I’m a huge fan of cherry and coconut slice, however when it comes to making it, I can’t be bothered taking pips out of cherries one by one. Also strawberries are in season at the moment and are fairly cheap. A normally cherry slice would be loaded with butter, sugar, flour, gluten etc. This one however contains no gluten, butter, flower or added sugar. There are a few steps to this recipe so I’ve tried to make is as simple as possible .

INGREDIENTS

FOR CRUST:

• 1/2 cup of sunflower/pumpkin seed mix
• 1 egg whisked
• 2 tbs of flaxseed meal
• 1 small handful of dates
• 1/2 glass of hot water
• 1 tsp of cinnamon
• 1 tsp of vanilla essence
• 2 tabs of stevia
• For filling:
• 2 punnets of strawberries
• 3-4 tbs of coconut milk
• 1-2 cups of desiccated coconut

FOR CHOCOLATE TOP:

• 8 squares of dark chocolate 70% or better

METHOD

METHOD FOR CRUST

• Pre-heat oven to 180dg
• Whisk 1 egg into a bowl
• Blend pumpkin seed/sunflower seed mix into flour and add to bowl with flaxseed meal, cinnamon, vanilla essence and stevia
• Finely chop dates, place in blender and add 1/2 cup of hot water, blend until the dates are a paste like consistency
• Stir mixture well until it is a batter like consistency
• Line a baking tray with baking paper
• Spread mixture into tray and spread out so that mixture is even
• Place in oven for 10-15 minutes.
• Mixture should have a crusty

METHOD FOR FILLING:

• While crust is in fridge cooling you can prepare strawberry filling
• Chop strawberries into small pieces
• Place the strawberry pieces into blender with 1 cup of desiccated coconut and 3 tbs of hardened coconut milk.
• The hardened coconut milk should be at the top of the can when you open it. Don’t use the coconut water at the bottom of the can
• Pulse the blender. The strawberry and coconut mixture should be a combination of strawberry chunks and a strawberry/coconut pasty type mixture
• This next step is the most important step
• Lay out a clean, dry tea towel and pour mixture into the middle of the tea towel
• Cover the mixture with the tea towel and twist the ends (it should look like a Christmas bon-bon)
• Twist the tea towel as tight as you can so that the excess liquid from the strawberries comes out. Squeeze as much as you can out
• If you leave this step out or don’t squeeze the majority of the liquid out, the filling will not set (this is what I did)
• Remove the crust from the fridge and add the filling. Spread the filling out so that it is even
• then place it back in the fridge to set for around 15 minutes

FOR THE CHOCOLATE TOP:

• 5 minutes before you are about to take out the slice of the fridge you
• can prepare the chocolate top
• Break up the dark chocolate and place into a glass or small bowl
• Place in microwave for approx 1 minute or until the chocolate is liquefied
• Remove the crust and filling from the fridge and pour the dark chocolate over the filling and spread out evenly with the back of a spoon
• To make slicing easier, with a knife slice up and down and across ways over the top of the chocolate top.
• Place back in fridge until chocolate top sets (10-15 mins)
• Then serve