Read recipe here.

Whether you are Christian or not, Easter is this weekend and it's a good excuse to wear pastels and eat candy! 

Because I wasn't really a big fan of packaged sweets even before I went Paleo, I made these homemade candy bars.

Yes, these are lovely, aren't they? But don't get me wrong--I'm not trying to take credit for some ingenious recipe over here. Basically, these things have the same ingredients as this chocolate bark, only presented in a different way. But like I said, Easter is coming up and I was trying to be festive. And since I can feel content simply eating melted chocolate and nuts right out of a bowl with a spoon, I thought it would be very fancy of me to make some bars while I was at it.

Ingredients:

11.5 oz bag of dark chocolate chips

2 squares of Baker's Chocolate

1 tablespoon coconut oil

Several handfuls of hazelnuts, chopped

Several handfuls of unsweetened, shredded coconut

1. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler, stir in the coconut oil (it makes it rich and shiny like ganache).

2. Throw in the chopped hazelnuts and shredded coconut. (How much of these ingredients you use depends upon how much you like nuts/coconut in your candy. I like it a lot, so I load it up).

3. Pour your chocolate/hazelnut/coconut mixture onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. 

Now comes a little trick!

I fold the parchment paper up like a little present so that the chocolate will end up thicker.

4. Freeze until solid. Unwrap from parchment paper, cut into bars and top with extra nuts and coconut. 

5. Enjoy! Have them with tea, or have them on their own. Refrigerate any extra. There probably won't be many left over.

Who needs Peeps when you've got these? 

I'm getting really good at convincing myself that non-Paleo food items are disgusting. Peanuts? Never liked them, anyway. Cheese is just plain gross, you know? I like to actually think of sugar as the devil sometimes. And milk? That shit is for babies. I don't yet feel as strongly against chocolate croissants, but I'm sure I'll get there. It's a work in progress.

So when I saw Katie eating some blueberries with almond butter and almond milk at the end of this post, I thought, "Oh my God! It's like cereal!" Except that it's better than cereal, because cereal is boring and devoid of nutritional content, ya dig?

This is currently my favorite dessert and/or snack.

I went to the grocery store and got strawberries instead of blueberries, because the strawberries were on sale for a ridiculously low price. Then almond butter went into the cart, followed by unsweetened almond milk. All of these ingredients are Paleo staples that I get every time I go shopping, but that I had never thought of putting into one bowl together and eating at the same time until now. I finished it with some shredded coconut and a little drizzle of honey. 

Other than how delicious it is, my favorite thing about this guy is how easy it is to assemble a little jar at night, screw the top on, put it in the refrigerator while you sleep, throw it in your bag and bring it to work the next morning. Breakfast!