Chocolate, Cinnamon & Tahini Oat Slice
This is a heat, stir, dump & freeze kind of recipe. The kind that requires very little concentration, that you can make easily while talking to a friend or listening to a podcast. I like to cook, I really do, but sometimes I just cannot be bothered to look at a recipe, or measure ingredients, or slice or whisk or do anything more than heat, stir, dump and freeze.
Energy bars and balls are incredibly appealing to me at the moment. They’re my preferred fuel when buzzing around after my active babe, or keeping the house in order, or working on recipes for clients. These recipes are mainly of the “tasty, easy to prepare with little clean up” variety, as I’m finding these are the ones my clients are most requesting, whether they’re in the preconception, prenatal or post-partum stage. I’m constantly searching for the best of the best - the most wholesome, balanced, simple and stunning recipes out there, tinkering with the ingredients or method a little, and posting them on my client access page. I love to be able to say, “here, eat this, it’s awesome!”, and in turn make their weekdays a little easier and less boring (it’s so easy to get into a recipe rut!). Life is busy and while I adore and encourage the practice of slowing down to cook, if I can take the recipe search part out of the equation, that allows more time for cooking. And eating and playing and reading and walking and bathing. For real, bathing can sometimes be a novelty in the post-partum world.
But back to this slice…
As I said above, this is my current favourite fuel, which I created for the awesome people at Pana Chocolate. I want my snacks tasty and I want them to give me a load of nutritious energy. Bonus points if they’re easy to prepare, because when Joan goes through growth spurts she gets super clingy and prefers to be in my arms (or have me on the floor with her playing and reading and kissing her bunnies). Baby girl is also very inquisitive and finds it greatly offensive if I am working in the kitchen without her. I’ve learnt that she prefers to be at eye level so she can tell me when I leave out an ingredient, if I’ve added too much olive oil or if it tastes funny. And so when it comes to making snacks, I’m no longer loving date balls and smoothies because they’re too fiddly, requiring two hands which offends my sous chef. I much prefer to heat, stir, dump and freeze my food. And while I cannot share this snack with Joan, as I don’t think she needs cacao juuuuuust yet and the seeds are a tad hard, that’s more than fine because it means there’s more for me. And gosh darn it, I kinda feel like deserve it right now!
Chocolate, Cinnamon & Tahini Oat Slice
45g Cinnamon Pana Chocolate
50g coconut oil
2 tablespoons hulled tahini
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
¼ cup almond flakes
¼ cup sunflower seeds
¾ cup rolled oats
½ cup organic sultanas
small pinch sea salt
For topping: extra tahini and a handful or cacao nibs
1. Melt the chocolate and coconut oil in a saucepan over low heat. Add the tahini and maple syrup and stir until smooth. Remove from the heat.
2. Toast the sunflower seeds & almonds in a skillet until golden, then add to the liquid chocolate mix along with the oats, sultanas and salt. Stir well to combine.
3. Pour the mix into a 13cm square baking dish lined with baking paper. Press down to pack it tightly and smooth the surface. Drizzle tahini and scatter cacao bins over the top, before placing in the freezer for one hour. Remove from the freezer, slice into squares and store in the fridge.
Heidi xo