My friend Simon Bryant made these when we were filming The Cook and the Chef. Simon and I agreed on so many things about food freshness, seasonality and sustainability but usually cooked from a very different place and flavour profile. With these, however, we met exactly in the middle. I played with his original recipe and tried incorporating the chocolate into the bars but decided the decadent ganache topping is what makes them so hard to resist.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (80 g) desiccated coconut
- 3 tablespoons sesame seeds
- ½ cup (80 g) pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
- ½ cup (75 g) sunflower seeds
- ½ cup (80 g) blanched almonds, finely chopped
- ½ cup (70 g) macadamia nuts, finely chopped
- 1 cup (200 g) buckinis
- 80 g seeded Medjool dates, cut into 4 mm thick pieces
- 80 g dried peaches, cut into 1 cm pieces
- Pinch of sea salt flakes
- 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
- 190 g unhulled tahini
- 150 g raw honey
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin coconut oil
- Chocolate ganache
- 300 g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin coconut oil
How to Make It
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan-forced). Grease and line a 24 cm x 32 cm baking tin with baking paper.
- Spread out the coconut, seeds and nuts on a baking tray and cook for 8–10 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a large bowl. Add the buckinis, dates, peaches, salt and lemon zest and combine well.
- Heat the tahini, honey and coconut oil in a small saucepan over low heat until melted. Pour over the dry ingredients and, working quickly, mix well. Press into the prepared tin, then refrigerate for 30 minutes or until cold.
- To make the ganache, place the chocolate and coconut oil in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of just-simmering water (don’t let the bottom of the bowl touch the water). Stir until melted and smooth, then pour over the base and refrigerate for another 2–3 hours or until set.
- Cut into bars and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The bars also freeze well.
