Healthy Chocolate Squares

It is hard to find good recipes for wholefood snacks so when you do they are worth holding onto! This is one of the best recipes we have found. We define the best based on ease of ingredient access, cooking and prep time, success rate and of course delicious taste - all of which score a 10/10 in this case! But then again, when you combine dark chocolate with almost anything there is a high chance it is going to taste amazing! 

What's in our healthy chocolate squares?

Chocolate and honey of course! Dark chocolate, with little sugar and real, raw, pure honey is our personal preference.  For those that like peanut butter and do not have a nut allergy then peanut butter (as pure as you can get it) is the perfect addition, otherwise you can substitute the peanut butter with ground sunflower seeds mixed with a bit of water to make a paste. The rest of the recipe is really up to your own imagination.

The inclusions are a personal preference. We LOVE organic raisins and sultanas or cranberries, soaked overnight in water to make them extra juicy. You can also include diced dried apple, diced dried apricot, chopped dates or dried blueberries. Puffed rice (or any puffed grains), rolled oats, raw buckwheat (trust us on this one, it is delicious and buckwheat isn't as hard as it looks) pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds (roasted or raw) and desiccated coconut are all amazing inclusions. 

How to make our healthy chocolate squares?

The base ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups 71% dark chocolate callets
• 1 cup pure peanut butter, or 3/4 cup sunflower seeds ground in a blender/grinder mixed with 1 tbsp of water to form a paste similar to peanut butter consistency. 
• 1/4 cup raw, pure honey
• 1/2 cup coconut oil

The inclusions:

• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• 2 1/2 cups of other inclusions. Inclusions can be any of the following but our guide is:
• 3/4 cup dried fruits (Organic raisins, sultanas, cranberries, diced dried apple, chopped dried apricot, chopped dates etc).
• 3/4 cup puffed and whole grains (puffed rice, puffed spelt, puffed amaranth, rolled oats, buckwheat)
• 3/4 cup nuts and seeds (sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, hulled hemp seeds and sesame seeds, or pecan nuts, walnuts, almond flakes, crushed peanuts).

Shop these ingredients.

Method:

1. Soak raisins, sultanas, cranberries or dates overnight in water (optional).
2. Melt chocolate callets, honey, coconut oil and peanut butter (or sunflower seed paste) together in double boiler and mix until consistency is even and smooth. 
3. Remove from the heat. Add all other ingredients and mix.
4. Pour mixture into baking tray and spread evenly. 
5. Sprinkle with seeds or desiccated coconut.
6. Allow to cool. Once cooled, slice gently to make guide lines for easier slicing once set. Move to the fridge to set.
7. Once set slice again. Move to an airtight container and store in the fridge.

Serve and enjoy!

Our top tips for better Healthy Chocolate Squares.

1. These squares are delicious!! So much so that the family is likely to devour the entire batch regardless of how many in the batch. The recipe makes a large tray. We usually halve the recipe for our household of 2, plus the odd visitor, during the week.
2. Real dark chocolate, as used in this recipe, melts at 25'C and above. As delicious as these chocolate squares are they do not make great lunchbox snacks because of their low melting point. Keep them stored in the fridge.
3. Because of their high fruit and nut content they make a good pick-me-up after sport or a snack between meals. 

Enjoy! 

Shop this recipe. Buy all ingredients needed to make healthy chocolate squares here.