Choco-berry snackers

I've been searching the internet for an acceptable chocolately, cripsy/chewy, fruity, vanillay recipe.. and haven't found anything. In my desperation, I threw this together!

Raw foods are so dang beautiful. Have you ever noticed that?



INGREDIENTS

1/4 c chia seeds
1 t agave
1 1/4 c water

1/2 c dried fruit, chopped

1/2 c cacao nibs, then grind
1/2 c flaxseed, then grind

1/2 c buckwheaties - which are soaked, sprouted, dehydrated buckwheat groats (or, in a pinch, sub 1/2 c chopped raw nuts of your choice)

dash salt
1/2-1 t vanilla


To begin, soak the chia, agave in the 1 1/4 c water. Let it soak up to a hour if you want, while you gather your other ingredients and grind your cacao nibs and flax.

Next, I ground the flax and cacao nibs - to as fine of a powder as you want. If you leave it coarsely ground, your nibbles will have more texture. For a smoother texture, grind completely.

Once chia is swollen and soaked.. add vanilla and salt. Mix. Now add chipped dried fruit. I used strawberries that I was dehydrating from yesterday. I like to take them out of the dehydrator before they're totally dry, otherwise they're hard. So, my fruit still has a tiny bit of moisture. I just chopped it into tiny bits.

Add the fruit to the chia mixture. Mix by hand.

Now add your flaxseed and cacao nib mixture. Mix by hand completely. It should be a *very* thick dough at this point.

Once it's completely mixed, add the buckwheat groats. They'll give the nibbles a crunch! Don't have buckwheat groats? Don't worry. You can use any raw nut or seed you have around. (but buckwheaties are a lighter crunch!) What about sunflower seeds? or crushing almonds? Whatever you want to do.

Spread on dehydrator sheet. Today, I was actually wishing I had cookie cutters! These would be so cute as little shapes. Ah well, maybe next time.

I left the batter fairly thick, about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Either use your cookie cutters or score it before dehydrating. Don't worry about cutting through the strawberries in the scoring lines. You can always slice them later completely. This will just define your snackers' shape.

Dehydrate 105 to 115 until done! After about 4 hours it was solid enough for me to flip over and remove the keflex sheet from underneath. It dried faster than I expected.

Raw crackers and snacks tend to be dry. Without preservatives, this is just a way to keep them fresher, longer. So, serve with a touch of soy nut butter and jam! (We prefer soy nut butter over here but you can use anything you have or prefer.) Makes a great breakfast, snack or dessert!


IDEAS?

Dip in the caramel dip! Have with raw ice cream! Crush and have on yogurt or ice cream, if you don't have raw ice cream. These are just crunchy, healthy snacks and desserts for you and yours.

Or, leave them slightly moist and store in an airtight container in the fridge as gooey cookies!

Enjoy!