Have you ever said, “eating healthy is boring?” Or, “there’s nothing good to eat?” Actually, eating healthy can be an exciting adventure full of creative, nutritious and delicious food. Below is a recipe for a chocolate torte that could actually be categorized as health food. It doesn’t even need to be eaten for dessert. It could be eaten for breakfast. See what you think.

Once you have all the ingredients lined up on the counter, it takes about 20 minutes to complete the chocolate torte.

INGREDIENTS:

Crust

• 10 large Medjool dates, pitted and chopped
• 2 cups raw hazelnuts
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon coconut butter
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Filling

• ½ cup raw almond butter
• 1 medium avocado, peeled and pitted
• 1/2 cup maple syrup. You could use chicory root powder called “Just Like Sugar” (ordered online if not stocked at your health food store) if you are following an anti-cancer, anti-yeast, paleo or keto diet and want to avoid the many downsides of sugar. You would use 2/3 cup of “Just Like Sugar” instead of the maple syrup. Or you could use half maple syrup and half chicory root powder. Another option is to use Monk’s Fruit, a favorite of many of my patients.
• 3 tablespoon coconut butter, melted
• 1 cup raw cacao powder
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• ½ cup water

Garnish

2 cup raspberries

DIRECTIONS:

Grind the hazelnuts in a food processor until they turn into a powder. Then add the dates to the food processor and pulse. Blend until your crust is the consistency of a graham cracker crust.

Divide crust into four small tart pans, or a large pie pan with a removable bottom. Grease the pan with coconut oil ahead of time. Press the crust into the pans using your fingers. Set aside.

Combine all ingredients for your filling in a blender and mix until well combined. Make sure the filling is smooth; occasionally scrape down sides while blending. The consistency should be pudding like. If the filling is too thick, add more water, one teaspoon at a time. Divide your filling between your four pans with crust.

Add berries for garnish.

Refrigerate for 1-2 hour to fully set. I like to put my chocolate torte in the freezer. I take it out about a half hour before serving. Partially frozen makes the torte easier to cut. It tastes like the most divine ice cream.

Enjoy!

I made my next chocolate torte into a whole pie with a hazelnut crust for the family gathering over the holidays. The dinosaur inspectors came by yesterday to check on the paleo certification of the chocolate torte. They got out of control and jumped right into the torte and forgot about their jobs. They died from an overdose of chocolate.

This inspector died with a smile on his face.