Nut, fruit and seed chocolate

If like me you like to have chocolate from time to time (or even daily!) don’t worry - there is lots of goodness you can wrap up in a chocolate treat. Cocoa itself has lots of antioxidants - best eaten in it’s raw form, but you will still get some benefits from the processed product. Try and eat it in as pure a form as possible - 85% cocoa solids or above if you can. If you are not that fond of dark chocolate give this recipe a go - I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

This is a fabulous recipe which mixes the goodness of chocolate with lovely fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals from seeds and nuts, and you can add some sweetness with dried fruit. I’ve included walnuts and linseeds for their omega-3 fats, pumpkin seeds for their magnesium and zinc (amongst other minerals), sesame seeds for their calcium and sunflower seeds for their vitamin E and selenium.

Including fats and proteins with a carbohydrate helps to lower the glycemic index of that food, helping to dampen the insulin response you will get from eating the food - and so helping to stop that post-sugar-crash that you might often get after eating chocolate.

So give these beauties a go - and let me know what you think!

All you need:

Dark chocolate: preferably 85% soilds

A mixture of nuts and seeds (I used a mix of walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, linseed, sesame seeds)

Dried fruit (your choice of raisins, sultanas, cherries, cranberries, apricots, etc. cut up as necessary) 

Flakes of sea salt, desiccated coconut or cocoa nibs

All you do:

1. Melt the chocolate gently in a bowl over simmering water

Either:

2. Stir in the seeds, nuts and dried fruit until you have a thick 'goop'

3. Spread the mix over silicone paper or baking parchment

4. Sprinkle on a pinch of sea salt flakes, coconut, or cocoa nibs (or be bold and a mixture!)

Or:

2. spread the chocolate over silicone paper or baking parchment,

3. Spread on the nut, seed and fruit mixture, and press into the chocolate

4. Sprinkle on the topping (salt, coconut or cocoa nibs) and using a spatula press into the chocolate

Then:

5. Leave the chocolate to cool and solidify before breaking it into segments. Enjoy 

Note - remember the dried fruit is very high in sugar so use appropriately 😃 

Nut, seed and fruit chocolate