Despite my chosen profession and relentless sweet tooth, I never really understood the allure of a chocolate-covered espresso bean. I’m a big believer in chocolate-covered anything, but my brain simply refuses to see coffee as food.
“That’s for drinking!” it protests, “What kind of monster are you?!”
Of course, there’s also the caffeine content to consider. In a year like 2020, the last thing anyone would want is an accidental panic attack from crushing a 12oz bag of coffee beans like they were pretzel M&Ms (the best M&M - fight me in the comments).
Behold: the super simple DIY recipe that changed my mind.
Our friends at Cheekywell handcrafted the Anxiety Stress Bar, a hemp-infused 72% dark chocolate bar with cherries, candied pecans, and ashwagandha. It’s decadently healthy and totally chill-inducing, and you guessed it! We melted it down to create a velvety, complex coating for our beans.
This recipe will work for any coffee but we chose Bright Minds, a sweet and syrupy Colombian with notes of cherry cola and white pear. This coffee does an amazing job of accentuating the Texas pecans and warming spices in the chocolate. Synergy. It’s a buzz word. Enjoy.
Ingredients
- 2 Cheekywell Anxiety Stress Bars
- 2 tbsp whole bean Bright Minds
- Cocoa powder, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
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Break the chocolate bars into small pieces.
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Add to a microwave-safe dish and heat for 30 seconds. Remove from microwave, stir, and heat at 10 second intervals until melted, stirring after each pulse until fully melted.
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Add whole beans to the melted chocolate and stir to coat.
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Using a fork, gently remove each bean and place it on a cooling rack lined with parchment paper.
- Optional: Carefully sprinkle cocoa powder on each bean as garnish. Or kick it up a notch and add some cayenne pepper!
- Refrigerate for 2 hours until firm. Store in fridge for up to 10 days.
