Five Minute Raw Cacao Snack Bars

Five Minute Raw Cacao Snack Bars

Happy Monday!

Don’t let the enthusiasm fool you: I spent the better part of my day cramming for a calculus midterm and wishing that my weekend frolics with Anne, Evan, Matt, and Sana hadn’t ended. I even checked airfare to Raleigh a couple of times (to be clear, Anne is getting her R.D. at UNC Chapel Hill), so it’s appropriate that the title of today’s recipe—Five Minute Raw Cacao Snack Bars—is inspired by Anne’s famous five minute packable lunches and snacks, which you can peruse here.

Fact: I’m not a fast cook. I can be fast if I have to be, but by nature I’m too methodical to work quickly. It’s the perfectionist in me: I like my ingredients carefully measured, my textures perfect, my meals balanced. I’ve always been grateful for the fact that I’m a raw foods lover, because they’re hard to belabor. The raw recipes I love—soups, salads, pates, wraps—are just too simple to get too nitpicky over, and they tend to work against my own impulses toward overthinking things in the kitchen.

Case in point: these ridiculously easy and tasty raw snack bars. These are very reminiscent of my lemon kissed cashew hemp bars, except the base is exclusively cashew and date (no hemp). I’ve found that simply using a 1:1 cashew to date ratio in my raw snack bars works out perfectly (1 cup cashews for every 1 cup dates, for instance). I grind the nuts in my processor, add the dates, run the motor, wait for the whole thing to clump up, and then shape my bars. The process takes no more than five minutes, and when I add the dates, I can also add any particular flavors I want: cinnamon, chocolate, vanilla, cherry, orange, and so on. So, so easy.

I think we can all agree that double midterm Mondays call for chocolate. So this morning, as I tried to whip up a snack that would be tasty, sweet, and energy-giving, I decided to try out my very first chocolate flavored snack bar. My verdict? Two thumbs up. This bar tastes a little bit like chocolate, a little bit like coffee (I say this because it contains raw cacao nibs, and I think they taste like coffee beans) and it’s sweet without being too sweet. Perfect for snacking as you memorize and rememorize the chain rule.

IMG_5536 (550x367)

Five Minute Raw Cacao Snack Bars (raw, vegan, gluten and soy free)

Yields 12 bars

2 cups cashews
2 cups pitted dates
1/4 cup raw cacao powder
1/4 cup raw cacao nibs

Directions:

1) Place the cashews into a food processor and process till they’re well ground.

2) Add the dates and cacao powder, and process till the mixture is starting to clump into a large mass.

3) Add cacao nibs, and pulse to combine.

4) Line an 8 X 12 or 9 X 9 baking dish with tin foil. Empty the dought into the foil and press it down with your fingers so that it’s uniformly thick and even. Refrigerate for about thirty minutes or more. Cut into 10-12 bar shapes, and serve!

Great texture:

Five Minute Raw Cacao Snack Bars

The cacao nibs add a perfect amount of crunch. As you can see, some of the bars were beautifully uniform. Others were a little, um, uneven:

IMG_5543 (550x367)

I’ll learn to shape them perfectly at some point. Why don’t you give them a try, and see if you can do better than I did?

I’m excited to be back here tomorrow; I’ll be bringing you a very special guest post, which I hope will be the first in a very special series of guest posts. I have a lot to say about that—but right now, my eyelids are drooping. Bedtime for this blogger.

Before you guys tuck in tonight, take a moment to read this thoughtful and hopeful piece by John Robbins in today’s Huffington Post. A lovely balance of encouragement and tolerance, I think.

xo

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Categories: Snacks
Dietary Preferences: Raw

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    56 Comments
  1. Great recipe thank you so much I’m going to make it this week. Also I felt that your Huffington post article shed some light on some issues. Have a great day

  2. I find that if the squares don’t come out nice, it’s really easy to roll balls.

  3. I made mine and they were sticky, So I took a cup of oats and milled it, Then rolled the treats in the mill.

  4. I read someone’s comments about cacao nibs being “dangerous” and “addictive” and while I can’t speak scientifically about cacao, I can definitely say that these fantastic bars are DANGEROUSLY ADDICTIVE! They were SO good I completely lost all power of will and ate so many I made myself literally sick.

  5. Is there a place on this site (maybe I’m missing it) where I can find the nutritional information for these recipes?

  6. Holy double-chocolate-truffle-bite Batman! I made these to take rock climbing with me tomorrow, but I’m not sure they’ll last that long. DH is already asking me to set some aside for his bike ride.

