CHOCOLATE FUDGE BARS with PECANS & MACA

I made these with the sole goal of pleasing my non-vegan extended family members on pizza and movie night. Yes, we have pizza and movie night EVERY Saturday and we've done it since before I even knew the days of the week. My fam is the coolest. 

These are just delicious. 100% pleasing and 100% good for you. Make them for your loved ones (or not-loved ones) to show them that the raw vegan world of food and flavour is not all carrot sticks and grass! These are creamy, chocolatey, pecan-y (it's a word, okay) delight wrapped into cute little squares and anyone who doesn't like them is crazy.

Maybe that was a little critical. I'm sorry. I just love chocolate. But you already know this.

The base of this recipe is made up of raisins and pecans. Flavour-wise, pecans are probably my favourite nut... they might be tied with walnuts though. I also added a splash of homemade vanilla extract and a pinch of salt to bring out da flavas. The chocolate fudge is mainly dates, cacao powder, almond butter and coconut oil. I added some maca for secret hidden extra nutrition (did I just rhyme? Let's say yes).

I'd like to take a moment to THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for the amazing and heartwarming messages I received after my last post. I cannot possibly show my gratitude enough. You guys are so special to me and now that I have you in my life - I don't wanna let go! Big cyber hug and kisses. P.S. you must listen to this song... I've had it on repeat for awhile.

CHOCOLATE FUDGE BARS with PECANS & MACA

Base:
1 cup pecans
1 cup raisins
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
Pinch of salt

Chocolate fudge:
1 3/4 cups dates
2 tablespoons cacao powder
2 tablespoons maca powder
3 tablespoons melted coconut oil
1/4 cup almond butter (or any other seed or nut butter you like)
1/4-3/4 cup water, use as needed

To make the base: pulse the pecans into powder in your food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients and process until it begins to stick together. Press into the bottom of a lined baking pan and put in the fridge. 

To make the fudge: process or blend all the ingredients together until smooth and thick, adding as little water as possible. It will thicken up a little more in the fridge. Spread onto your base, decorate with pecans if you want, and refrigerate for 3 hours or over night. Cut and chomp! 

raw fudge brownies: YEAH BABY!

Thank you, Mother Nature.

These sexy things are delicious and packed with nutrients to keep you living long; enjoying life and all it has to offer... like brownies.Raw desserts are pretty much the easiest food in the world to make, because usually they consist of just dates, nuts, coconut oil, and whatever else you want to add. These are no different.

Normal brownie ingredients? White flour, white sugar, butter, and cocoa. What're those gonna do for you?! Make you sleepy and gain weight. In these brownies: there's prunes, dates, hemp, chia, flax, cocoa, mesquite, cinnamon, vanilla and oats. Yummy in my tummy, good FOR my body. 

Yours too.

You can make these in like 5 minutes, and they'll disappear even faster. The best part (aside from eating them) is telling people they're healthy and made from whole foods! It's a magical world, my friends. These are also great for pre- or post-workout snacks!

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Raw Fudge Brownies: makes about 8 large brownies

1 1/2 cup oats

1 cup dates & prunes

1 t vanilla extract 

3 Tb coconut oil, melted

1/4 cup honey/agave/maple syrup

2 Tb mesquite powder (optional)

1/4 cup cup hemp seed

2 Tb flax seed

2 Tb chia seed
1/3 cup cashews (preferably soaked)

1/3 cup cocoa/cacao

1/2 t cinnamon
Pinch of salt

Put dates and prunes in bowl of water. Set aside.

Blend 1 cup of the oats in blender until it becomes oat flour. Then in a food processor, process dates and prunes (with about 1/4 cup of the water) with all the other wet ingredients until smooth. Now add all the dry ingredients, including the remaining 1/2 cup of whole oats and oat flour. Good consistency? It should be thick, but very moist. Press it into a pan lined with tin foil or plastic wrap and set in the fridge for a little bit so the coconut oil can stiffen them up.

Then cut 'em up and serve! Make a chocolate sauce for them, or have with fruit and nut butter!

*You can make these even simpler by just blending dates, cashews coconut oil and cacao. But I always like to add a bunch of stuff for more flavours. I cannot help it. It's up to you!

a dream come true! coconut chocolate date cups

Last night I dreamt I was at a party with all my friends, on a boat. We were all dancing and havin' a great time when someone was like - "there's raw vegan prizes!"
 I won a raw vegan peanut butter cup! In my dream, this translated into this thing in the shape of a peanut butter cup, but the chocolate part was coconut butter, and the filling was dates, nut butter and cacao. Yum!
So I woke up and I thought - "I need to make this". Thus today I made my dreams come true... deliciously, healthily true.

I'm tired of hearing people say coconuts are fattening because they have a lot of fat. This is simply not true. In fact, unless you're eating buckets of coconut butter everyday, it will probably help you lose weight; as the animal fats or processed oils in your body are replaced with mean and lean medium chain fatty acids (of saturated fat). THESE fats found in coconut have no cholesterol, and they have anti-viral, anti-microbial and anti-fungal properties. They also have a crazy amount of anti-oxidants which fight cancer; cholesterol-lowering properties; and skin-moisturizing abilities (Wolfe, 2009). I use coconut oil on my skin and hair almost every day.

Coconut is a superfood I think everyone should eat!  See for yourself. 

Did you know?  Coconut water is almost identical to blood plasma.  And greens are basically chlorophyll (which is just like hemoglobin). Blood is made up of 55% plasma, and 45% hemoglobin - so when you blend a drink of 55% coconut water and 45% green smoothie - you get a blood transfusion!

Coconut Date Dreams: makes around 4

 

1/4 cup coconut butter

2 Tb cashew butter

1 Tb almond butter

3 soaked dates

1 Tb honey/agave/maple syrup 

3 t cocoa 

Some vanilla and salt, to taste 

Melt the about 1/3 of the coconut butter and pour a very small amount into the bottom of 3 cupcake papers/molds... perhaps 1/2 cm? (However much coconut butter you want to be on the bottom)

Put these in the fridge.

Next, blend all the other ingredients until smooth. Taste it... yum! 

When the coconut butter has re-hardened in the molds, drop a scoop of the date mixture into each, make sure they're not too tall, and don't touch the sides. Refrigerate again.

When they've hardened a bit more, pour the rest of the coconut butter over each (you may have to melt it again). The melted coconut butter should just cover the date mixture.

Put 'em back in the fridge and let them harden up, until they're white. Then take them out of their molds and voila! Delicious for your mouth, skin, hair and cells! 

nature's fudge

Eat this as soon as possible. It will improve your life.

Not to be too blunt, but this is a mouthgasm for sure. Better than any candy bar I've ever had, AND it packs a nutritional punch. I eat way too many of these.

There's not much else to say except that you will not be able to have just one.

A Moment of Happiness: serves one

 

1 dried medjool date, pitted

1 teaspoon almond butter (or other nut butter, you could even use chocolate)  

Cut the date in the middle and fill it with the nut butter or chocolate. (Pretty simple, folks.) EAT.