Homemade carob crunch bites with goji berries

Some days, at least in my world, things just feel wrong. There may not be anything tangibly wrong, or at least nothing that you can put into words. Nonetheless, things may seem off kilter, frustrating, Not Right, uncomfortable, hard, wrong.

Last week finished off that way for me. There are some tangible contributors this time around, from both the anxiety and sadness camps (always a fun combination), but the 'real' stressors don't go all the way to explaining things. Friday brought a migraine. I couldn't settle into a groove with things. I wanted to stay in bed and bury my head in the covers and a book, except even that didn't really appeal - which is when I know things really are not right.

Fortunately, there are things that help when life is like that. Carob bars have been dancing around my head for a while now, and yesterday seemed like as good a time as any to indulge in making them.

These bars drew inspiration from the Lewis sugar free carob blocks that I greatly enjoy, as well as Chocolate Covered Katie's recent dark chocolate crunch bar, this recipe for carob bark, and this recipe for homemade chocolate or carob bars. They involved a hefty dose of trial and error. They are a bit of a work in progress. They calmed me down and they lifted my spirits.

I don't like mess, but this sort of mess is surprisingly soothing

I have called the final product 'carob bites' rather than 'bars', because they are not neat enough to be called the latter. They're also not neat enough to be photographed prettily (or at least, not with my photography skills). In fact, they're a bit messy all up, but in some ways that seems appropriate for my mood, and they taste so good that I'm prepared to forgive them anyway.

Delicious mess

Homemade carob crunch bites with goji berries

Created with reference to Chocolate Covered Katie's dark chocolate crunch bar, this recipe for carob bark, and this recipe for homemade chocolate or carob bars

Makes 10 - 16 pieces

Vegan

Print recipe

Ingredients

3/4 cup carob powder

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla

Pinch sea salt

1/4 cup dried goji berries (or dried fruit of choice, or nuts)

1/2 cup puffed millet (or puffed rice)

Method

Melt the coconut oil, using a double-boiler system or on low power in the microwave, stirring regularly. Add the carob powder and mix through.

Add the vanilla, sea salt, goji berries and puffed millet and mix well to combine.

Line a baking tray or square baking dish with baking paper. Spread the mixture on to the baking paper.

Set in the freezer for 20 minutes and then break into pieces (or you could be neat and cut them). Store in the fridge.

These are more carob-y than most commercial carob products, because they omit the milk solids (or soy solids in dairy free blocks) and thus have a much higher carob percentage. Perhaps as a result, or for other reasons, they are also a bit crumblier. I was very happy with the taste, but the texture may need a bit of tweaking and I think the mixture needs more liquid to the dry carob. I may try thinning things out with water or almond milk in future, or just reducing the carob.

Despite the texture being a bit on the crumbly side, these were highly enjoyable to eat. The goji berries paired well with the carob tones, and the puffed millet gave crunch as well as lightening up what is an otherwise dense product. 

All in all, a highly satisfying experience, both in the making and in the final result.

Whilst this is definitely a recipe for carob lovers only, substituting cocoa powder for carob powder would yield a dark chocolate bar that I imagine would be very, very good (although you would probably want to add some sweetener, as carob powder is naturally sweeter than cocoa).

Do you like carob? And have you made your own carob / chocolate bars? I am thinking of pursuing this hobby over the remainder of the year!

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