Decadent, Fruit and Nut Chocolate Slab

This is my all-time favourite recipe for trail mix. The mix of salty, smoky and sweet is totally divine and somewhat addictive. 

Last Easter, while looking for healthy chocolate projects to make with my girls, I came across a great recipe for fruit and nut chocolate bars from my colleague, the fabulous nutritionist, Nicola Moore. And I used her chocolate recipe (very slightly adjusted) with my trail mix recipe to make easter eggs.

The last couple of Christmases I have made chocolate bark using various toppings, but I think this year is the PERFECT opportunity to revisit this combination, and make it as a slab instead of eggs.

You can double the trail mix recipe and keep half of it  to have on hand for holiday snacks and nibbles.

Ingredients:

Trail Mix

• 1 cup of roasted and salted cashews
• 1/4 cup of walnut pieces
• 1/4 cup of raw macadamia nuts or hazelnuts
• 1/4 cup of goji berries
• 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1/4 cup dried blueberries or mulberries

Chocolate

• 100g coconut oil
• 50g cocoa powder
• 2 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1 dessertspoon of cashew butter

You can also, for convenience, melt a block of organic, dark chocolate and use that to make the base.

Instructions:

1. First, spread the walnuts out onto a baking sheet and toast in the oven at 180 C for 10 minutes, or until brown and delicious smelling, but not burned. Let cool.
2. Mix all of the trail mix ingredients together in a large bowl.
3. Line your baking tray with baking parchment
4. Gently melt the coconut oil until clear, then add the cocoa powder and mix in gently and patiently until smooth.
5. Stir in the maple syrup and cashew butter (or, melt your chocolate bar gently in the oven in a glass pyrex jug or similar)
6. Pour the chocolate on the baking tray into a slab shape (pour slowly, and not too thin), tip the trail mix onto the chocolate.
7. Place in the fridge to set. Once set, slice into small squares if you made the chocolate yourself, and crack it if you used bought chocolate.

Note that this needs to be kept chilled, it becomes very soft at room temperature, so just bring it out before you are going to enjoy it.

Sueson Vess

Sueson Vess is a professional chef, author/food writer and educator helping people eat healthier, especially those with food intolerances and others with chronic illnesses. She is passionate about nutrition and helping others achieve and maintain a “good for your health” lifestyle. There are always delicious, helpful and healthy solutions! Her focus is on “Foods with Benefits” – learning to increase delicious beneficial foods in your daily life. Sueson makes bone broth at Nature’s Own in North Carolina, and teaches cooking classes at FirstHeath and Duke Cancer Center. She is a regular contributing writer for Sandhills Naturally and Gluten-Free & More publications.