No-Bake Raspberry Cream Bars (cashew-free)

I'm one of those people who cooks through a crisis. It's therapeutic and a great distraction. And out of tension and worry, lovely and nourishing food is created.

My dad recently had a pretty major operation and is still in hospital. I created these raspberry cream bars one night to cheer myself up (or numb my anxiety by eating, you be the judge!). 

I love using cashews for raw cheesecake type sweets, but I didn't have any handy this time. Using coconut milk makes these bars lighter and less rich than the standard raw cheesecake, but still lovely and creamy. 

Peanut butter, banana, raspberries and coconut - yum! 

Other recipes containing raspberries from the blog:
Raspberry Cake
Raspberries and Cream Overnight Oats

No-Bake Raspberry Cream Bars

Base
1 cup ground almonds (I used almond meal from a packet as I had some leftover)
2/3 cup soft medjool dates, packed
1/3 cup peanut butter
pinch of salt

1 banana, thinly sliced

Topping
1 cup of raspberries (if using frozen, thaw first)
1 cup coconut milk (from tin)
3 tbsp coconut oil (melted)
1/3 cup rice malt syrup
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp icing sugar (or to taste)
juice of half a lemon

To make the base, put the ground almonds, dates, peanut butter and salt in a food processor and process until the mix sticks together as a dough. Press into your cake tin, cover with the sliced banana and put aside.

To make the topping, blend the raspberries, coconut milk, coconut oil, rice malt syrup, vanilla, icing sugar and lemon until completely smooth. It will be quite runny. Pour this on top of the base.

Put it in the freezer until the topping is set. After about 2 hours, it is set enough to eat but may still be a bit soft. I liked it like this, but it's also nice when left longer in the freezer and the topping has hardened completely. 

Store in the freezer.