Vegan chocolate and nut covered banana bites

my friend Ruth showed Nhi and I a photo of chocolate covered banana bites on Instagram. The photo was posted up by Fitspiration_24 and they looked super delicious. I think these are such a simple and guilt-free sweet treat. 

I was so impressed with these that I had to make my own vegan version. I pulled up a recipe for raw vegan chocolate from the website The Veggie Nook and used their Raw Chocolate Recipe #2. It is vegan, raw, gluten-free, and refined sugar-free! 

These banana bites are a perfect treat to hit those sugar cravings on the head. Just remember that all things should be in moderation and even though these are a healthy option, don't over do it. 

Vegan Chocolate and Nut Covered Banana Bites

Makes 10

Ingredients
For the vegan chocolate (from The Veggie Nook):

• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 2/3 cocoa powder
• 4 tablespoons maple syrup or agave nectar

• Roasted nuts (you can used any you like, or you could coat them in unsweetened dessicated coconut)
• Bananas cut into bite sized pieces (I used two small bananas)

Directions

1. Roast nuts in the oven or on a pan. Make sure you keep watch so that they don't burn. Once they have browned, then spread nuts out on a plate to let cool.
2. Combine all of the ingredients for the vegan chocolate in a bowl and mix. 
3. Once the nuts have cooled, grind them using a mortar and pestle or in the food processor.
4. Using about a tablespoon of the chocolate, cover each banana piece and roll into a smooth ball in the palms of your hand (yes your hands will get messy, but these are super yummy so it's worth it)
5. Roll the ball into the ground nuts and place on a tray lined with baking paper. 
6. Place tray into the refrigerator until the balls have hardened (at least 20 minutes). 

I ground up almonds, pecans, hazelnuts and cashews separately and rolled the banana bites in each. I then put the respective nut on top of the banana bite so I could tell them apart :P