Cashew Dark Chocolate Bars
Not feeling like spending money to buy ready-made bars or looking for a healthier and home-made alternative but still yummy?
Try these bars: it took me 3 batches to finally come up with this recipe and I’m so proud of finally being able to make my own bars, with whole and healthy ingredients that I know exactly what they are and cost much less than off-the-shelf bars
They do not require any baking, they are vegan and can be made gluten-free if using gluten-free oats. They can be stored in the fridge for up to 20 days in an air-tight container and they actually taste better after a few days of refrigeration!!
Makes 8 to 10 bars, depending on size chosen.
If you do not have some of the ingredients listed or you want to use other ingredients, here are some helpful tips:
- Cashew butter: can be substituted with any other nut butter; alternatively, you can make your own nut butter: soak for at least 8 hours the nuts you want to use, then blend them until creamy adding a bit of the soaking water, if needed. The soaking is essential to get a creamier texture. Even if you cannot obtain a very smooth and creamy butter, that’s totally OK. Your bars will just be a little crunchier, which doesn’t hurt!!
- Protein powder: this is optional and it’s mainly added for some extra protein. Make sure to use a good one, if you opt for it: I used Amazing Grass Protein & Kale Chocolate-Peanut Butter flavor. It’s Kosher, NO GMO, vegan, gluten free and completely plant-based with a mix of pea protein and greens. It does have a bit of sugar and monk fruit in it. If you do not want to use it, that’s fine, the flavor will not be compromised but the bars may be a bit less sweet. I recommend subbing it for ¼ cup of a flour of your choice (possibly, a nut flour) + some coconut sugar, totaling together ¼ cup. Example: ¼ cup of almond meal + coconut sugar OR hazelnut flour + coconut sugar, where the coconut sugar only accounts for only 20% of the whole amount.
- Cacao nibs: they add crunchiness to the bars without adding sugars, they can be subbed for chocolate chips or small nut chunks.
- Maple syrup & Agave nectar can easily be subbed for a good quality (raw) honey.
- Coconut oil may NOT be subbed for olive or any other seed oil: you want a kind of oil that solidifies at room temperature and doesn’t affect the flavor. Coconut oil is by far the best for melting with chocolate. If you don’t have it, just add more chocolate, do NOT add any other oil.
Servings |
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- 1/3 cup extra dark chocolate (about 60g, I used 85% cacao Columbian chocolate)
- 1 tsp Extra-virgin coconut oil
- 1 tsp maple syrup or agave nectar
- 1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut\
Ingredients
FOR THE CHOCOLATE FROSTING:
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- Soak dates in warm water for at least 30 minutes, possibly 1 hour.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the cacao, the protein powder, the oats and cacao nibs.
- Once the dates have soaked enough time (the softer they are, the better), remove them from the soaking water (preserve this water as you may need to add a bit to soften up the dough), chop them roughly and blend them until creamy together with cashew butter & vanilla extract. You need to reach a smooth, creamy and very sticky “caramel-like” mixture.
- Remove the date & cashew mixture from the blender, transfer it to the bowl with dry ingredients and mix it the best you can with a spatula or grease your hands with coconut oil and use your hands: the dough should be a bit hard to work and sticky and that’s a good sign! It shouldn’t be too creamy or watery otherwise the bars will not harden well during the refrigeration time.
- Once all the dough is well worked with all ingredients fully incorporated, place it in a square 7~8” pan lined with parchment paper and spread it evenly to cover the pan using, your hands.
- At this point, if you do not wish to add any chocolate topping, sprinkle some shredded coconut on top, cover with foil or plastic wrap and leave in the fridge to thicken for at least 8 hours.
- Remove and cut into bars of desired size.
- If you do want to add the chocolate topping, chop the chocolate into large chunks (or just use chocolate chips), place them in a small pan with coconut oil and maple syrup or agave.
- Melt it in a bain-marie or in the microwave (bain-marie is better!), then pour it on top of the flattened dough, sprinkle shredded coconut on top and refrigerate for at least 8 hours before you cut it into bars.
- Whichever option you choose, place your bars in an air-tight container and store in the fridge for up to 20 days.