Chewy chocolatey treasures ♥

I recently got a new food processor and couldn’t be more thrilled!  As I’ve also been looking for a chewy raw bar that isn’t ridiculously high in fat for just a minuscule 1-by-1 inch square (because who wouldn’t like to eat more 😛 ), I thought I’d experiment with an idea I’ve thought of – making a bar with dates and cacao as a base instead of dates and nuts.  (I’d also like to try out mulberries and dates, but let’s face it, not everyone lives where everything’s available . . .)

As it turns out, the results were everything I’ve been looking for in a raw bar.  One bite and my heart melted.

Rich, chewy, chocolatey, and oh-so-sweet to say the least, these babies are also packed to the gills with potassium, iron, and fiber!  They really are a dream come true for a healthy eater with a secretly dangerous sweet tooth.

I just can’t get enough.

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(Chewy Raw Chocolate Fudge Bars)

{makes 6 bars}

Ingredients

• 11 ½ oz. soft pitted dates, room temperature (2 cups or 326 g)
• 3 oz. unsweetened cacao (or cocoa) powder (1 cup or 86 g)
• zest of 1 orange
• ⅛ tsp. ground vanilla bean (or 1 tsp. vanilla extract)
• 2 tbs. raw cacao nibs, optional (.6 oz. or 17 g)
• pinch himalayan or sea salt
• cacao powder or coconut flour, as needed

Make it!

1. In your food processor, process dates, cacao powder, orange zest, vanilla bean, and salt in pulses until a dough forms.
2. Throw in the cacao nibs (if using) and pulse just until combined.  You want them to remain in crunchy chunks in the dough and not blended through!
3. Press into a square dish sprinkled/dusted with cacao powder or coconut flour (I used a 7 by 7 inch square pan with removable base).  Chill for about 30 minutes to firm up.  Cut into bars and coat with more cacao powder or with coconut flour so that your fingers don’t get sticky while eating these!
4. They will keep fresh in the fridge for about 2 weeks and are freezable, but they will not be as chewy when thawed.

Don’t forget that these are extremely versatile!  Feel free to add nut butters, peanut flour (like PB2), spirulina/açai powder, cinnamon, chia seeds, etc.  Play with it, have fun with it, and enjoy it 😉

~ Trisha