By Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, and speaker. Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
While I’m still on my vacation sitting at my parents’ pool with the view in Cocoa Beach, I am thinking about New Year 2017 celebration, with a decadent chocolate dessert. I hope you enjoy this amazing recipe, which is totally healthy, gluten-free, vegan, and totally delicious, for your New Year celebration.
Excerpt from new cookbook, A New View of Healthy Eating: Raw Chocolate Bliss
Enjoy this rich, intense raw chocolate dessert, created with raw cacao powder, local Arizona dates, fresh raw almond butter, and vanilla bean, on a pecan maple sugar cinnamon crust.
Raw Pecan Cinnamon Crust
SIMPLE INGREDIENTS
- 1 ½ cups raw pecans
- 3 tbsp maple sugar
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ½ tbsp cinnamon, freshly ground
SIMPLE STEPS
- Blend all ingredients in food processor until finely minced.
- Press crust into 10-inch springform pan using your palms.
Chocolate Filling
SIMPLE INGREDIENTS
- ½ cup raw almond butter
- ½ cup date paste
- ¼ cup agave nectar or maple syrup
- 1 ½ tbsp tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)
- 1 cup raw cacao powder
- 1 vanilla bean, scraped
- ½ to 1 cup water
SIMPLE STEPS
- Gather mise en place.
- Make almond butter. Place raw almonds in food processor and blend until smooth and creamy.
- Blend date paste. Soak dates in water for 1-2 hours until soft and pliable. Pour off water. Add to high-speed blender and top with water to cover fruit. Blend starting on low, then moving to high, until smooth.
- Blend all ingredients in food processor until smooth and thick.
- Add water if difficult to blend.
- Pour filling into crust.
- To set, freeze for about 20 minutes or refrigerate for an hour.
- Use a knife dipped in hot water for a few seconds, wipe water away, then slice.
- Plate with fruit or sorbet.
A New View of Healthy Eating Book is available now, with shipping from Phoenix or Cocoa Beach.
Share your Raw Chocolate Bliss with us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating