Craving chocolate?

I have had a bit of a chocolate craving the last few days, but I do my best to avoid store bought chocolate, even most retail raw/paleo options.  Often the retail options have ingredients like soy lecithin or agave, which sure, they qualify as “raw” but don’t translate to healthy. So, after dinner tonight I felt inspired to get in the kitchen and make my own Paleo/Raw Chocolate Fruit and Nut Bars.   As soon as this little treat was ready I got into it.   I wasn’t planning on posting two recipes in a row on the blog, but these were so good I just couldn’t resist posting them straight away!

This guilt-free pleasure was the perfect combination of sweet, salty, and crunchy.

Note: When I say guilt-free, I mean that when it is used sparingly as a treat.  Even raw desserts should be consumed in moderation.

I found everything I needed to make this recipe at Sprout Wholefood Grocer in Naremburn, but most organic shops should have what you need.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup raw cacao butter (melted)
• 1 tablespoon raw coconut oil (melted)
• 2-3 tablespoons raw maple syrup (or honey)
• 1/2 teaspoon raw vanilla bean powder
• 6 tablespoons raw cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup of dried berry and activated nut mixture (I used shredded coconut, goji berries, raisins, pecans, cashews and almonds–because that’s what I had around the house– I also chopped up the nuts into small pieces)
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Note to melt the cacao butter: bring water to a boil in a medium sauce pan (about 1/4 full) remove from heat and place cacao butter in a heat proof bowl, place the bowl that has the cacao butter in it into the hot water sauce pan.   Stir until it melts, then remove it from the heat so the temperature comes back down.  Make sure you do not get any water in to the cacao butter.

Directions:

Once cacao butter is melted, add coconut oil, and maple syrup till they all dissolve.   Then add the vanilla bean and cacao powder–one tablespoon at a time, mixing between each tablespoon. Place the bowl back into the hot water sauce pan, to heat it up again.  Then whisk until it’s smooth and doesn’t look grainy.  Remove the bowl from the heat again and add the fruit and nut mixture, stirring until combined.  Let your chocolate mixture sit at room temperature for about 10 mins. Meanwhile, line a 9 inch tray with parchment paper.   Pour the liquid chocolate mixture on your tray.  Sprinkle sea salt over your chocolate. Finally put it in the freezer for one hour, or the fridge for at least two hours.  Break your chocolate bark into pieces as large or as small as your heart desires and serve.

You can store your leftover chocolate in a airtight container in your fridge for quite some time. Enjoy!

If you try this recipe, then please don’t forget to keep me posted on how it goes.

Sending love from Sydney,

Maria