  7. Gena hi, this has nothing to do with sweets, but I just made my 5 minute spinach soup and have wanted to share this with you for a while- it is a Finnish recipe from my Finnish mother (which explains the ii in my name!)

    It takes 15 minutes here, but could take 5 minutes… depending on how small you cut the potatoes.

    1 L (about 4 cups) vegetable stock
    2 potatoes peeled and sliced into small pieces
    1 onion peeled and cut in 4
    1 package of frozen or raw spinach

    1/2 lemon (for squeezing on top at the end)

    Bring the stock, potatoes, onion to boil for 15 minutes (or until the potatoes are cooked soft), add spinach and boil for another few minutes until cooked, take off heat, use hand blender to puree. Serve with generous amount of lemon squeezed on top. Mmmmm Pinaattikeittoa! (that’s spinach soup in Finnish)

  8. I’ve been experimenting with all sorts of date-based bar combinations the past month or so. This looks simple and delicious! One of my favorites so far: dates, almonds, walnuts, dark choc chips, cinnamon and vanilla. It’s amazing!

  9. I’m in college too and I’m taking physics, chem and calculus! In fact I have a physics midterm tomorrow (totally screwed) and a chem midterm Thursday.

    What level of cal/physics/chem are you taking? I know this is grad school, but maybe we are on the same material presently?

  10. These look awesome! I love making my own Larabar type snacks. I tend to devour them as soon as they come out of the processor though! :]

  11. Calculus scares me, but those bars sound great. I go through phases of making cashew-based treats, and I’m in one of them right now. I have cookie dough balls in my freezer, as well as freshly made cashew butter in my fridge. I’ll have to give something like this a try next! I just bought more raw cashews today from the Co-op. Perfect! Now, if only they weren’t so expensive (even when they’re on sale in the bulk section). Sigh.

  12. These look lovely 🙂 And, you have given me a template to make my husband some lara-bar-like bars for his birthday (he loves Lara Bars, and I love the idea of making some for his birthday).

  13. These sound delicious. I’m still leaning more towards making your fresh lemon bars, but who can say no to chocolate? I’ll have to find cacao nibs somewhere.

  14. Hi Gena! This is the first time I’ve ever posted on someone’s blog! I had calculus a LONG time ago, but here is how I memorized the chain rule: “ho dee hi minus hi dee ho over ho ho”. It means low times the derivative of high, minus high times the derivative of low over low squared. I know it sounds ridiculous, but please bear in mind that the last time I used the chain rule was about 20 years ago and I STILL remember that darned thing.

    By the way, LOVE your blog!

  15. Oh wow, Gena… it sounds like you’ve come up with another winning flavour combination. I can’t wait to try these! I think I’ll try subbing macadamia nuts for the cashews as they are a little less acidic. Yum! Love me some cacao nibs. 😉 xox

  16. The recipe is so easy and they look delicious! I began eating higher raw recently and I’d heard raw was so time-consuming, but for me, it’s actually been a big time-saver! I love it!

  17. Those sound delicious! I’m all about the chocolate this week.

    Also, I’m sure you’re gonna hate to hear this, but I love Calculus and doing derivatives! I’m a math geek 🙂

  18. you know what? you did the best you could do on that exam– so that must be good enough!! you’re a rock star, don’t forget it.

    also, i saw that article! thoughts?

  19. Snack bars are not something I make or eat that frequently but on the odd occasion when I pick up a Larabar at Trader Joe’s I really enjoy them. Since these take no time to put together and seem to be almost infinitely variable I will definitely give them at try. Also, as someone who lives in Durham, right next to Raleigh, I have to agree with Anne: it is in fact lovely at this time of year.

  20. 1) Those look so delicious! Must try them ASAP since, as you know, I only like making things that take 5 minutes or less. 🙂

    2) I hear Raleigh is lovely this time of year 😉

  21. Ah studying sucks sometimes, doesn’t it? I’m doing mostly writing-based classes, but nonetheless, it still is exhausting sometimes. I so want to make these bars-I bet that they taste even better than Lara bars.

  22. “I think we can all agree that double midterm Mondays call for chocolate. ”

    Hahaha, oh yes we can! This made me laugh. Even less drastic moments also call for it in my book, but that scenario especially!

  23. These look really yummy. I tend to be a fast cook because I am impatient – I don’t like fussing too much. But that doesn’t mean I won’t spend hours in the kitchen making 5 or 6 different dishes at at time. I love to multi task.

