Festive Cranberry & pecan White Chocolate Bar
I can guarantee one thing, you may never buy chocolate again after you taste and make your very own, this bar recipe is a complete game changer! Of course this is a festive recipe with Christmassy “add ins” but I give a list of alternatives to create your very own flavor! I used stevia as my sweetener base for this recipe, so it’s a low calorie and sugar friendly alternative. It is very easy to make and can be stored in the fridge for up to 12 days! If you are carrying it around in your hand bag make sure to wrap it up in some tinfoil and be sure it stays below room temperature- shouldn’t be a problem in this weather!
VEGAN, PALEO, GLUTEN FREE, DAIRY FREE, REFINED SUGAR FREE BUT NOT FUN FREE- DONT WORRY
Serves large 6 bars
Cooks in Minutes
Ingredients
- 150g Cacao Butter
- 100g raw cashews
- 2 ½ tbsp. Stevia
- 1 tsp. Vanilla extract
- ½ tsp. Cinnamon
- 30g Dried cranberries
- 25g Toasted Pecans – toast in oven for 11 minutes at 190°C, tossing after the first 8 minutes.
Options – pick 2-3 add ins!
- 20g broken Roasted Hazelnuts
- Handful Goji berries
- Handful Mulberries
- Handful Raisins
- 15g Flaked almonds
- 2 tbsp Chia seeds
- 15g broken Walnuts
- 15g Coconut flakes
- Tsp Almond essence
- Tsp Peppermint essence
- Tbsp. Orange zest
Method
- Prepare a 8” square brownie tin, by lining with parchment paper letting it come up the sides( to lift out the chocolate later on)
- First lets thick off by making the cashew meal/paste, I made mine in a nutribullet taking me about 1.30-2 minutes, but any good food processor will work here( you could buy cashew butter if you don’t have any of these tools). Place the nuts into the nutribullet and blend for a moment or two, you may need to scrape down the sides once or twice. Keep going until the cashew is ground down into a fine meal, its ok if its beginning to look like a paste some parts( closer to the blade) will break down faster. The finer you can get this mix the smoother the chocolate will be!
- Over low heat, add the cacao butter into a medium sized saucepan, once melted fully.
- Stir in the stevia, keep stirring until dissolved, it should not be simmering or boiling at this stage.
- Add the cinnamon and vanilla, it will bubble a little when you add these, don’t worry, just give them all a good stir.
- Turning THE HEAT TO LOW, spoon in the cashew paste, using whisk ( non-electric) is best here, mix for a couple of minutes until there is no separation between ingredients and no cashew paste lumps, You will have a creamy sauce, smooth with small visible traces of cashew ( the size of a chia seed- so very small).
- Remove from heat, stir in the “add ins” and pour into the lined baking tin, smooth over the top using a spatula, remember how it looks now is how it will set!
- Making some room in the fridge, ensuring it is level. Refrigerate for 1 -2 hours until completely hard, it should be cream in colour once set.
- Cut with care!