Sticky Sesame Bars with Raw Chocolate Drizzle

Preparation 1. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil or parchment paper and grease the pan with coconut oil or vegetable oil. 2. Place the nuts, sesame seeds, and chia seeds in a food processor and process until finely chopped. Add the agave nectar, nut or seed butter, oil, vanilla, and salt. Process, using on/off pulses, until the mixture is blended and begins to stick together and clump on the sides of the bowl. 3. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan. Place a large piece of parchment paper, wax paper, or plastic wrap (lightly greased with coconut or vegetable oil) atop the bar mixture and use it to spread and flatten the mixture evenly in the pan; leave the paper or plastic wrap to cover. Place the mixture in the freezer for 30 minutes. 4. To prepare the chocolate drizzle: Mix the oil, agave nectar, and cocoa powder in a small bowl until blended. Remove the bar mixture from the freezer, uncover, and decoratively drizzle or spread with the chocolate mixture. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or place in the freezer for 1 hour until the mixture is firm. 5. Using the liner, lift the mixture from the pan and transfer to a cutting board. Cut into 20 bars. Store in the refrigerator or freezer. BAR TIPS –Coconut oil helps to hold these bars together; vegetable oil will not work in its place. You can, instead, add an additional 2 tablespoons natural, unsweetened raw nut or seed butter or, if you have access to it, raw butter. –If you are not following a raw diet, you can drizzle the bars with the Chocolate Bar Coating BAR KEEPING Tightly wrap the bars individually in plastic wrap. REFRIGERATOR: 1 week FREEZER: 3 months in airtight container; thaw 1 hour BAR VARIATIONS RAW HONEY BUN BARS Use raw cashews as the nuts and raw honey as the sweetener. Replace the cocoa powder with an equal amount of raw, all-natural, sweetened vanilla vegan protein powder. RAW STICKY ALMOND FUDGE BARS Use 3 cups raw almonds for the nuts and omit the sesame seeds. Reduce the chia seeds to 1/4 cup and add 1/3 cup raw, unsweetened cocoa powder along with the agave nectar. Use raw almond butter for the nut butter.Nutrients per bar: 201 calories, 15 g fat, 3.8 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 33 mg sodium, 14.8 g carbohydrate, 4.5 g fiber, 8.7 g sugar, 5.9 g protein Nutritional analysis provided by Power Hungryâ„¢ Reprinted with permission from Power Hungryâ„¢ by Camilla V. Saulsbury, © 2013 Lake Isle Press