It started with my son.

With a background in psychology and research, becoming a mum made me question the ingredients we routinely give to children — and especially the ones hidden inside foods marketed directly to them.

I began looking more closely at chocolate. Cocoa naturally contains caffeine and theobromine, and caffeine is a stimulant that children simply don't need. At the same time, I wanted to keep added and highly processed sugars in my son's diet to a minimum.

But I didn't want that to mean missing out.

So I started experimenting at home.

My son is now 3½ and has grown up without conventional chocolate, yet absolutely loves my homemade carob treats. Then his little friends tried them.

They loved them too.

And, slightly unexpectedly, so did the grown-ups.

That's when an idea made at my kitchen counter started becoming something bigger.

I wanted to create the kind of treat I'd been looking for as a parent: something children genuinely love, made with thoughtfully chosen ingredients, without feeling like the "healthy alternative" they're expected to tolerate.