Cashew Chocolate Bars

This is a super simple recipe. I needed a quick hit of chocolate (which I confess to needing a lot) but didn't have a lot of time to make something extravagant. I was thinking of a vegan bar I used to love twenty years ago that had a doughy crust and was topped with hard chocolate and sprinkled with salted cashew pieces. I basically inverted the recipe and left out the dough. The hard chocolate is better than the topping I remember. Feel free to sprinkle cashew pieces on the top of this bar mixture. I thought there were enough nuts with the cashew crust, so I didn't garnish this time. Maybe for a party I would.

Cashew Chocolate Bars:

 Bars: 
1 c. raw organic cashews soaked for at least 2 hours (you can skip the soaking if you prefer)
5 dates
1 t. Himalayan sea salt

Blend all ingredients in a food processor. Press mixture into a shallow pan.

Note: I make a "lip" to hold the chocolate topping so that it doesn't drip over the edges into the crust. Press the lip into place with your fingers 

Topping:
1/3 c. shaved Navitas Naturals Cacao Power
1/3 c. shaved Navitas Naturals Cacao Paste
1/2 c. coconut oil
3 T. cacao powder
3 T. agave
1 t. vanilla

Melt the shavings of cacao power and paste and the coconut oil to liquid form. Whisk the cacao powder, agave, and vanilla into the liquid mixture until there are no lumps of powder. Pour the topping onto the cashew crust.

Put the bars in the refrigerator for at least twenty minutes or until the topping appears hardened. Cut into bars and enjoy. 

Another note: I've mentioned the Navitas Naturals Cacao Power and Cacao Paste in other posts, but I'll reiterate here. These are hard blocks of cacao that can be shaved, melted, and used in candy making, frostings, hot chocolate (made hot by the Vitamix running for awhile), ice cream toppings, etc. There are many possibilities for using these blocks. The Cacao Power is like a white chocolate block of cacao butter. The Cacao Paste is a hard block of dark cacao. I use them intermittently alone and together. I usually add cacao powder to the Cacao Power to give it a dark color.

I just wanted to mention this again because sometimes the Cacao Power confuses people. They think I just forgot to put a "d" in the  word "power", but no, I didn't. The Power and cacao powder are very different. Look for natural food co-ops that carry the Navitas Naturals line of superfoods. They can also be found at Whole Foods Markets. Or check out their site at www.navitasnaturals.com. You'll quickly be on your way to making your own homemade chocolates.