Chocolate Covered Nut Bars

It’s National Chocolate Covered Nut Day today so I wanted to surprise you with a recipe for Chocolate Covered Nut Bars. If you’ve never tried making raw vegan chocolate before, you are really missing out! It’s super simple to prepare, it’s high in minerals such as magnesium and iron, and it’s so delicious. I’m going to mix the chocolate with a selection of my favorite nuts today, but you can use this chocolate recipe for any dessert that asks for chocolate!

Chocolate Covered Nut Bars

SERVES: 5 large cups

EQUIPMENT: blender, oven dish (or chocolate molds)

INGREDIENTS:

Chocolate Sauce

1 cup of coconut oil (or cacao butter)
1 ½ cup of maple syrup (or coconut nectar, date syrup…)
1 cup of cacao powder, unsweetened
2 tablespoons of cacao nibs, finely chopped (optional)
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
1 pinch of Himalayan crystal salt or sea salt

Bars

3 cups of nuts of your choice (preferably sprouted)
Some ideas for toppings:
Citrus zest: lime, orange, mandarin…
Dried fruit: goji berries, mulberries, raisins, shredded coconut…
Superfoods: spirulina, maca, lucuma…
Green tea, ground into powder
Coffee beans, ground into powder
Ginger, minced
Fleur de sel
Chili powder or flakes
Dried lavender flowers

DIRECTIONS:

Chocolate Sauce

1. Melt your coconut oil on low to medium heat until it is liquid.
2. Add the coconut oil to your blender together with the sweetener. Mix for 5 to 10 seconds, until well combined.
3. Gradually add the cacao powder while your blender is running on low. Make sure there aren’t any clumps of cacao powder left in the mixture.
4. Add cacao nibs, vanilla extract and salt. Mix well.

Bars

1. Line your oven dish with baking paper. You could use chocolate molds too.
2. Put your selection of nuts in the oven dish and pour the chocolate sauce on top of the nuts.
3. Garnish your chocolate bars to taste. I added cacao nibs, goji berries, maca powder and lime zest.
4. Put your oven dish or chocolate molds in the freezer for at least 20 minutes until your chocolate has hardened.

JULIE’S TIPS & TRICKS:

These Chocolate Covered Nut Bars will stay fresh for at least 1 month in an airtight glass container in the refrigerator (if they last that long…). You could store them in the freezer too.

Now I would love to hear from you! What is your favorite chocolate candy bar: Twix, Mars, Snickers, Bounty…? Maybe I’ll create a raw vegan version so let me know by leaving a comment down below.