Sneaking to the fridge
I thought after posting all these anti sugar information on my FB page I must share this recipe.I have stopped eating sweets completely last summer because they made me feel bad. Maybe the right word here is unwell. My head was spinning, and it felt something was racing through my bloodstream. Not easy to describe but you might get the idea. My husband always says I am illness obsessed, but I'm not, I am health obsessed. And food has a great impact on how I feel. Finding out that I was coeliac was a relief and all additional allergies explained, why food did not leave me feeling good at all.
Ten years later I still notice reactions after certain food but step by step I am eliminating those and probably end up raw or vegan or both.
So although I was not bothered about the lack of sweets I sometimes really want to eat something that is sweet and you can eat only so many apples or mangoes and you have to think of buying them and carrying them home. In this country you find Nakd bars in the gluten-free section and they provide a great snack. I had to hide my bars from my kids and defend them. Sometimes I would make chocolate chili energy balls at home but they have lots of ingredients and forming balls takes a long time, but that was a nice addition for my sweet tooth as well.
Now when you start going into one direction and searching all of a sudden other doors open. I brought my balls to a retreat and to my surprise the lady there offered similar ones as a snack. Then somebody else said she has that Nakd bar recipe. I did not ask for it but I thought why have I never thought about making them myself? So I found this recipe, it is easy and very good. Proud of my first batch I went back to that lady and we did a Nakd bar taster session.........
And now I thought it is time to share this recipe myself.
Basically I use the recipe mentioned above. But I am very bad at measuring and when it comes to cups even worse, so I do everything more freestyle.
I get a bag of cashews, for example 200 gr and I put them in the processor and grind them down to very small pieces. Then I put about a third more dates in. Now if you only have this amount of dates you have to work backwards because you need the right balance to get a dough. You can adjust a bit with adding oil, in case it is not doughy enough but the main ingredient is dates.
I always have a 5kg dates bag at home because there are many sweet teeth in my household and I do not stack chocolate in the cupboards. So this is an attempt to prevent chocolate cravings. Chocolate, of course is a very important ingredient in those bars too. Chocolate is just really nice and if you don't live in Belgium you probably have no idea how nice chocolate can be. Sadly in our supermarket aisles are only sugar bombs. For the recipe you also need chocolate powder. I have raw one at home, which tastes awesome. Add 2 tablespoons or more.
Now this would be enough for the plain version, which is nice, but....and now it comes, adding a flavor is even better!
Orange! Add the zest of an orange and a tiny bit of juice. Not too much because it needs to be a dough!!! Soooooo nice.
Organic Peppermint Oil! This I ordered it online and it came today, mmmmmmmmmmh. Add about one table spoon, depending on the amount of dough.
I am sure I will create other flavors too (chili, matcha?), and will update it, but this is enough for a start.
After you processed it all into a dough, you can test it by forming a ball, and obviously you have to try it too. If the consistency is not right add more dates or coconut oil (not for the peppermint version). Put it all onto a baking paper sheet press together and using a rolling pin flatten it into a rectangle or square, about 7 mm high. Now this height came out as a good one, as it provides many snacks and it is thick enough not to break. Get enough paper to cover it when it is flat, like wrapping up a gift (book) and put it into the fridge this will make it easier to cut. I cut it into 1x2 cm pieces, about, what ever shape pleases you, but no forming balls or even covering them in toppings is necessary. You might have to wash the knife several times. Then place them into a sealed container and leave them in the fridge. Now this is the hard part. It is not easy to stay away from the fridge from now on (although you might have eaten them all together while preparing them?).
What I like about this is that I don't need many ingredients, I can order them in bulk and it takes about 5 minutes to make them. And compared to the ones from the shop, I must say, mine are better! And, I can buy high quality ingredients and know exactly what goes into my bars.
So thanks for posting that recipe in the first place and thanks for all the tasters.........
Peace.
