Raw brownie bites - a healthy treat, gluten and dairy free

Got a chocolate craving ? but you are trying to eat healthy, what about these deliciously moreish raw brownie bites. Easy to make if you have a decent food processor and dairy and gluten free, they are also a great way of using up the last of the Christmas nuts too, as you can mix and match the nut content with whatever nuts you have to hand. Favourite in our household is almonds but pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts would all work well.

The keep well in the fridge in a container cut into small bite-sized pieces, but they won't last that long I promise you. I would recommend if possible just a couple a day to stave off the chocolate cravings, they also only contain just a little honey as a sweetener, as there is no baking involved I used some of our precious Honey from our hosted hive.

So what's not to like.......

What you need

• 100g Whole shelled nuts with skins on - almonds / walnuts / hazelnuts
• 250g pitted dates (ordinary or Medjool if you can get them)
• 2 generous tablespoon of Local Honey (I used some from our hive)
• 80g Cocoa powder (Raw or at the very least Organic)
• Pinch of salt
• 50g Chopped nuts - pecan, walnuts, almonds, I used flaked  almonds as that's all I had

What you do

• Blitz the whole shelled nuts until you have a coarse powder in your food processor
• Add the Dates, Cocoa, Honey and salt to the bowl, blitz until the mixture is well chopped and starting to come together.
• Add the chopped nuts, and quickly incorporate into the mixture.
• Tip into a greaseproof lined cake tin, a 20cm square seems to be about the right size.
• Press down the mixture firmly, cover with clingfilm and press down again
• Chill in the fridge for a couple of hours
• Remove from fridge and then chop into small bite sized squares, pop them in an airtight box in the fridge to store.

We are joining in with "We should Cocoa" created by Choclette over at Tin and Thyme and hosted this month by Lovely Appetite. The theme this month being "Simple Recipes"

                                                          

Cherry Chocky Rocky Road

Chocolate and cherries, a pretty classic combination in my book and this is also the theme for this months We should cocoa challenge. Now I don't know about you but I like a occasional piece of chocolate tiffin, that delightfully decadent chocolate layered tray biscuit. This make (its not a bake as no is baking involved) is inspired by tiffin but also by rocky road as well.

Ingredients

• 200g Digestive biscuits - rough crushed
• 75g glace cherries - rinsed, dried and halved
• 75g dried sour cherries
• Handful of mini marshmallows
• 60g dessicated coconut
• 2 tbsp golden syrup
• 1 tbsp hot chocolate drink powder ( I used green and blacks)
• 125g butter
• Small bar of milk chocolate - bashed to break up
• Bar of White chocolate

Method

• Grease and line with baking paper a square deep cake tin approx 6" across
• Put the golden syrup, butter and hot chocolate powder in a small pan, melt and just bring to a gentle simmer, remove from heat.
• In a large bowl place all the other ingredients except the white chocolate, mix well and add the melted butter mixture, stir to mix until all is well coated
• Press firmly into the tin
• Now melt the white chocolate and drizzle onto the top of the biscuit mixture
• Place in the fridge to set firmly

I am also taking part in Maison Cupcake's Zero Baking Required blog link up 

And of course We should cocoa hosted this month by Farmersgirl blogspot