Lets talk about what everybody really, truly, cares about. Chocolate. We all need a little chocolate every now and then and we need it without all of the harmful additives and toxic ingredients. So I compiled my top 5 chocolate treats that are squeaky clean (dare I say even, nourishing?) and will most certainly suit your fancy.
1.) Honey Mama’s
A client actually introduced me to this brand and I’ve never looked back. In fact, the first couple of times I bought it I hid it in our fridge so nobody could find it but me! That’s how good it is. The Nibs and Coffee bar is my favorite flavor and the ingredients are simple and delicious – alakalized organic cocoa, raw local honey, medium shred organic coconut, unrefined organic coconut oil, organic cacao nibs, ground coffee, vanilla, and himalayan pink salt. YUM. All of their bars are free from soy, eggs, dairy, gluten, and grain…so pretty much anyone can enjoy this scrumptious treat!
I’ll be honest, I’ve bought this cookie dough many, many times and only made actual cookies out of it…once. That’s right, I’ve eaten it as straight cookie dough most every single time and I have no regrets. Just like Honey Mama’s bars the ingredients are spot on in this cookie dough as well – almond flour, organic maple syrup, chocolate morsels (unsweetened chocolate, organic cane sugar, cocoa butter), arrowroot flour, organic unrefined coconut oil, organic vanilla extract, sea salt, baking soda. I love that they use organic maple syrup as their main sweetener – it makes all the difference in quality and taste. And if these do actually make it into your oven you’ll be pleased to know they are just as delicious as baked cookies as they are as raw cookie dough bites.
3.) Hu Kitchen
Hu Kitchen has an array of chocolate bar choices but they had me at almond butter and puffed quinoa. I know, quinoa and chocolate?? These two ingredients don’t sound made for each other but trust me on this one. The quinoa creates the most delicious crunchy first bite and is followed up by a perfect sweet, soft, almond buttery taste that just does the trick. Hu Kitchen’s mantra is ‘No weird ingredients. Ever.’ which is exactly what you want to hear from any food company, am I right? In fact, their other popular saying is, ‘We couldn’t find a chocolate that met our standards. So we made our own.’ We need more companies like you, Hu. Ingredients in this bar – organic cacao, almond, unrefined organic coconut sugar, organic fair-trade cocoa butter, organic quinoa. Yes, please.
4.) Unreal
These are pretty much exactly what the name says they are – unreal. If you’re stuck on Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups or the Trader Joes attempted version then you must try these. They are better than the real thing. Truly! My favorite is actually the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups with Crispy Quinoa (here we go with the quinoa again) but I have tried most all of their products and they surpass expectations every time. You won’t ever need to even look at a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup again. And huge bonus – they’re non GMO, free of gluten, soy, corn, dairy, artificial flavors, dyes, and preservatives and made only with Fair Trade Certified Ingredients. And those ingredients are – dark chocolate, peanut butter, organic powdered sugar, organic palm oil, peanut flour, organic blue agave inulin+, salt, sunflower lecithin.
5.) Justins
I felt I needed a white chocolate option on here – it counts as chocolate too! I’ve been using the Justin’s brand for years now. Their almond butter is divine, I always have a travel sized pack in my purse for ’emergencies’, my kids use their travel size packs for snacks, and within the past year or two I stumbled upon their chocolate products and became an avid fan of those as well. The white chocolate peanut butter cups are my favorite because 1.) I can’t find good quality white chocolate anywhere! and 2.) I do need a break from regular old dark chocolate every now and then and this does the trick. The ingredients are on trend with the rest of these amazing brands and focus on 100% quality. Ingredients are – organic white chocolate, organic vanilla, organic peanuts, organic cane sugar, organic peanut flour, organic palm oil, organic vanilla powder, sea salt, organic soy lecithin.
And there you have it! My top 5 chocolate treats. What’s your favorite??
*Note – Some of these brands are cleaner than the others but I still indulge in the ones that use ingredients like organic sugar (which I try to avoid most of the time) because if I’m choosing that brand verses, say, a regular Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup (ingredients below), these options are 100% better than the real deal. And I truly think they taste better too. It’s much easier for me to treat myself when I know I am not taking in harmful ingredients in the process.
**Reese’s Pieces Butter Cup ingredients – Semi sweet chocolate (sugar, chocolate, cocoa butter, milk fat, lecithin, vanillin (artificial flavor), PGPR, milk), peanuts, sugar, dextrose, cocoa butter, hydrogenated vegetable oil, salt, palm kernel oil, cornstarch, TBHQ (preservative), citric acid.