutritional value.
But cacao includes a high concentration of phytochemicals, which are potent anti-cancer compounds in the plant. The abundant antioxidants in a regular diet come from natural flavonoids. Due to these anti-inflammatory gems, your body can combat free radicals and even improve cardiovascular health while preventing chronic diseases.
Also read: Cacao Powder For Disease Prevention
Can you use cocoa and cacao powder interchangeably?
Not all the time! But in certain recipes, you can. If you want to make your desserts get healthier, add cacao powder to them. So, this natural ingredient is likely to decrease inflammation and reduce the risk of various diseases.
Here are some amazing organic cacao powder recipes to add to make tasty desserts:
1. Smoothies and Smoothie Bowls
Cacao can turn smoothies into tasty chocolate ice cream. Great, right? You can add one or two spoons of cacao powder to a creamy blend of smoothies and enjoy this dessert for breakfast.
A delicious Mocha smoothie recipe is a fun way to sweeten your breakfast. You can combine cacao powder, cacao nibs, and other ingredients. Some other ingredients to add to your smoothie are coconut water, instant coffee powder, vanilla extract, etc. to start your morning with a rich and energizing smoothie.
2. Homemade Chocolate
Some things are more delicious when mixed together. Some of the ingredients to blend together are cacao powder, cacao butter, and the sweetener of your choice to make healthy chocolate from scratch. One of the amazing cacao recipes is the Cacao Butter Bark recipe.
It is easy to customize as per your taste. So, it enables you to make homemade chocolate delicious and simple by mixing organic cacao powder, cacao butter, vanilla extract, and maple syrup. And, let your imagination run when it comes to choosing toppings.
We are sure that everyone – from kids to adults – is likely to love this recipe. Furthermore, health-conscious people can even binge on it without worrying about gaining excessive calories.
3. Baked Treats
Cacao powder is a great alternative to unsweetened cocoa powder. This organic ingredient is likely to amp up your chocolaty goodness in various baked treats, like brownies and cakes. For nut-like crunch along with chocolate chip-like crispiness, you can add cacao nibs into its batter.
Our favorite cacao dessert recipe is the vegan Sweet Potato Brownies recipe. The rich and gooey chocolate brownies are scrumptious and packed with antioxidants, fiber, minerals, and vitamins. You can enjoy them with Hot chocolate made with cacao for nutrition overload. Or eat with vanilla ice cream. If you want to keep the whole combo vegan, it is best to use plant-based milk in hot chocolate, like soy milk or almond milk.
This is one of the best healthy dessert options for everyone, including health-conscious people.
4. Overnight Oats
It is a sweet breakfast option, like oatmeal. The overnight chia and oats pudding is easy to make using cacao powder for making a chocolate-like variation. And, to make it more healthy, add natural sweetener, like coconut sugar.
5. Hearty Stews
Do you know that cacao can even act as a spice in stews that include Central and South American flavours? Add a tablespoon of cacao powder along with chili or stew, as well as sweet potatoes, tomatoes, lime, and cinnamon in your recipe. It is a great dessert recipe for health-conscious individuals.
When you consider adding organic cacao powder to your recipes, make sure to buy an authentic and organic product from trusted online retailers, like Diet Angel. Explore our website to check out more organic products.
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