So seeing as it’s December 31st I guess it’s the last day everyone can have treats now, huh? I’m exaggerating here. But a TON of people around the blogosphere (yeah, that’s a word), twittersphere, instagram…(-osphere?) whatever. You get my drift. There’s talk everywhere you look about the next big whole30 / sugar detox / “eating clean” starting tomorrow.
But first, the New Years Eve celebrations! Whether you’re going to a fancy-shmancy shindig and you’re looking for something to impress your guests/co-partiers (is that a word), going out with a bang, or just hanging out with some friends, these little goodies are sure to impress. Just try to have your guests guess what’s inside them.
Spoiler alert: unless they’re sommeliers or trained chefs who sit for hours in front of jars of 75 spices, smelling them to train their palates every day, they probably won’t guess the right ingredients. And that 75 spices thing is totally true. One of the wine connoisseurs who helped lead a wine tasting my family did in Florence told us that’s exactly what he did to train his nose so he could sinff out every wisp of green pepper, grass, hint of leather, grapefruit, or stone ground cherries in the different wines he samples for distribution. True story.
And we thought the French were snobby about their wine. Kidding. They are. Italians are just obsessed (with good reason!) about the finesse of their Chianti, Montepulciano, Valpolicella, Barolo, and the like.
But anyway, back to this mysterious recipe. Have you guys ever heard of Phat Fudge before? Also known as Unicorn Fuel? First made up by the genius Mary, the Paleo Chef. I think I’ve semi-gushed about her before, but she is seriously bada$$. Her motto is Eat Clean, Play Often, Crush Life. #eatplaycrush. If that doesn’t say everything about her (or just the fact that she’s totally awesome) I don’t know what would.
I got the inspiration for this recipe from her. I was suuper intrigued by her Phat Fudge recipe, which she says her clients (she’s a personal chef) eat in the morning for an extra hit of energy and vitamins. Plus, it had butter, tahini, turmeric, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper. Woah. Sounds good to me! Plus, it’s just in time for those last minute-holiday celebrations. Which is obviously why I used this cookie tin. Because it won’t see the light of day until next December.
So here’s my version of Phat Fudge. And be sure to check out Mary’s original recipe too! Scroll to the bottom of the recipe for an autoimmune (AIP)-friendly modification.
- ½c coconut oil**
- ½c tahini (AIP sub: coconut butter)
- 2 Tbsp raw honey
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ Tbsp turmeric
- ½ Tbsp maca powder (I took mine from from pills - about 8-10 i think)
- 2 ½ Tbsp cocoa powder (cacao or carob also work )
- optional: 1 Tbsp Great Lakes gelatin
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- pinch of coarse/rock sea salt for topping
- In a medium saucepan on low heat, melt the coconut oil and whisk in tahini, then add the honey. Stir until it’s all evenly mixed.
- Add in the cinnamon, turmeric, maca, cocoa powder, and sea salt. Continue to whisk until the ingredients are well incorporated and you’ve crushed any lumps out of the cocoa powder or maca.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. At this stage, you’ve got what Mary calls “Unicorn Chocolate Sauce”.
- Using a tablespoon or ¼ cup measure, *carefully* pour the sauce into cookie molds (like I used) or an ice tray.
- Stick the tray in the freezer for a few hours, until set. Keep in the freezer for storage and take them out when you’re ready to eat them.
- Wahoo! Unicorn Fuel! Serve up to your friends at a party, or keep them all for yourself. #noshame.
**For an AIP (autoimmune-friendly version), substitute coconut butter for the tahini and carob for the cocoa. It's DELICIOUS.
You can also substitute date syrup for the honey here. Great suggestion from Vanessa at thewh0lestory!
Additional Notes from Mary:
- “I made these to be functional treats, eating the whole tray isn’t totally advisable unless you leave out the maca because I’m not responsible for Unicorn Babies.Pssst, maca is known to enhance libido.
- In this recipe, I left out coffee for those who don’t drink it. If you do want to add it in, I advise 1 tablespoon of fresh coffee grounds. The flavor and texture is BOMB.
- And finally, GET CREATIVE! Using the tahini/butter base you can go MANY different directions with Phat Fudge.
- Do me a favor, if you guys make these be sure to hashtag #phatfudge and #eatplaycrush so I we can keep the street cred growing.”
Dana!
So, I was just checking out your blog after looking at your MUIH welcome presentation (we’re in class together!) and I realized I’ve seen this phat fudge picture before! I actually stumbled across it on Instagram a few days ago and thought, “how cool using a cookie mold”. Haha! Small world we live in!
Anyways, couldn’t help but tell you!
PS — Do you put cocoa or cacao in your fudge? I just made my first batch last week and thought it tasted….. kind of blanddddd and a little, dare I say, hard to get down? I don’t really like tahini so I’m wondering if that’s it. Everyone says they LOVE her recipe so I’m wondering if I did something wrong, ha ha!
Hey Kayleigh!
Woah, small world! This is too funny. And awesome – so cool we’ll be in class together! Which program are you doing?
I put cocoa in the fudge this time. I think Mary’s original recipe calls for cacao. I know are some differences in the health benefits of cocoa vs. cacao, but I definitely can’t name them off the top of my head.
They’re definitely a different taste than you’re used to with fudge! Especially if you put the chili powder in them. I couldn’t take the heat, so I removed that from my recipe’s version. Did you use coconut oil or butter? If you didn’t like them, it’s probably the tahini. It gives off a very, very strong flavor in the fudge. I haven’t tried it, but I bet it would be amazing with another kind of nut or seed butter – probably sunbutter or almond butter would be great! Let me know if you try those out and like them, and I can update the recipe so others can try the same 🙂
Can’t wait to see you in class! (Online or in person, hehe)
I made Mary’s recipe a few weeks ago, with coconut oil and sunflower seed butter, doubled the honey, left out the cacao because I didn’t have any, and halved the cayenne because I am not into burning my mouth 🙂 They were delicious! I was just looking for the recipe to make them again when I found your version; I do have cocoa powder, so I will use that this time the way you did here.
Yum!! Would love to try the coconut oil and sunflower seed butter version!
Hi there 🙂 do u use unhulled or hulled tahini
Hi Shan,
To be honest, I’m not sure! I bought my tahini from the greek market by my house, and it’s from Israel – I can’t read the label except to make out the ingredients (only sesame seeds). Usually I use Joyva brand, I’ve also heard the Once Again brand is great. I imagine hulled might be better in this recipe since it’s slightly sweeter, but I’m pretty sure both would be great. Hope that helps!
I absolutely love it!!! I made my version with coconut butter and reduced the honey to 1/2 tablespoon and added some stevia!!! It’s delicious!
Woah, that sounds amazing! I’ll have to try that one out 🙂
Do you think I would be able to substitute rice syrup or dextrose for the honey? I wanted to try and make this fructose-free!
Hi Judy,
I would recommend stevia over rice syrup or dextrose for a fructose-free sweetener. Hope that helps!