An exquisite combination of cranberries, chocolate, and nuts, these bars are the perfect snack or post-workout recharge. Nothing could be easier than just chopping up ingredients and mixing.

I was drawn to raw fruit and nut bars as the perfect post-workout snack. A good source of sugars to replenish the energy stores, and plenty of protein for muscle growth. It certainly helps that they're delicious — though, a few of the store varieties have, let's say, a highly particular niche taste. I'll focus on recreating the ones I love.

As it's Christmas, I figured adding some chocolate would be nice. It elevates my fitness superfood into a proper snack. Given that I use dark chocolate, it only adds a few processed sugars. I'd probably go for 95% chocolate if these were for me. But, I dropped down to 70% as to not shock my food samplers too much.

Unfortunately, the chocolate means I can't call this raw food, like most of my other fruit and nut bars. There's a debate about whether raw chocolate is even possible. Though I don't need to get into that here. If you're buying a chocolate bar, it's most certainly not raw food.

For whatever reason, if you don't want the chocolate, leave it off. These bars still taste fine. Most of my bars don't use chocolate. I find it too much effort to melt, and then wait for it to set. I was presenting these ones at a dinner party, so I went the extra mile.

Enjoy, and remember, just because these are healthy fitness food, doesn't mean they're not crammed full of calories!

Cranberry Chocolate Nut Bar

Ingredients

  1. 75 g 23 teaspoon
    Cashews
  2. 75 g
    Almonds
  3. 20 g ¹⁄₄ cup
    shreddedCoconut
  4. ¹⁄₄ teaspoon
    groundCinnamon
  5. ¹⁄₄ teaspoon
    groundStar Anise
  6. 125 g
    Dried Figs
  7. 50 g ¹⁄₄ cup
    Dried and Sweetened Cranberries
  8. ¹⁄₂ medium 4 teaspoon
    juicedFresh Lemon
  9. 80 g
    Dark Chocolate 70%

Directions

  1. With a mixer chop cashews and almonds until coarsely ground. It's okay if some larger chunks remain.
  2. Coarsely chop the dried fruit.
  3. Add nuts, fruit, coconut, cinnamon, and anise to a bowl. Mix well.
  4. Add lemon juice, mix well.
  5. Work mixture into a ball by kneading.
  6. Press into a 15x20cm plastic container. Close and put in the fridge. Let rest for an hour.
  7. Take out and tap out onto a cutting board. Slice into desired bar size.
  8. Melt chocolate and drizzle over the bars as desired. Let set.