Not-So-Faux After Eights

I present you with homemade After Eights (but before we get to that, have you seen my Facebook page).When I saw that this month’s ingredient for S.O.S. Kitchen Challenge, sponsored by two of my favorite blogs, Affairs of Living and Diets, Desserts and Dogs, was mint, I immediately thought of After-Eights.  After-Eights are actually one of my first food memories – I remember standing in the apartment we lived in from when I was age 1 to age 5, holding a box of After-Eights and being fascinated by the papery individual envelopes for each perfectly flat After-Eight chocolate.  As a child growing up in Switzerland, chocolate was in the forms of bars or large rectangular tablets, usually milk chocolate, sometimes studded with hazelnuts and/or raisins (I am old enough to remember a world where nuts were neither allergenic or a choking hazard for small children). Or chocolate was in the form of Nutella.  Or the hot drink Ovomaltine (aka Ovaltine outside of Switzerland), which was I thought hot cocoa must be when I read children’s books set in other countries.  Or the Ovomaltine chocolate bar (which was actually quite tasty).

After Eights, however, were special and different.  They were thin and gooey and not wrapped in bright orange or red or white or blue or decorated with pictures of Swiss landscapes, but instead were sleek and dressed in black paper envelopes. Don’t get me wrong,  I loved my daily small square of chocolate, particularly if it was with a nice soft roll for an ad hoc, non-fancy, non-croissant-like pain au chocolat. That was regular chocolate – on the other hand, After Eights appeared only very occasionally, usually around birthday or other special events.

After Eights were also my first introduction to chocolate with mint, a concept not particularly prevalent in Switzerland.  Now, after several years of living in the U.S.,  it seems ubiquitous to me, but it was not back then.  It has been years since I have had an After Eight, so I decided to craft my own After-Eights for this challenge.  I have seen homemade chocolate made on several blogs, like Meghan Telpner’s Superfood Bon Bons and Averie’s Coconut Oil Chocolate. And here is what I came up with:

As you can see, they are a bit raggedy around the edges,  but they sure taste good.  When I made them, I was intent on spreading each layer on a flat surface (I used a large square plate) and cutting them into squares to make them After-Eight-like, but what would be easier would be to use little silicone muffin cups.  That, in fact, is going to be my next chocolate-related project. In the meantime, check out the gooey white filling – despite it being frozen, it becomes almost immediately a tiny bit gooey when you remove it from the freezer.  Very After-Eight-like.

Not-So-Faux After Eights (Gluten-Free, Vegan, Soy-Free)
Makes 6 large squares or 12 smaller squares

Ingredients for bottom chocolate layer:

• 2 Tbsps coconut oil
• 1.5 Tbsps agave
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup raw cacao (I love this one from Navitas but any dark unsweetened cacao will still work)

Ingredients for middle mint layer:

• 3 Tbsps shredded unsweetened coconut
• 1 Tbsp coconut palm sugar (I used this one from Navitas)
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil (I love this one from Garden of Life)
• 2 tsps mint extract

Ingredients for top chocolate layer:

• 2 Tbsps coconut oil
• 1.5 Tbsps agave
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup raw cacao

Line a large plate or small baking sheet with parchment paper.  Make sure that the plate or baking sheet can be placed in the freezer and stay flat while the chocolate hardens.  Then start with the first chocolate layer. Melt coconut oil to its liquid point (I usually just leave the oil in the warmest part of the kitchen, right near the stove, for a few minutes, but you could use the microwave).  Add agave and vanilla extract and stir until combined.  Add cacao and stir until combined.  Pour the chocolate onto the parchment-paper-lined plate or sheet and spread so that the chocolate is about 1/4 inch thick.  Freeze until hardened, which should take about 15 to 20 minutes.  Then, prepare the second layer by grinding the shredded coconut and coconut palm sugar in a spice grinder, until the mixture is a powdery grainy texture.  Melt the coconut oil to liquid, stir in the mint extract and then add the sugar/shredded coconut mixture.  Pour over the hardened bottom layer of chocolate and spread the mint-coconut-sugar mixture to about 1/4 inch thickness as well. Return to freezer to harden while you prepare the top chocolate layer.  Melt coconut oil to its liquid point.  Add agave and vanilla extract and stir until combined.  Add cacao and stir until combined. Pour your liquid chocolate over the frozen mint-coconut-palm-sugar mixture and return to freezer.  After at least 30 minutes (but ideally a bit longer) slice your not-so-faux After-Eights into squares.  A rolling pizza cutter worked best. I saved all shards and broken bits to use to top overnight oats or chia puddings (and I bet they would make a killer ice cream topping).  To store, I layered each piece between small pieces of parchment paper in a container in the freezer.

Thank you to Affairs of Living and Diets, Desserts and Dogs for hosting another great S.O.S. Kitchen Challenge!

L

(Disclosures)