Salted Chocolate Coconut Cashew Bars
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups dried figs stems removed
- 2 cups raw unsalted cashews
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- 1 tablespoon dark cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1-2 teaspoons coconut oil melted
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Line an 8x8 inch baking dish with parchment paper and set aside.
- Place the figs, cashews, coconut, chia seeds, cocoa powder, vanilla and salt in a food processor and pulse until well combined.
- Add 1-2 teaspoons of the melted coconut oil to get the mixture to stick together (I use all the coconut oil ALMOST every time I make these, but sometimes the figs are more moist and you don’t need it).
- Press mixture into the parchment lined pan with your hands or the bottom of a glass so it’s tightly compacted.
- Melt the chocolate chips by placing them in a microwave safe bowl and microwaving in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until smooth (this should take about 1 - 1½ minutes)
- Pour the chocolate over the top of the mixture in the pan and spread evenly with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle with extra coconut and sea salt.
- Chill in the refrigerator for about 1 hour until set. Remove and slice into bars then store in an airtight container (or wrap individually in plastic or foil) in the refrigerator for a week or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
- Enjoy!
~Amanda~
Dessert is definitely my favorite meal of the day and I cannot live without it… I’m pretty sure Conor feels the same way too; the second we’re done eating dinner every night, the first thing I hear from him is “What’s for dessert?!”. We love a sweet treat, but dessert for us is not usually anything crazy or calorie packed, we try and keep it reasonably ‘healthy’ so we aren’t having to add an extra hour to our workouts everyday to burn it off! Depending on the week, dessert can simply be a piece or two of super dark chocolate – we love the really dark stuff, like 80% cocoa or more, it can mean a scoop of ice cream (I prefer non-dairy low calorie ice cream most of the time), or a bite of our favorite Paleo Deep Dish Chocolate Chip Cookie – I don’t make this too often though because it’s hard not to eat way too much of it! I am always searching for new, delicious and healthy ideas!
Most recently I have become kind of obsessed with these Salted Chocolate Coconut Cashew Bars. I found a recipe for these bars on Cotter Crunch that caught my eye because they are no-bake, vegan and paleo. Over time I adapted it slightly to make it my own. The main components of these bars are figs and cashews; figs are an ingredient that I have really come to love and try and use more and more in my cooking (check out our recipe for Zoodles with Pancetta, Fig and Arugula). They are loaded with vitamins, minerals and fiber and the same goes for cashews which also have lots of antioxidants. It’s the perfect healthy base for any dessert! I also like to add in some chia seeds to the base because they bring even more nutrients and don’t affect the flavor or texture at all.
Next, you add coconut, dark chocolate powder, vanilla and sea salt. My favorite candy bar of all time is Mounds and these are like a way more delicious, healthy version of that – nothing beats the combination of dark chocolate and coconut in my book! Plus the addition of a teeny bit of sea salt gives that salty contrast to the sweet and makes all the flavors just pop! The base is pressed into a baking dish and then you pour a layer of melted dark chocolate over the top of the bars – I try and buy pure dark chocolate chips with no added sugar to keep these bars ‘healthy’. You can make this layer as thick or as thin as you like, but I definitely prefer a little thicker. A sprinkle of coconut and sea salt over the top gives you just a little more flavor and texture and makes them look so pretty too! You’ll just want to chill them for a bit so the chocolate firms up before cutting them into bars then you can store them in the fridge for about a week or individually wrap them up and stick them in the freezer for a quick grab and go treat anytime. Enjoy!
