Recipe: No-bake dark chocolate, walnut & cardomom slice

Essentially, this slice is a bliss ball mixture pressed into a tin, but it feels so much fancier and eliminates the time spent rolling balls. It also means you can ice your slice with a rich dairy-free ganache! For an adult version of the ganache, I like to use a good quality coffee-flavoured dark chocolate. I grind my own cardamom pods because the flavour is more pronounced, but at a pinch, you could use pre-ground.

Makes 36 Small bites

GLUTEN-FREE & VEGAN

SLICE

70g (¾ cup) walnuts

160g (1 cup) dried pitted dates

180g (1 cup) raisins

25g (¼ cup) raw cacao/cocoa powder

1 tablespoon virgin coconut oil, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Seeds from 8–10 cardamom pods, finely ground (or ¾–1 teaspoon ground cardamom)

Pinch of fine salt

Ganache

100g dairy-free dark chocolate, roughly chopped

2 tablespoons coconut milk

2 teaspoons pure maple/brown rice syrup

1.  Line a 20 x 20cm square tin with baking paper. If you don’t have a tin of this exact size, don’t worry, this slice doesn’t require baking – you can press the mixture into any sized container or tin.

2.   Finely chop half the walnuts and set aside. Place the remaining half into a food processor, along with the dates, raisins, cacao/cocoa powder, coconut oil, vanilla, cardamom and salt. Pulse until finely ground and starting to clump together. Transfer mixture to a bowl and stir through the chopped walnuts (reserving 1–2 tablespoons for the top, if desired). Press into the prepared tin, using the back of an oiled spoon. Place in the fridge while you prepare the ganache.

3.  To make the ganache, set a heatproof bowl over a small saucepan of boiling water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Place chocolate, coconut milk and maple/brown rice syrup into the bowl and stir until melted and smooth. If it starts to look a little split (this can happen because of the coconut milk), whisk to bring it back together into a smooth ganache.

4.  Remove slice from the fridge and pour over the ganache, smoothing with a spoon to cover completely. Scatter with reserved chopped walnuts, if using, then return to the fridge for 30 minutes, or until ganache is set. Using a sharp knife, cut into 36 small squares. The slice will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Recipe extracts from Every Day by Emma Galloway,
published by Harper Collins NZ, RRP $60.