I came up with the recipe for these little bites of heaven by accident! I was trying to make protein balls and because I didn’t have enough dates, I ended up using too much water and making the mixture too sticky to roll into balls. Believe me, I tried! To no avail. Two sticky hands and 1 confuzzled mind later, I decided to pop some more nuts into the mixture and make it into a beautifully sweet and chewy slice instead.
And boy, am I glad I did! This slice is reminiscent of one of my all-time favourite sweet treats, hedgehog slice. The dates make the bites so lovely and chewy while the cashews balance out the texture by adding a subtle crunch. The coconut and cacao are the icing on the cake (almost literally!) giving it a beautiful rich sweetness.
They’re perfect with a cup of tea or coffee, as an afternoon snack or for a wee sweet treat after dinner!
Chocolate and Coconut Bliss Bites
Makes 12 bites
Ingredients
1 ½ cups cashews
8 medjool dates
2 tablespoons raw cacao powder
1 cup unsweetened desiccated coconut + 1 tablespoon
¼ cup water
Blitz ¾ cup of cashews, dates, cacao powder and ½ cup coconut in a food processor, and blitz until all of the ingredients have combined into a crumbly dough.
Add the water and the other ½ cup of coconut to the mixture and process until smooth and sticky. Then add the rest of the cashews, and process briefly so that they’re not broken up completely, but add a nice crunch to the mixture. (Alternatively, you can put the cashews on top of the slice before you add the coconut and put it in the freezer.)
Pour the mixture into a square tin lined with baking paper, using a metal tablespoon to evenly spread the mixture out.
Sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of coconut evenly over the top of the slice. Pop the slice in the freezer to set. After an hour or two, take the slice out and cut into squares.
Store in an airtight container in the freezer… If you don’t eat them all at once!