  24. i agree – mondays need chocolate!
    thanks for the quick n ez bar recipe…they sound great! i love getting ideas for this type of snack – way cheaper than buying a larabar, and it’s fun to customize your own recipe!
    i’m with you – a methodical cook, to be sure. when recipes give how much time the prep will take, etc. i always have to double it!
    good luck with your school work today, gena!

  25. My hat to you! You are about to face down of my greatest demons, calculus — a demon so great I was only brave enough to battle its youthful nephew, precal.

    Ride into battle and slay the beast!

    Oh, and your cacao bars look lovely! -sigh- I miss my “funky vegan” ingredients from back in the States. I could get cacao nibs if I really wanted to…but they are even pricier. But if you ever DO come to London, hit me up for good veggie places! I think I’ve been to every lauded vegan restaurant in London.

  26. Thanks for the article link! Sort of.. It was an interesting and well-written article, definitely, but reading through the comments was a depressing reminder of serious ignorance and bias against vegan nutrition

    • The comments on this article made me so so sad. As Jessica commented so succintly above it “was a depressing reminder of serious ignorance and bias against vegan nutrition”. It’s so easy to blindly follow the common western norm, and understandably it’s difficult to consider the possibily that this accepted ‘norm’ is causing so much unnecessary pain, but this attitude can be stifling at times from the people I interact with daily. I feel blessed to have found online communities in the blogisphere that reflect my own beliefs and lifestyle.

      Thank you Gena for being so wonderfully open and vibrant, and for sharing your lifestyle and knowledge with the web community. Your down to earth style and attitude always brighten my day. It’s great to find others living and thriving through a veg’n lifestyle.
      Yikes that was long – aplologies for novelizing in your comments!

  27. Oy – I do NOT miss that part of grad school. Good luck!

    These look great – I love the nut-date base because the sky is the limit. I made some with cocoa, cinnamon and chili powder that I couldn’t stop eating. Nibs sound awesome – love a crunch!

  28. I loooove chocolate, so I have been curious about cacao nibs. While some sources call the nibs a superfood, some raw foodists have gone so far as to say they are “addictive”, “dangerous” and “poisonous”. I won’t point fingers, since I’m sure you have probably read these opinions yourself from time to time. I assume you don’t subscribe to the thought that cacao is dangerous since you put them in this recipe. Do you have any comments though on these claims? Is this just a case of a food that needs a moderate approach?

  29. I spent 12 hours today studying for a genetics lab midterm. Serious mind f%$@*. I don’t think the exam had a solution, but just knowing that you were doing the same thing today just made it a lot better.
    I hope your day went well 🙂

  30. Oh wow, these look delish! I can’t believe I got a shout out in the last post, I feel famous. 🙂 Hope your exams went well!

  31. Yay for this: This bar tastes a little bit like chocolate, a little bit like coffee!

    I have Raw Vegan Fudge Balls. Same thing. Dates, cashews, cocoa and I like to add vanilla extract sometimes or if my mixture isn’t clumping right or it’s too dry, sometimes a tiny tiny squirt of agave enables that “perfect consistency”.

    A 2:1 ratio of dates to nuts usually works for me but that’s b/c i use TJs dates and they seem to be extra moist and juicy. <—TWSS. 🙂

    The bars look great, Gena. And can't wait to see what tricks you have up your sleeve for the guest posts!

  32. I’m looking for more easy and nutrient- dense snacks to take to school and work, so these look perfect! I’ll have to give them a shot:)

  33. Oh my, I must pick up some cacao nibs. Delish.

    I just love John Robbins. Reading his books is what sent me down this vegan path. I am so grateful.

  34. Gena, I can definitely sympathize with you–I had Calculus last semester and I never looked forward to the tests 🙁 But these bars do look amazing! you can’t go wrong with chocolate! 🙂

  35. I find it funny that all 5 of us are in college or grad school. If anyone knows how to put off studying, surely we do.
    Cacao nibs are so perfect. I love their bitter crunch. I hope they get sold more widely in the coming years.

  36. Sounds delicious — specifically the cacao nibs! This reminds me of a test routine I have (it’s actually very unintentional; it just happens). Whenever I have an exam coming up, I have this compulsion to bake the night before. I know, it seems totally counterproductive. But, for some reason, it helps calm me down, and I can focus my brain once I’ve got some muffins or such out of the oven. Must be a trick or something! 🙂

  37. Oh yes. Yes yes yes. Having just entered the workforce proper, I’m needing treats and snacks like these on a more serious basis than ever before. And as someone who is currently fuelling the 3pm slump with handfuls of dark chocolate chips from a bag in my desk drawer…. I really should make these 😉