My cocoa butter arrived! Let the low carb baking and ice cream making commence!

Amazon’s delivery fairies left a little package at my doorstep today – cacao butter (a.k.a. cocoa butter)! This weekend I’m experimenting with a few chocolaty fat bomb and dessert recipes. Double yum.

I’ve wanted to try cocoa butter for a long time. It’s an awesomely healthy fat. However I couldn’t find any at Whole Foods, Wegmans or Trader Joe’s near me. So I started searching Amazon. And yes, there were plenty of vendors who sell it, but who do you trust when you’ve never heard of any of them? And the prices ranged from dirt-cheap to “are you kidding me.”

If you decide to pick up a block, there are a few things to consider besides price.

Consistency. Does the quality of the butter change from order to order? For a lot of sellers, that isn’t the case.

Ingredients. Many vendors don’t include images of the label where you can clearly see the ingredients. If I didn’t see anything that read “100% Cacao Butter” then I wasn’t going near it.

Packaging. If the container wasn’t food grade, no sale.

A solid pound of delicious cocoa butter. When I opened the package, an awesome chocolate scent filled my kitchen.

Reviews. Definitely read the comments by buyers. I initially planned to buy a different brand (based on a blogger recommendation) until I saw multiple reviews about finding shards of glass in the packaging. Yikes!

I decided to go with Navitas Naturals. It wasn’t the cheapest by a long shot, but the quality was there. When I opened the package the heavenly smell of chocolate filled my kitchen. I chopped off a small piece and my taste buds did a major happy dance. It took a lot to not devour the whole block.

Weekend Cooking Fest
Well with the weather finally warming up, I wanted treats that I can easily stash in my freezer. Ice cream was definitely on the menu as we’re visiting our local frozen custard shop a little too frequently. Custard is healthier than ice cream and our shop does have low carb vanilla. But who can resist their Goodbye Marion Berry, Death By Chocolate and Peanut Butter Chocolate flavors?

So what low carb treats am I making?

• Brownies with Macadamia Nuts
• Frozen Chocolate Custard
• Cherry-Vanilla White Chocolate Truffle
• Strawberry Chocolate Fat Bomb

There is a chance that the cherry truffle might have to wait, as my extracts from King Arthur Flour have not arrived yet.

The brownies are my dessert for our cook out on Memorial Day. I’m toying with adding a mascarpone frosting to the brownies. I’ve never tasted mascarpone before but folks tell me it is a must for desserts. I just don’t know if it will freeze well. Maybe I just make enough for the cookout.

I can’t wait to get started.