Sometimes I just want to put chocolate on everything. These bars contain four different chocolatey elements, without imposters like white chocolate or diluted milk chocolate (no offense to them). There is raw cacao, roasted cacao, cacao nibs and raw carob. Dark chocolate has been making its way onto several healthy food lists because of the antioxidants and nutrients naturally present in cacao like magnesium, calcium, iron and zinc. Unfortunately all that good stuff severely diminishes through the preparation process, during which low quality soy products, milk products and refined sugars are often added in. When you use the unadultered ingredients like this, instead of commercial chocolate chips or bars, you get a delicious and nutritionally superior end product. These bars contain lots of natural sugars, making them great for a hiking snack as they supply your body quickly and easily with energy. The palm sugar and blackstrap molasses provide a really deep and rich caramel flavor along with some extra nutrients like manganese and iron.
- Dry
- 1½ cup oats
- 1½ cup puffed millet
- ½ cup almonds chopped
- ½ cup pecans chopped
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- 2 tablespoons cacao nibs
- 1 tablespoon raw carob
- 1 tablespoon raw cacao
- 1 tablespoon roasted cacao
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
- Wet
- ½ cup almond butter
- ¼ cup raw honey (or maple syrup)
- 12 dates chopped
- 2 tablespoons brewed coffee
- 2 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
- Preheat oven to 300°. Combine all the dry ingredients then stir in the wet ingredients. Press down the mixture into a parchment paper lined baking dish and bake for 30 minutes. Let it cool completely (it will take an hour or two) before you cut it, using a very sharp knife so it doesn’t crumble. Store individually wrapped in the fridge to make consumption quick, easy and portion controlled.