Nut & Date Lollipops

Recipes / Sweet

Coat it in chocolate and the kids are excited; serve it on a pop stick and it’s next-level excitement! These choco pops, with their toffeelicious-can’t-quite-stop-at-one flavour, were a massive hit in our house with both the big and little people in our lives. And knowing the nutritional magic of the five key ingredients in these treats, we can enjoy seeing those chocolate-smeared smiles even more.

 

It’s difficult not to be nuts (sorry!) about almonds and cashews given their incredible antioxidant qualities as well as their ability to lower blood pressure and cholesterol, prevent heart disease, strengthen bones, and promote healthy skin and hair. And let’s not forget the coconut oil; coconut enhances the power of anything it touches. Mix it with any healing food, and it super-charges all of its benefits.
So these choco pops may be small (which, let’s face it, makes it a whole lot easier to justify going back for more!), but they are a nutritional heavy weight in the treats world.

 

Ingredients

75 g (3/4 cups) almonds

75 g (3/4 cups) cashews

100 g (3/4 cup) fresh dates, pitted

60 ml (1/4 cup) coconut oil

10 g (3 tbsp) raw cacao powder

 

100 g (1 bar) dark chocolate, melted

 

 

 

Method

Soak nuts in 500 millilitres (2 cups) of filtered water with one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar for a minimum of two hours/up to six hours. Then rinse thoroughly with fresh water. This will increase the digestibility of the nuts and remove any moulds and mycotoxins.

 

Preheat oven to 180 C.

 

Line a baking tray with parchment paper and roast nuts for 10 - 15 minutes until dry and crunchy. Remove and let cool.

 

Combine all ingredients in a high-speed food processor until you have a fine crumbly dough.

 

Roll one-tablespoon portions into balls and add your stick. Place in the fridge for a couple of hours until hardened.

 

Melt chocolate and dip your pop stick until evenly covered. Place stick into a prepared box or Styrofoam to allow the chocolate to harden before storing or serving.