Hand cream with cocoa butter

What will be needed?

- Cocoa butter

- Coconut oil

- Almond butter

- Almond oil

- Glycerin

- Vitamin E - may not be

- Alternatively, essential oils - I added lemon (it should fight against hardened skin) and mandarin (to go along with the lemon) in the photo, given that the finished cream smells divinely like chocolate, I decided to skip the essential oils this time

How to do it?

We will start with the classic water bath, nothing complicated. First, grate the cocoa butter, measure out a total of 16 parts, add 6 parts of coconut oil and one part each of almond butter and almond oil. As is my custom, we go by volume ratios, not by weight, which is also why it is important to pre-grind the cocoa butter into shavings.

Once the mixture is homogeneous, you can add vitamin E, which is also abundant in almond butter and oil, and let it cool. Here was my biggest stumbling block – the cocoa butter takes a while to kick in as a setting factor, so I had to adjust the ratios about a dozen times. Stir the mixture occasionally while cooling. It not only hardens evenly, but also faster. The result will be roughly the consistency of stiffer butter.

Transfer your work so far to a larger bowl and try to measure its amount somehow (you can join me in the group of lovers of measuring spoons), because you will be adding the same amount of glycerin. If you prefer a more liquid cream, you can increase the amount of glycerin, and vice versa. After that, it is enough to mix well with a whisk or fork until the cream starts to look like a cream.

You can store it in a cup, or choose, like me, a resealable container from which it can be squeezed out easily. Filling the bottles with cream was a gentle birth, but really only a gentle one. With a funnel, a stick and a bunch of vulgarisms, it was done pretty quickly.

Thanks to the oil content, the cream melts with body temperature, spreads and absorbs very well, and covers both palms with a pea-sized amount. Or rather chickpeas.

And why cook it?

Cocoa butter gives the cream a lot of vitamins in addition to the perfect smell, and it can keep the hands perfectly hydrated, whether it's 20 degrees outside or the temperature is well below zero. It works as protection against external influences and restores skin elasticity.

Coconut oil is another contributor to the cream's great fragrance and nutrition. In addition, it adds a slight natural protection factor to the whole mixture. By the way, the one you can find after clicking the link in the ingredients section is probably the best I've tasted, and I can't imagine millet porridge or "oil pulling" without it.

Almond butter and almond oil are suitable for the recipe not only due to the high content of the miraculous vitamin E for the skin, but also due to the fact that they are among the less greasy ingredients and thus contribute to the faster absorption of the entire cream. In addition, they are the best friends of all allergy sufferers and eczema sufferers. Almond oil has been an obsession of mine for a while now and I've gotten into the habit of using it instead of eye cream, décolleté and neck cream, and sometimes I apply it all over after a shower - it absorbs quickly and the effect is perfect for my incredibly dry skin in winter.

Glycerin takes care of the resulting super consistency, but at the same time it is also highly hydrating and underlines the cream's effectiveness to perfection.