Have a Snickers, Bro!

The poor old blog has been sadly neglected of late. New job, some running, some family stuff, and life in general just seems to have got in the way. I have been merrily cooking, baking, and taking pictures. Apparently the recipes and pictures don't upload themselves though. Unhelpful much.

These raw snickers bars (very heavily inspired by the recipe on the Julia and Libby blog)  are hopefully worth the wait. 

These Snickers-U-Like are also vegan and gluten free. They're much lower in refined sugar than regular snickers, as most of the sweetness comes from maple syrup and dates.They are still pretty sweet and rich, meaning you probably (possibly. maybe. can't be guaranteed.) won't want to eat too many in one go.

Raw Snickers Bars
Base
½ cup of dessicated coconut
1 cup of ground almonds
½ cup of 100% maple syrup

Top layer

1 cup dates (soaked in water for an hour)
Sprinkle of himalayan salt
1 tablespoon of vanilla
2 tablespoons of coconut oil
¼ cup of raw peanuts 

Chocolate Coating
Bar of dark chocolate (I used Whittaker's Dark Ghana)
1 tbsp coconut oil

METHOD
1. Line a brownie tin with baking paper.

2. Blend together the coconut, maple syrup and ground almonds in a food processor until pulverised.
3. Press the mixture into the brownie tin, and pop into the freezer for at least half an hour.
4. Then blend together then dates, salt, vanilla and coconut oil until well mixed. Add the peanuts to the blender bowl, and keep mixing until the peanuts are the desired size (i.e. keep going if you want little bits, or blend for less time if you want bigger peanuts).
5. Spead the date mixture over the base. Return to the freezer for a couple of hours.
6. Remove from the freezer, and cut into small bars while still in the tin. Then lift the paper out of the tin, and separate the bars ready to be dipped into the chocolate. 

7. Melt the chocolate with the coconut oil in a bowl over simmering water, then dip each bar into the melted chocolate, and place into a tray lined with baking paper. Place into the fridge to set.

Admittedly they are quite fiddly and require some patience with all the too-ing and fro-in to the freezer. None of that boring instant gratification with this recipe that you get with your usual snickers bars. But totally worth all the faff.