The Definition of a Delicious and Nutritious Paleo Snack
To make this recipe, all you’ll need to do is arrange your apple slices in a single layer on a plate. Drizzle them with almond butter and your melted down paleo friendly dark chocolate chips.
Finish them off by sprinkling unsweetened coconut flakes and chopped almonds before serving them immediately. These apple nachos can certainly look fancy but as you can see, it’s so simple to make!
Going Crazy for Apples?
As much as I love almond butter, I must say I have something even better for this recipe. If you love the taste of apple or just have a surplus of it, I highly recommend making some homemade apple butter and drizzling it on top with the almond butter.
Almond Butter Isn’t Runny Enough? Here’s an Easy Fix!
If your almond butter isn’t runny enough to drizzle, there’s actually an easy solution to this. Take the metal cap off your almond butter jar and pop the glass jar into the microwave for a few seconds. This should help heat up the oils in your almond butter, giving it a runny texture.
3 Recommended Brands of Paleo Dark Chocolate Chips
Even though dark chocolate is perfectly acceptable on the paleo diet, there are still plenty of dark chocolate chip brands out there that are not paleo friendly.
This is because they often contain added ingredients like soy lecithin, grains, and other artificial additives. With that being said, there are still enough dark chocolate chip brands out there that are paleo friendly that you should be able to find something at your local grocery retailer.
Here are my top three recommended brands that you should keep an eye out for. As an added bonus, they’re all even vegan friendly as well:
- Lily’s Dark Chocolate Chips (No sugar added, all natural, and sweetened with Stevia)
- Gerbs 68% Cacao Dark Chocolate Chips (Only three all natural ingredients – organic cane sugar, unsweetened chocolate, and non-dairy cocoa butter)
- Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (100% dairy, nut, and soy free)
Milk Chocolate vs Dark Chocolate – Which is Better?
Before we look into which is the better option between milk chocolate and dark chocolate, it’s important to understand the differences between the two.
Dark chocolate only requires a few specific ingredients to produce: cocoa mass, cocoa butter, and some type of sweetener (typically sugar). Milk chocolate on the other hand is made by combining cocoa butter with sugar and either milk powder or condensed milk–there’s no cocoa mass required.
As for which is better for you, I think you guys can probably guess the answer by now.
Dark chocolate is nutritionally superior because t it has a higher percentage of cocoa solids when compared to milk chocolate. It also has less sugar than milk chocolate, while also containing an abundance of heart healthy monounsaturated fatty acids and other beneficial antioxidants. (1)
There’s a reason why all of our recipes call for dark chocolate and never milk chocolate. It’s a much more nutritionally sound option that fits perfectly within the confines of the paleo diet.
3 Reasons Why This Paleo Snack is Such a Nutritional Powerhouse
It isn’t just the dark chocolate in this paleo snack that makes it such a nutritional powerhouse. Far from it in fact. Here are three great reasons why this paleo snack is such a nutritional powerhouse:
1. Essential Nutrients
On top of the abundance of heart healthy fats, polyphenols, and antioxidants, dark chocolate also contains essential nutrients such as iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium, copper, and manganese. These essential minerals are vital as they’re required for vascular function and help us perform all our day to day activities! (2)
2. Dietary Fiber
Dark chocolate is also an excellent source of dietary fiber. One single 100 gram bar of dark chocolate contains 11 grams of fiber. Getting enough dietary fiber helps with maintaining a healthy weight, reduces your odds of developing chronic inflammatory diseases, not to mention it helps to regulate your bowel movements. (3)
3. Heart Healthy Fats
Both almond butter and sliced raw almonds are also an excellent source of healthy fats, dietary fiber, protein, antioxidants, and essential vitamins and minerals. In some studies, they have been shown to have a cholesterol lowering effect. (4)
