Chocolate-Hazelnut Bites Recipe

Peanut butter and jelly, cheese and crackers, milk and cookies—some foods are just meant to be together. This recipe proves that chocolate and hazelnut definitely belong on that list. A dark chocolate coating adds just enough decadence to each chewy, nutty bite. Since they’re sweetened with medjool dates and maple syrup instead of refined sugar, you can feel good about popping one (or two) as an afternoon snack.

Chocolate-Hazelnut Bites

Yield: 20 squares
Active Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

For the bites:
1 cup hazelnuts
1 cup cashews
8 Medjool dates, pitted
1/4 cup rolled oats
2 tablespoons coconut flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup maple syrup

For the chocolate coating:
9 ounces dark chocolate
Cacao nibs, for topping
Large-flake sea salt, for topping

Instructions

Make the bites
Place hazelnuts and cashews in a food processor fitted with the blade attachment and pulse to roughly chop. Add dates, oats, coconut flour, salt, vanilla, and maple syrup, and process until mixture comes together as a ball. Press into the bottom of an 8×8-inch cake pan lined with parchment paper. Chill in fridge 15 minutes.

Dip the bites in chocolate
Melt dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Slice hazelnut mixture into 1 1/2 -inch squares and dunk each piece in the melted chocolate to coat on all sides. Remove pieces with a fork and let excess chocolate drip off into bowl. Place on parchment paper. Sprinkle tops with cacao nibs and large-flake sea salt.

Chill and serve
When all the pieces have been coated and topped, chill in fridge 30 minutes. Store squares covered in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Photo credit: Paul Delmont