Chocolate+cherry is pretty much a magical match made in heaven.
These delicious fat bombs are so-damn-good and perfect to whip up for Valentine’s Day.
I love cherries. They are perfectly sweet and in fact, are great for combating inflammation and helping with sleep as they contain melatonin.
Melatonin is a hormone secreted at night by the pineal gland in the center of your brain to help to regulate your circadian rhythm. In order to produce adequate amounts of melatonin, it’s important that you head outside for at least 30 minutes – 2 hours a day (regardless of the weather), as natural light exposure helps support your natural circadian rhythm.
But melatonin is not only produced in the pineal gland—it is also naturally present in certain foods, cherries being one of them. Their was a study done on participants who drank tart cherry juice post workout to help with their recovery and they found that not only did the cherry juice help combat inflammation, but it also increased melatonin levels.
Now, if you eat these delicious gems during the day, trust me, you’re not going to all of a sudden do a face plant on the floor and fall asleep. It’s not that strong! But they might help encourage better sleep – bonus!
As we age, we produce less melatonin, which is often the reason why so many elderly men and women struggle with insomnia. And if you throw in autoimmunity or other health complications and conditions, lacking sleep means your body is not healing.
Ingredients
CHERRY FILLING
- 1 cup full fat coconut cream (from top of canned coconut milk)
- 3/4 cup frozen tart cherries, pitted
- 1 tbsp lakanto monk fruit sweetener or swerve (optional)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
CHOCOLATE COATING
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp shredded cacao butter (optional)
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
Instructions
- CHERRY FILLING: place all cherry filling ingredients into a food processor and combine until creamy. Spoon mixture into mini silicon molds. (you can use any size, I personally like the mini ones. My silicon mold holds 30). Spoon mixture about 3/4 of the way, leaving space to pour in chocolate.
- Place in the freezer for 20-30 minutes to harden.
- CHOCOLATE COATING: over a double boiler, melt together chocolate chips, cacao butter and coconut oil. Once melted and smooth, remove fat bombs from freezer and pour in chocolate over each mold.
- Place back in the freezer for 1-2 hours to set and harden. When ready to serve, remove from freezer and pop out fat bombs from the molds. The silicon is great as the fat bombs don’t stick and pop right out! These fat bombs melt fairly quickly, so eat right away once out of the freezer.
- Can keep stored in the freezer for up to 2 months.
