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Before I get on with my recipe here’s the winner of my Coyo GIVEAWAY!

Congratulations greentrailsandteapottales! Please email me at laura@keepinghealthygettingstylish.com with your address and I’ll arrange for your delicious yoghurts to be sent out. Thanks to everyone who entered!

Recently I’ve been blogging about how I’ve been trying to save money on my grocery budget. Last week when I realised I was all out of my favourite Nakd bars and Gourmet raw brownies I decided that instead of buying some more I’d try making my own version. I do love raw fruit and nut bars but they don’t always keep me that full. I decided that I wanted my own version to be higher in protein to have more staying power, here’s what I came up with!

Super Fudgy Raw Cherry Almond Protein Brownies (vegan, GF, makes 9 small brownies or 6 bars)

• 3/4 cup of dates (I used Iranian dates from my green grocers)
• 1/2 cup of almonds
• 1/4 cup of dried cherries
• 3 tbsp of raw cacao powder (or regular cocoa powder)
• 1/2 cup of raw hemp protein powder (or your protein powder of choice)
• 2 – 4 tbsp of water

Begin by de stoning the dates and soaking them in water along with the almonds for at least 1 hour. Drain them and add to a food processor along with the cacao powder and dried cherries. Process for a couple of minutes until the mixture is coarsely chopped. Add the protein powder and some of the water and begin blending again until the mixture starts to clump together. Add more water as needed to get that texture. Line a pan or lunch box with plastic wrap and add the brownie dough to the pan, pressing the mixture down and flattening it. It will be quite sticky, I added another piece of plastic wrap on top and then used my hands to flatten it down. Put into the freezer for at least half an hour to chill before removing from the pan and slicing into squares.

Proper fudgy or what!

I wrapped mine in grease proof paper to store in the freezer. These will need to be stored frozen and then kept in the fridge to keep them firm:

I was happy that you can’t taste the hemp protein in these, it just adds a nice texture. I did a quick check and if you make them into 9 they are about 115 calories each and a reasonable 5g of protein. If I was making these again I would probably cut them into 6 bars to make them a more substantial 172 calories and 7.5 grams of protein. These will fill my afternoon snack requirements perfectly – raw, chocolate and protein packed!

What do you look for in a perfect snack?