3 ripe bananas
2 Conscious chocolate bars
Optional for dipping: chopped nuts, desiccated coconut, goji berries, cacao nibs, etc
9 wooden skewers

Peel the bananas, chop them into thirds, and insert the skewer into each piece.
Transfer to the freezer for a minimum of 1 hour to freeze until firm.
Grate the chocolate bars and melt them over 'hot to touch- not boiling' water in a double boiler or in a dehydrator to regulate the temperatures below 47degrees C.
[Note I melted 2 flavours of chocolates in different bowls to keep the flavours separate, but feel free to mix them or just melt the 'Plain' and add your own flavours and essential oils]
Remove the bananas from the freezer and dip each piece fully into the chocolate sauce while holding onto the skewer.
Dip into chopped nuts right away while the chocolate is still soft, put on a non stick tray and return to the freezer to set.

The Raw Chocolate Company also generously provided our readers with a 10% off discount for all of April and May 2012, when you enter BetterRaw2012 at checkout. Postage is also FREE when you spend over £30!! www.therawchocolatecompany.com

1 cup almond milk
2 Tbsp chia seeds (also available from The Raw Choc Co)
1 vanilla bean, seeds only scraped
1-2 Tbsp The Raw Chocolate Co's Chocolate covered mulberries/ raisins/ goji berries
Optional: 1 tsp Bee Polen or raw honey

Stir the chia seeds in with the almond milk and keep stirring rapidly for 1-2 minutes so they don't clump up
Busy yourself with something else for about 10-20 minutes, stirring occasionally as the seeds begin to form a gel, which is so full of amazing fibre
Add the scraping from the vanilla bean and stir well
Sprinkle with bee pollen (or mix in the honey) and chocolate covered fruits
Serve immediately or within 8 hours

Cacao Mint brownie ingredients: coconut palm nectar, cashews, buckwheat, dates, cacao powder, cacao nibs, almond butter, vanilla powder, mint essential oil, himalayan salt
Cacao Cashew brownie ingredients: cashews, coconut palm nectar, buckwheat, dates, cacao powder, pecans, almond butter, cinnamon, vanilla powder, himalayan salt
Cacao Cocobanana brownie ingredients: cashews, coconut palm nectar, buckwheat, dates, banana powder, coconut flakes, cacao powder, coconut butter, vanilla powder, salt
Carob Orange brownie ingredients: coconut palm nectar, cashews, buckwheat, dates, hazelnuts, carob powder, vanilla powder, orange essential oil, himalayan salt
Carob Hazelnut brownie ingredients: coconut palm nectar, cashews, dates, buckwheat, hazelnuts, carob powder, vanilla powder, himalayan salt

I loved the subtlety of flavour in Cacao Cocobanana brownie. I've tasted many raw recipes with coconut, and they can go so wrong by over flavouring them or as soon as the coconut goes off even the tiniest amount, it transpires through every bite. This brownie was incredible, I wanted to savour every bite.

Cacao Cashew is the ideal brownie to go with anything- the ice cream recipe below, chocolate sauce, berries, strawberry sauce, on it's own, anything! Carob Orange was a delicious bite of sweet, tangy, chewy, chocolatey, citrus senses and I absolutely love that Gourmet Raw used Carob here instead of cacao for those looking for an alternative as close as possible to chocolate but without the stimulants, They also used whole buckwheat groats for added crunch, which I thought was a great touch.

But the one brownie, that was simply beyond all words was Carob Hazelnut! I really didn't think anything can top my favoured and bias opinion of all things 'mint', but I was wrong. It reminded me of Nutella, which is one thing I miss in my new(ish) life of ultimate health, so you can imagine my happiness when I discovered the closest alternative. So good!




2 Gourmet Raw's brownies
2 chopped bananas, frozen
1/2 avocado, scooped and frozen
1/2 cup cashews, soaked 2 hours
2 Tbsp cacao powder
2 Tbsp agave nectar
1 Tbsp lukuma powder

Put all the ingredients apart from the brownies into a high powered blender
[Note: add the powders last so they don't get stuck to the bottom]
Blend on high for 1 minute using a tamper or pulsing (do this quickly so the ice cream doesn't get the chance to start melting on the warming blades)
Serve immediately
[Tip: I warmed up my brownies in a dehydrator (warm oven will work well) before serving so the ice cream could melt right over them, mmmmm]

Purity Egg ingredients: cacao butter, cacao paste, agave nectar, cacao powder, carob, vanilla
Zest Egg ingredients: cacao butter, cacao paste, agave nectar, cacao powder, carob, orange oil, vanilla
After Dinner Egg ingredients: cacao butter, cacao paste, agave nectar, cacao powder, carob, mint oil, vanilla
80% Intensity Egg ingredients: cacao paste, cacao butter, agave nectar, cacao powder, cacao nibs, vanilla

The sweetest, happiest and not to forget- healthiest- Chocolate Egg idea I've been able to find all Easter! You just gotta love the gorgeous recycled egg box, that the set of four cuties come in, all individually wrapped in coloured foil to identify each flavour, set on shredded 'hay' and wrapped in a lovely ribbon and card.

An absolute joy to look at and the taste lives up to the look 100%. I loved that the eggs are solid, you get 50gm of raw chocolate in every egg, making it nice and heavy to hold and satisfying to bite in to. The peppermint was my favourite (surprise surprise if you know me!) with the zesty orange in close second. The 80% Intensity was also incredible with the chocolate being nice and creamy accompanied by crunchy cacao nib buddies.

I also love the fact that Rawr used the original recipes of their chocolate bar selection for setting the egg moulds, so even after Easter you can always be able to get your favourite flavour in a slab of chocolate!





4 RAWR's solid chocolate eggs
1 cup almond meal (pulp left from making nut milk)
1/2 ripe avocado
1/2 cup dates, pitted
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp himalayan sea salt

Grate one of the chocolate eggs (I used 80% Intensity Egg)
Gently melt it in a double boiler or a dehydrator
Process all the ingredients apart from the melted chocolate in a food processor first
Pour on the melted chocolate and process again until well combined
Line three muffin tins with cling film and load up each tin with the mixture, firmly pressing it in with your fingers
Take an egg, keeping it in the foil and press it into the middle of each muffin
Transfer to the fridge to set for an hour, pop the cakes out by the cling film and remove it
Decorate with miniature flowers or herbs
Store in the fridge and serve at any temperature