Cooking and baking have made a very popular return to people’s lives lately, and there’s no better way to harness the extra time than to create healthy and delicious treats with the kids. It’s the perfect time to get creative in the kitchen with your young ones and make easy treats for school and home. And the best part? You (and they) won’t believe they are full of nutritious and unrefined ingredients, and can be adapted to dietary needs.
This time we’ll start with a favourite... Chocolate. I won’t say everyone loves chocolate, but I think it’s safe to say you won’t find many who can resist the sweet cocoa creaminess. It’s also incredibly good for you when prepared the right way and when using the highest quality, so let’s get into it and indulge in all that mood-improving magnesium and antioxidant content with Chocolate Peanut Butter Ritz Sandwiches, Butterfinger Bars, and Fudgy Date Brownies.
Chocolate PB Sandwiches
These are just 4 ingredients and ridiculously simple to do!
Ingredients
- 24 Ritz crackers (These are best to use due to their buttery melting texture)
- 1 ½ cups chocolate melts (dark or milk)
- ½ cup natural peanut butter (also delicious with any other nut butter)
- 1 tablespoon Coconut Oil
- Flaked sea salt (for sprinkling)
- Line a sheet with baking paper. Place crackers in a single layer.
- Melt the chocolate together with the coconut oil in the microwave, checking and stirring at 30 second increments. Let cool slightly and get on with the sandwiches.
- Place a couple of teaspoons of peanut butter on 12 of the crackers, and sandwich them with the plain ones.
- Dip each sandwich into the chocolate, coating completely. Place it back on the baking sheet and sprinkle with a little sea salt.
Note: Using the coconut oil helps them firm up at room temperature, if you omit the coconut oil, just help them set by placing them in the fridge for 20 minutes or so.
Buttery Cornflake Bars
These bars are not only ridiculously delicious and easy, but can be adapted to be nut free and/or gluten free, by simply interchanging the nut butter for tahini, and the cornflakes for the gluten-free variety.
Ingredients
-1 cup nut butter (cashew/almond/peanut - your choice)
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 ½ tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 cups cornflakes (crushed)
- Dark (or milk) chocolate to drizzle (amount depends on how much you want to use, I usually use 100g)
- Line square tin or loaf pan with baking paper.
- Mix first four ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat until well combined. Be sure to stir constantly so it does not burn. Take off the heat and allow to cool slightly. At this stage, you can also add in a scoop of grass-fed gelatin if you have any on hand, to increase the nutritional value of the bars.
- Crush the cornflakes in a large bowl, and add the nut butter mix, stirring until well combined. Pour into the lined tin, pressing down firmly, and place in the fridge or freezer to set slightly.
- Meanwhile, melt the chocolate. Take the tin out of the fridge and drizzle or coat the top with the melted chocolate and place back in the fridge overnight, or for at least 4 hours (you can do this process in the freezer if you would like to speed things up.)
- Take out of the tin and slice into desired pieces.
Fudgy Date Brownies (adapted from MindBodyGreen)
It can’t be a chocolate post without a brownie, and these are made from super food dates and are completely guilt free and completely decadent, high in essential nutrients and good fats. This is a must make and so easy to get the kids to help with.
Ingredients
- 1 Cup pitted medjool dates
- ¾ cup hot water
- ½ cup cacao powder
- ¾ cup almond flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 2 Tbsp. Maple syrup
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch sea salt
- Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius and line a loaf tin with baking paper.
- Soak the dates in the hot water for roughly 15 min.
- Drain the dates, and place them into a food processor or blender, and process until smooth.
- Add the almond flour, cacao, baking powder, maple syrup, vanilla and salt and process until mixture is smooth.
- Scrape mixture into lined loaf tin and bake for 20 min and allow to cool before slicing.
We will see you next time with a new round up of super-easy healthy treats to make with kids!
