Who remembers those early teen crushes? The ones where you wrote poems and scribbled names all over your pencil case? To this day cherry ripe makes me think of the first boy who caused me sleepless nights.
He was a friend of my brothers. He made me laugh. He looked happy. He always wore a hat. He talked to me at my first school social, and then he bought me a cherry ripe and kissed me!!! At least I think he did, maybe I inserted that bit….
I kept that wrapper for a very long time, maybe until I left home. Twenty years later cherry ripe’s still make me smile.
Cherry Ripe Chocolates
4 tablespoons coconut oil
4 tablespoons cacao or cocoa or carob
3 tablespoons honey
6 cherries, halved, pits removed
1/4 cup desiccated coconut (finely shredded dried coconut)*
Melt the coconut oil and honey over low heat, remove from heat and add cacao or cocoa or carob, stir until well combined and nice and smooth.
Half fill 12 mini muffin moulds with the melted chocolate, pop into the freezer for 20 minutes, remove and place half a cherry and a generous sprinkle of coconut on top of the chocolate, cover with chocolate and freeze.
*The coconut in my picture is very chunky as I used shaved coconut butter from a batch I made a while back, shredded or desiccated coconut will be just as divine.