Chocolate Cashew Energy Bars

Crunchy and chewy, these cashew energy bars are made with raw and healthy ingredients. They're so easy to make and fit in your gluten free, paleo and vegan diet. With 5 simple ingredients they come together and are no bake too. The best breakfast or snack recipe!

Happy Sunday ya'll! We all just finished the first full week back after the holidays. Did anyone else feel like that lasted the entire month of January? I don't ever want to wish time away but man did those days tick by slowly! Then naturally, the weekend zips by in the blink of an eye.

And then here we are, watching Netflix on a Sunday afternoon wondering how it happened so fast and trying to muster the motivation to pause Gilmore Girls and head to the grocery store for the week.

I've been meal prepping this year so far and it's been saving my life during the week. No cooking and cleaning (aside from putting you ate on in the dishwasher) and no thinking about what needs to be made because it's already done!

The best way to do it is make your list over the weekend and spend a couple hours shopping and prepping for the whole week. And I'm thinking this recipe needs to be on your list, so I'm going to make it very easy for you to quickly add to the list you're making.

5 Simple Ingredients to make these Cashew Energy Bars:

1. raw unsalted cups cashews
2. mejdool dates
3. pure maple syrup
4. cocoa powder
5. coconut oil

Plus sea salt and vanilla, but you likely have those in your pantry right now!

These cashew energy bites are the perfect breakfast or snack recipe. I currently have a batch of them in my freezer and love to grab one on the go when I head out to work in the morning. I also like to eat one right after a workout to refuel.

Because they've got protein from the cashews and quick carbs from the dates they're exactly what your muscles need to refuel and recover after a sweat sesh.

The base of this recipe is quite simple because they're really only a few ingredients to get them started: cashews and dates. Throw them in your food processor with sea salt and vanilla and blend for about a minute until it's crushed into small bits, but not completely blended and smooth. Check out this picture for guidance??!

I like to form these in the base of a bread pan because it creates long and thick energy bars. It's smaller than a square pan so the mixture can be piled a little higher and the energy pars turn out thick and chewy. Press the mixture firmly into the bottom of the pan and throw it into the freezer to set.

The chocolate on the top of the cashew energy bites isn't really even chocolate at all! It is, but it's not made from chocolate chips filled with extra sugar. It's made with cocoa powder, coconut oil and pure maple syrup. Because there aren't any added sugars this chocolate ganache is the finishing touch to these cashew energy bars and it makes them healthy, vegan and paleo!

All delicious and healthy things that most likely fit into your New Year's resolutions! Just like these Loaded Oatmeal Cookie Energy Bites and if you've got a sweet tooth, this Paleo Chocolate Caramel Tart.

So happy Sunday and I hope that you have a fantastic week filled with easy-to-make recipes and no clean up!

Chocolate Cashew Energy Bars

4.67 from 3 votes

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Prep Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour

Servings: 8

Author: Molly Thompson

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Ingredients

• Cashew Energy Bars:
• 1 ½ cups raw unsalted cashews
• 10 whole mejdool dates pitted
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Chocolate Topping:
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• ¼ cup coconut oil melted
• ¼ cup pure maple syrup

Instructions

• Line a standard bread pan with aluminum foil and set aside.
• Place the cashews, dates, maple syrup, salt and vanilla in the food processor. Blend until well mixed, but not smooth, about 1 minute. See picture in above post for reference.
• Dump mixture into prepared bread pan and press down firmly using a rubber spatula. Place in the freezer to set.
• While setting, make the chocolate topping. In a small bowl, combine the cocoa powder powder, melted coconut oil and pure maple syrup until smooth. Pour over bars and place back in the freezer for 1 hour to chill. Cut into bars and serve.

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Here are a couple of items I used to make today’s recipe:
Ninja Mega Kitchen System, Raw Cashew Pieces Unsalted, 100 Percent Maple Syrup, Coconut Oil

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