Choconut Hearts

My sweetie doesn't eat traditional sweets. It's true, and sometimes it's really hard to be creative!

You probably won't ever see him with a donut in his hand, a slice of delicious cheesecake, or a candy bar. His dessert usually consists of a pear, apple, or frozen fruit (with no sugar added). His willpower amazes me. I have a hard time resisting chocolate, gummies, chocolate.

His 'birthday cake' was baked apples and pears, sprinkled with lemon juice and covered with a crumble made of almond flour, cinnamon, and a little clarified butter. It might look boring, but eating like this can grow on you. He didn't complain at all.

I like to be precious every once in a while, and send him little reminders of how much I love him, usually with a corny note, but it's hard when you can't throw something already packaged into his lunch. So I came up with this recipe- which is very similar to a Chocolate Larabar, and is the perfect treat/snack when you're in the middle of a Whole30.

Ingredients

1 cup cashews (raw or roasted)

1 cup almonds (I prefer roasted and salted for this recipe)

1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

2 cups dates (pitted)

3 tbsp. 100% cacao

1/4 c water

Throw all ingredients into your food processor (I have a this Ninja). Blend on high for 2 minutes, scrape the sides in, then blend again for about 1 minute. If your mixture seems too dry you can add just a tad more water.

Most of my ingredients came from Sam's Club, I love that I can get these items in bulk! The coconut came from Kroger, but I have also bought it from Amazon. It is great on top of 'nice-cream', or right out of the bag!

After you're done blending, scoop it onto parchment or wax paper, smoosh into a disc. Cover with another sheet of parchment or wax paper and roll out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Yield about 16 heart, or bars. This is a great recipe to get the kids involved!

Now its time to get out the cookie cutters, or a plastic knife if you want rectangles.

We chose hearts.

Now, try to control yourselves. These taste so much like brownies. YUM! I keep them in the fridge, with parchment in between to keep them from sticking to each other. They also freeze great!

#larabars #chocolate #Whole30 #nosugaradded #dates #cashews #almonds #coconut