We have had a few weeks of being really naughty recently, sharing a sticky toffee date pudding in a restaurant then practicing making chocolate fondant for a dinner party. And I must not forget the incredible Toblerone cheesecake I had seconds of at a friends house last weekend.

These were all totally delicious but didn’t make me feel great.  The rush of ‘high’ from all that sugar, followed quickly by a real ‘low’ and body slump. So I am on the rampage to revamp our eating style and stay away from sugar and dairy packed foods for a while. I always notice I have more energy,  better skin and sleep well when I have a cleaner diet. When I say diet, I am by no means starving myself, I don’t function well if I skip meals, eat tiny portions etc. If that happens then I am angry, headachy and generally a nasty person to be around.

Last night we had a delicious Moroccan stew packed full of root vegetables, spinach and lentils. It was gently spiced with cinnamon, cumin and coriander with a good pinch of chilli. My aim, when I cook dinner, is to make sure I cook twice the amount to ensure we have enough for lunch the next day and to avoid indulging eating all the wrong things that might tempt me.

So now to the coconut and lime chunks!

Ingredients:

Base:
100 g almonds (skin on)
70 g dates (stones removed)

Top:
2 tbsp runny honey (Or maple syrup for extra sweetness)
1 tbsp coconut oil (melted)
70 g mix of brazil & hazelnuts (or any mixture you have in the house)
100 g coconut cream (comes as a solid bar)
Juice & zest of a lime

I always have almonds and dates in the house so have used them for the base. Place the dates and almonds into a food processor and blitz till a fine crumb that has combined. If really dry then add a splash of hot water or another date. (If your dates are very dry before making you may want to soak them in boiling water for 10 minutes before making the base)

Press the base into a lined dish and put into the freezer so that it gets nice and hard.

For the top half, put the nuts into the food processor (no need to wash) and blitz till the consistency of chunky breadcrumbs. Then add the remaining ingredients and blitz till smooth.   Your coconut cream may have come as a solid bar, if this is the case, place the bar (still in it’s plastic) in a bowl of hot water till it has melted to a liquid.

Once all combined, taste and if too sweet then add more lime, if not sweet enough add more honey. Just to note, the date and almond base is quite sweet so I recommend you let the top layer be a little more tart.

Squash it all down on top of the bottom layer and place into the fridge for a few hours. Top with a little more zest of lime. Once hardened use a sharp knife to chop into chunks. It is quite crumbly but has a wonderful sweetness that gets rid of your sugar craving. All the nuts in this recipe will also give you a great protein boost and energy if you have an afternoon slump. A word of warning: don’t think that just because there is no refined sugar in these that they are a health food, they still have lots of natural sweetness which contain calories so don’t gobble them all up at once.