{raw vegan recipe} Cacao Chip Coconut Bars

YUP, it’s another easy + raw + vegan + healthy DESSERT recipe from {Natalia KW}. We’re having fun over here with her recipes, if you can’t tell! One thing I should tell you, the only “drawback” is that it uses some specialty ingredients.

Now, I think you could skip the mesquite and still end up with some yumminess, and even the lucuma (although then you’d be missing the caramelly flavor, so that would be less than ideal), and you could use coconut oil in place of cacao butter (it would end up with a similar consistency)…

but…

If you can get your hands on the exact ingredients Natalia lists, it’s perfectly wonderful. (And those are great ingredients to have on hand if you like playing with fun raw desserts anyways, especially for making chocolate. Mmmm… chocolate. lol!)

fills one 9 x 13 pan

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup pure water
1/2 cup cashews (soaked for one hour, drained and rinsed)
2 vanilla beans or 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lucuma powder
2 tablespoons mesquite power
6 tablespoons melted raw cacao butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup pitted dates
5 cups shredded coconut
6 tablespoons cacao nibs

INSTRUCTIONS

In a high speed blender, place the water, cashews, vanilla, lucuma, mesquite, cacao butter and salt. Blend until smooth. Add the dates and blend again until the mixture looks like smooth caramel. Scrape into a large bowl. Add the coconut and cacao nibs to the mixture and fold in. Keep mixing until everything is well combined. Spread into a 9″ x 13″ glass baking dish, preferably lined with wax paper for easy release. Place in the freezer for 1- 2 hours until solid. Flip onto a cutting board and cut into desired shapes. Store in the freezer and serve frozen or at room temperature–whatever you prefer. Enjoy with great pleasure!

PLEASE TAKE NOTE! We were psyched when {Natalia KW} agreed to join forces with uncooking101.com to bring you best of the raw and living food world! We LOVE (seriously) Natalia’s recipes and want to keep a good relationship with her. Out of respect for how awesome sauce Natalia and her creations are, PLEASE do not repost her recipe without her direct permission. You may, however, and we even hope you will, post the link to Facebook or anywhere you like to get your friends over to the recipe. Thank you!

ANY QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? Just type whatever you have to say below. We’d love to hear from you, no matter what it is. Well, as long as it is related to the recipe or raw food in some way!