Valentines Day Matcha Chocolate Hearts

Happy Valentine’s Day

ハッピーバレンタインデー ❤️

Did you know on Valentine’s Day in japan only the guys get the gifts?

Girls have to wait until March on the same day known as white day, when they can return any gifts given to them.

And it’s not only one person you buy a gift for it could be teachers work colleagues and male friends.

That’s a lot of chocolate! and some people make their own.

These easy chocolate hearts have a raw matcha and almond centre and are perfect for making for that special someone.

All you will need is:

100g of almond flour (ground almonds)

1 teaspoon of matcha ( sifted)

1 tablespoon of maple syrup

1 tablespoon of melted coconut butter

1 tablespoon of cashew butter

1 and a half bars of vegan milk alternative chocolate ( and half a bar of dark chocolate for drizzling over if you wish)

Decoration ( I used freeze dried strawberries ) be careful using sprinkles as a lot of the red colour ones are not vegan so check first.

Method:

Mix the almond flour and sifted matcha in a food processor then add your maple syrup, cashew butter and melted coconut butter. Process until you get a dough. Tip the dough out of your food processor, roll into a ball and chill in the fridge for half an hour. This will make it easier to roll.
Meanwhile add your vegan milk chocolate alternative to a bowl and melt over a pan of hot water. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and then get two further sheets to roll out your dough.

Take the dough from the fridge and roll out your dough between two sheets of parchment paper to what ever thickness you would like your chocolates to be. Cut out your dough into heart shapes and transfer to your baking tray. Keep cutting until all your dough has gone.
Dip each heart  fully in melted chocolate don’t worry about being perfect as we will be cutting the sides later.

Place your chocolate in the freezer to set the chocolate for 15 mins. While it’s setting melt your dark chocolate.
Take out your chocolates from the freezer and with each one press your heart cutter back over the chocolate to reveal the matcha sides. This also makes the edges more presentable.
Place your chocolates back on the tray and drizzle with dark chocolate and decorate as you wish. Place back in the freezer again to set and your done.

These chocolates can then be transferred to a box and kept in the fridge.