raw chocolate Easter... yetis??

I grabbed this super simple recipe from the Earth Diet a while back, finally got around to making it with the kids during Easter weekend.

You're supposed to roll this goop into balls but that's just boring and they end up looking like deer or rabbit droppings, which brings a new spin on "look what the Easter bunny left behind!", héhéhé. Why not mold them into fun shapes instead? This year, Ester and April Fools happen at the same time, so I was originally going to make Easter fish but opted instead for the abominable icemen. Oh yeah!

We had to add a little more maple syrup to the recipe, and a bit of coconut oil (instead of cacao butter, had none) to help with the molding. We put them in the freezer for a couple hours, removed them from the molds and voilà! Raw Easter chocolate Yetis!

Much better looking than the deer/rabbit droppings!    ;)

To make 'em "hairy", dip them in maple syrup, then roll them around in coconut. Raw, healthy and fun to make/eat.

crispy almond butter chews

these are sooooo yummy!! again, we modified the original version a teeeeeny bit and made two versions of 'em: cranberry and chocolate. (though i don't see why combining them would be a bad thing, lol)

3 tbsp smooth almond butter
3 tbsp brown rice syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup rice crisp cereal (we used the brown rice stuff, ie gluten-free, just cuz)
1 tbsp sliced almonds (chopped, could use ground almonds instead)
1 tbsp ground flax seed1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp of semi-sweet dark chocolate chips OR cranberries (chopped)

see link above for directions (cuz i'm too lazy to type it all and they did such a great job anyway, héhéhé). we didn't heat-up the mix in the microwave as suggested in the instructions, it sorta defeats the purpose of using all natural ingredients, i find.


* don't bother trying to mold these into anything but balls, we tried and failed.
** i'm not totally convinced about the sesame seeds yet, will try with 1tsp instead of 1tbsp.

no-bake energy bites

i found this great little recipe and had to try it with the kids. we made them this weekend. omg, sooooo good!  <:)

we changed the original recipe a tiny bit (someone in the house can't eat p-butter or coconut). since they were advertised as not being the prettiest bites, we used fun shaped ice trays to mold them (from ikea).

1 cup oatmeal 
1/2 cup almond butter 
1/3 cup brown rice syrup 
1/2 cup cranberries (chopped-up)
1/2 cup sliced almonds (ditto)
1/2 cup ground flaxseed 
1/2 cup mini dark chocolate chips 
1 tsp vanilla 

mix and mold! voilà! store in an airtight container for up to a week (if they last that long... we had approx 30 bites. pictured here is all that was left... 24 hours later!)