Passover. Corona. I miss my friends and my family a lot. Out of nowhere came to my mind a brilliant idea – I will make them a delivery of yummy chocolates and leave it by their door. 2 meters distance!

The idea got me excited – I love making homemade chocolates! (It’s an excuse to eat them all day long).

I’m also wiser after the professional chocolatier course I took, and this would be a great opportunity to practice! And to hopefully make people happy!

From a pink dream to a brown mess

What had started as an exciting project, turned into am intense three days marathon, in which my apartment turned into a chocolate factory. An assembly line.

And it wasn’t all that fun when chocolate particles where found in every corner of my house. The floor, the bedroom. I do live in a small-one bedroom apartment in the heart of Tel aviv, so no surprise there…

Yet, passover clean-up, was the opposite of what had happened here. Non the less, I neglected some important tasks like working-out, working (I do have an actual job), and possibly showering (ok, I’m kidding with the last one. Well, sort of).

Chocolate-and-nuts-snack-keto-low-carb

Crossing the Dead Sea with chocolate

I was so absorbed into making the perfect chocolates, and possibly a bit disconnected from reality (can you blame me?), that I missed out the important fact that complete holiday lockdown starts at 3pm.

At 3:15pm, I finally completed making all the chocolate boxes and realised I was not allowed to go out and deliver them.

I felt so stupid and disappointed of myself! A wave of self pity washed me.

Negative thinking started coming up – ‘what if my friends wouldn’t even want the chocolates? after all, they are hand made, and Corona virus is lurking all around’.

This, off course, did not make me feel any better about the three days of hard work.

Hang on, I’m getting to the happy ending

Well yes, I might have overreacted a bit. I know.

I will not share too many details, but let’s just say I did some lockdown cheats. With the help of some good friends, all chocolates reached their destination in a small delay.

Based on the reactions, it seemed liked it made my friends really happy that someone had thought of them and surprised them during these weird times.

They even said that the chocolates were delicious! (Well, they better say that!).

Tired but happy, I finally felt like I could lay on the couch in my unclean apartment and rest.

Hi lady, Is this a story or a recipe?

Here it is! The recipe! I am sharing with you here one of the easiest and delicious chocolates I made as part of my Passover gifting.

Chocolate bar with nuts – It is made out of only 5 ingredients. It is crunchy, rich, buttery, full of nuts, vegan and low-carb. What more can we ask for in life?

Maybe some sea salt on top. Check!

And If you are interested in more chocolate recipe check out my Chocolate coated Peanut Butter, sea salt and cashew squares, which is also vegan and low carb!

Chocolate-and-nuts-snack-keto-low-carb
Chocolate-and-nuts-snack-keto-low-carb

Chocolate bar with Nuts, Crunchy, Low carb, Vegan

This recipe is the perfect snack. It is gluten-free, low carb and full of nuts.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Course Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American, Israeli

Ingredients
  

  • 120 g dark chocolate of choice*
  • 4 tbsp almond butter** about 60g
  • 1 cup raw hazelnuts (or a mix of nuts and almons of choice) about 120g
  • ⅛ tsp vanilla extract
  • pinch of salt

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 140° (284° Fahrenheit)
  • Arrange the hazelnuts (or nuts of choice) on a baking paper and put in the oven for to roast for about 30 minutes.
  • When the nuts cool-off a little bit – cut the to large chunks. One option to do this is to put them inside a bag and smash them with a rolling-pin. another option is to cut then roughly with a knife.
  • We now melt the chocolate. Bain-Marrie is a good way to do that (indirect heat). If you are using direct heat – be careful not to overheat or burn the chocolate. Use very low heat. A third option is to use the microwave – place the chocolate in a bowl – start with 30 seconds, take the chocolate our, stir, and return to the microwave for additional 20 seconds. stir and repeat the process until the chocolate has fully melted.
  • When the chocolate completely melted, add the almond butter and the vanilla extract. Mix well until the chocolate blend in completely smooth.
  • Add the hazelnuts (or nuts of choice) to the chocolate blend and mix well.
  • Prepare a clean baking paper. Using a teaspoon or a tablespoon, take some of the chocolate and nuts blend and place on the baking paper in the desired shape (I did oval chocolates).
  • Sprinkle some sea salt on top of the chocolate bars.
  • Keep the bars refrigerated and take them out when you want to eat them. enjoy!

Notes

*for low-carb version I suggest to use chocolate with a minimum of 70% cacao solids. For those on a Keto diet, 85% solids or more is recommended. 
**You can replace the almond butter with any other nut butter. Cashew butter blends well in this recipe too. 
Keyword chocolate, healthy, keto, low carb, low sugar, Nutrients, nuts, paleo, Plant based, preservatives free, vegan, vegetarian
Chocolate-and-nuts-snack-keto-low-carb
Chocolate-and-nuts-snack-keto-low-carb