I love that name ‘Bodhi’. I actually put my forehead against a Bodhi tree once in Kauai. It was an intuitive moment. My body started to gently tremble and the world seemed to stand still for a short while. Surrendered to the moment, with my eyes closed I had the most soul-stirring etheric experience and met the Buddha in spirit (as you do – which was fascinating because I was in the grounds of a Hindu temple at the time). The whole space just seemed to fill with light. I just felt the most amazing ‘ordinariness’ from the Buddha, I really respected that – there was none of that ‘I am above it all’ nonsense. I do remember though, he was exuding an incredible compassion. His message was simple ‘compassion is our true nature and to that, we will always return‘. Yes!

OK, so I am not religious – yet I feel life-force through every cell of my being – I feel intimately connected to all living things. I am awakened to love and compassion. I have a soft spot for the Buddha!

In its simplest form, Bodhi means ‘to awaken’. To me awakening is about letting the ‘dots join’; it’s about awareness and noticing what is going on in the world around us; it is about being mindful of and taking responsibility for the impact of our actions. Bodhi is coming home to our true nature and interconnectivity with all things. To me, awakening is the true embodiment of love and compassion, something that we all long for from our deepest being. Awakening is beyond religion, beyond form, beyond teachers – it’s our true nature.

So I dedicate these delicious chocolate bars to the awakening Bodhi. In everything I do, I seek to find compassionate ingredients (which is why I only ever chose plant-based ingredients). I seek to find foods that have been fairly traded – to be fair to the people who work to grow and harvest them. I seek to find ingredients that are organic, to be kind to Mother Earth. And when I make the bars, I find a place of peace and centredness whilst making them from my heart. So Chocolate Bodhi Bars it is!

I use a pretty simple superfood sweet treat formula to make these. It’s versatile, rather simple and once you get the hang of it you can make them really quickly.

The bottom layer is made simply with nuts and dates.

The top layer is made with healthy homemade chocolate. Alternatively, you can buy a bar of super healthy raw chocolate, from a health food store and simply melt and pour on top instead.

So, as I was saying, you could go to a health food store and buy a bar of healthy chocolate and use that.

I do, however, always have various organic chocolate making ingredients to hand and prefer to whip up my own blend. I also use a little coconut oil and maple syrup to make my chocolate a little softer than regular ‘snappable’ chocolate.

A slightly softer homemade chocolate makes it easier to cut, as well as adding the perfect consistency for the top layer on a bar like this.

All that leaves to is a sprinkle of chopped nuts on top. You add these right after you pour the melted chocolate on top, which means they sink in.

This all gives a delightful effect and looks rather gorgeous.

OK let’s make these Chocolate Bodhi Bars together…

Chocolate Bodhi Bars by Trinity Yield: 6 bars Prep Time: 20 minutes Total Time: 20 minutes A delicious healthy chocolate bar recipe. A nut and date layer covered with a soft homemade chocolate and then sprinkled with almonds. Print Ingredients Bottom layer 50g almonds ( 1/3 cup)

50g walnuts ( 1/2 cup)

100g dates pitted (about 14 dates)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract Top chocolate layer 3 tablespoons cacao butter (approximate amount)

1 tablespoon coconut oil

2 tablespoons maple syrup

3 tablespoons cacao powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract Extra topping 12 almonds Instructions Bottom layer Grind almonds in a food processor into a rustic 'meal'. Add the walnuts and grind for a few seconds more. Add the dates and vanilla, then blend until everything blends together nicely. Rustic chunks are fine as long as everything has broken down and is binding well. Press these ingredients very firmly into a parchment lined loaf-tin (or use any container and line with parchment paper). Note: my loaf tin is the sort of size that is good for a 1kg (2 lb) loaf of bread - to give you an idea of size. Top chocolate layer Get a small saucepan and a heatproof glass bowl that fits in the pan. Put about an inch of water in the pan. Heat the water up. Add the cacao butter to the heatproof bowl and allow it to gently melt. Add the coconut butter to melt it and then add the maple syrup. Mix in the cacao powder and vanilla. Pour this on top of the bottom layer that you did before. Extra topping Chop almonds into pieces with a sharp heavy knife (or roughly crush with a pestle and mortar). Sprinkle chopped/crushed almonds onto the chocolate. Setting the chocolate Pop the tin into the freezer to set (fridge is fine too but takes a little longer). The chocolate should set firmly and be ready to slice within 20 minutes. Enjoy!

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