Raw Chocolate Bar Recipe

Raw Chocolate Bar Recipe

Today we are making a Raw Chocolate Bar recipe! This recipe uses a base of three raw ingredients to make your own chocolate bar: dates, cacao and almond flour. Then the add-ins are goji berries, cacao nibs and almonds, mixed into the chocolate mixture by pulsing in the blender. It’s shaped and cut into bars, then stored in the refrigerator. These are the real deal! It’s like eating healthy candy – you have to try out these no bake vegan chocolate bars before you say you won’t eat the whole thing in one sitting!

Recently, someone asked me what my favourite food was. Unlike most others who answered this question, my answer was not anything along the lines of Italian food (pizza, pasta, gnocchi? Fettuccine? I appreciate, but not my FAVOURITE). I said dates! Why? Because they are a soft and gooey caramel-like fruits (yes, dates are a fruit) made straight from nature, with hundreds of varieties available.

So a snack I’ll make often is to blend up raw cocoa powder, dates, oats and random nuts and seeds together. This creates a chewy chocolate dough that I shape into energy balls, bars, or eat straight out of the blender. It was always a spur of the moment snack, but today I decided to document this recipe because it was too good not to share with you all!

What is Raw Cacao Powder?

It took a long time until I became aware that cacao was different than cocoa powder. My entire life I thought that some places just spelled the same powder in different ways, not realizing they were actually referring to something else! Before we look at the difference, let’s focus on where chocolate actually comes from.

Well, chocolate is made of two main ingredients, aside from being processed with other flavors or preservatives to make it milk chocolate, dark chocolate and so on. These two ingredients are cacao nibs and sweetener! If you have these two, you can actually make your own form of a raw chocolate bar at home.

Now, let’s look at cocoa versus cacao. Cacao is referring to the raw material, which are the cacao beans that are taken from the cacao bean tree (the Theobroma cacao tree). Cocoa is actually referring to the beans, after they are ground and roasted (using high temperature processes, which aren’t the best in terms of maintaining the quality of nutrition in cacao).

When we look at cacao powder versus cocoa powder, it is talking about the powders that come from this definition of cocoa vs. cacao.

Cacao can come in the form of the cacao nib (like a “raw chocolate chip” almost), as cacao paste (what’s otherwise known as cacao butter / cocoa butter) or cacao powder.

More About Chocolate

A mature cacao tree produces cacao pods (which are actually a fruit!) and then the cacao beans are extracted and used for chocolate. Each of these pods can hold 20 to 60 seeds, which are called the cacao beans. They usually grow in tropical climates, such as Brazil and Ecuador. However, Africa currently harvests three-quarters of the world’s cacao beans!

Other Add-Ins

As mentioned in the recipe notes below, there are tons of other add-ins that can make this recipe taste amazing. If using a different add-in than the ones I’m using in the recipe card below, I do not recommend to use more than the certain amount of tablespoons. For example, if substituting the two tablespoons of chopped almonds for pumpkin seeds, do not use more than two tablespoons of pumpkin seeds. This is because the dough will not stick together, making for more of a crumbly chocolate dough than actual chocolate bars that stick.

Check out these mix-in ideas by color!

Green: Pistachios, lime zest or pumpkin seeds.

Red: Dried cranberries, dried strawberries or dried cherries.

White: Hemp seeds, coconut, dried apple rings or vegan white chocolate chips.

Blue: Dried blueberries.

Orange: Dried apricots or orange peel.

Pink: Dried rose petals.

Lemon: Candied ginger pieces or lemon zest, if you like tangy and chocolate flavors together!

Why You’ll Love This Raw Chocolate Bar Recipe

Raw Candy Bars: These raw chocolate bars are a great snack using simple ingredients, similar to a candy bar filled with chewy, crunchy goodness. When it comes to raw desserts, the rich flavor of the cocoa reminds me of eating a chewy candy bar, but health-ified!

Customizable Energy Boost: These healthy chocolate bars are filled with ingredients to give you increased energy levels, such as dates. They are also a great alternative to refined sugar, so the natural sugars provide all the sweetness in the recipe. You can also customize the add-ins, so rather than use cacao, almonds and goji berries like I used, you could have pistachios, dried cranberries, dried blueberries, dried apricots, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds and so many other options!

Cacao Benefits: Cacao powder is a good choice as opposed to cocoa powder since it is the raw, unprocessed version. Cocoa powder is familiar as the bitter chocolate powder used in baking brownies, for example. Cacao has multiple health benefits, aside from its amazing chocolate flavor. This includes lowering stress and blood pressure and improving cognitive function.

Substitutions: Main Ingredients

Medjool Dates: These are the base of the recipe, along with almond flour and cacao powder. Do not substitute anything else here. Make sure to use Medjool dates, which are very soft and caramel-like. If using a different type of date, soak it in room temperature water overnight. Alternatively, soak in boiling hot water for 30 minutes to soften before draining the water and using in the recipe.

In case you don’t have enough dates, you can try to substitute a part of the dates with some almond butter. Try it out with a 1:1 substitute for the amount of dates to the amount of almond butter. I would say not to sub in more than 2 tablespoons to start.

Cacao Powder: Aside from using normal cocoa powder instead of raw cacao powder (unsweetened cocoa powder is the processed version of cacao), there are no substitutions.

Almond Flour: This helps to give the dates a less chewier texture. If it were just dates and cocoa, there would need to be some neutral tasting powder added in (in this case, in the form of almond flour) to help the dates not become SUPER hard in the fridge. Dates take on an extremely chewy texture when refrigerated! The other substitution for this can be almond meal, oat flour, or ground walnuts. You can grind walnuts in a spice grinder to make flour out of them, similar to almond flour.

Substitutions: Add-Ins

Cacao Nibs: These are like a “raw” chocolate chip that comes from raw cacao beans. You can find them online or at your local health food shop, if not at the regular grocery store. Substitute with vegan mini chocolate chips. It will not be refined sugar-free unless you find a brand using natural sweeteners.

Goji Berries: Find these in a health food store or online. The best substitute can be dry cherries or dry cranberries. I loved using goji berries here because of the beautiful, bright red color they provide against the dark color of the cacao.

Did you know that goji berries are actually native to Asia? The majority of them come from China in the Ningxia region, where they are an essential part of northern China’s economy. So much so that they are given the label “red diamond” there!

In the past, they were just for decoration purposes, but in the early 2000s they began to be consumed as a superfood.

Almonds: Use raw almonds rather than roasted and salted. You can also use another nut here, as it is just an add-in rather than the recipe base.

Vanilla Extract: The vanilla flavor works great in recipes involving chocolate. You can use a fresh vanilla bean scraped, or omit if there is no other alternative available.

Raw Chocolate Bar Recipe Notes

• Other add-ins can include vegan white chocolate chips, cashews, pecans, walnuts, dried fruit, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds and more. You can even add a pinch of maca powder or another superfood powder for added nutrition!
• I like to store these in the refrigerator or freezer for a more “chewy” bar as opposed to room temperature. Similar to how caramel hardens in the fridge and becomes harder to bite into while maintaining a chewy yet firm texture!
• For best results when cutting these after refrigerating, I recommend to use a sharp knife dipped in boiling hot water.
• Use a high speed food processor or blender. This is to avoid having chunks of nuts and dates leftover if using a blade that isn’t as sharp.
• For further customizations, mix in one tablespoon of peanut butter or coconut butter into this recipe when blending the dates mixture. This will add just a hint of added coconut or peanut flavor!
• Store in an airtight container with parchment paper separating the bars. This ensures they do not stick to one another when refrigerated.

More Healthy Snack & Dessert Recipes

Chocolate Pecan Granola: This chocolate granola reminds me of a German chocolate cake. It contains chocolate, pecans and coconut all mixed with coconut oil and baked to make a crunchy cereal!

Dairy Free Brownie Recipe: These brownie bites are similar to Costco’s One Bite Brownies, but are all dairy and gluten-free!

Sweet Potato Fritters: Pan-fried sweet potato fritters are like healthy tater tots. These make a great snack for picky children!

Peanut Butter Easter Eggs

More No Bake (Raw) Recipes

Matcha Chocolate Bites: This unique recipe can make two flavours out of one! Energy bites with a matcha exterior and chocolate filling, or a chocolate outside and a matcha interior!

Key Lime Pie Bites: Using only four ingredients, these no-bake energy balls use almond flour for a buttery base. Then lime zest mixed in to give it a “key lime” flavor!

Orange Creamsicle Bites: No bake bites that are reminiscent of orange cream popsicles with a vanilla ice cream filling!

Pecan & Orange Stuffed Chocolate Dates

Turmeric Apricot Balls

Raw Dark Chocolate Superfood Clusters

If you make this Raw Chocolate Bar Recipe, leave a comment and star rating! Don’t forget to tag your photos @peanut_palate on Instagram. Enjoy!