Hard to beat a snack that’s full of zinc, calcium, magnesium, fibre and amino acids to support the production of healthy hormones and your fertility right? This NUT FREE CHOC TOP SLICE is an absolute winner for preconception and fertility and post birth women. For our pregnant mother’s swap the tahini for your choice of sunflower seed butter or nut butter (obviously not nut free then, but make do with what you have!)

Before you make it, let’s take a further look at the nutrition in this slice

Zinc: Nuts and seeds, in particular pepitas, are a dense source of the mineral zinc. Zinc is critical for fertility and pregnancy, for maturation and fertilisation of the egg (oocyte), for implantation, for foetal growth, neural tube development, immune function, creation of DNA and building proteins. 

Calcium: Sesame seeds and tahini are a great go to source of whole food, plant based calcium. Calcium is a mineral and intracellular second messenger essential in male fertility for spermatogenesis, sperm motility and fertilisation. Plays a significant role in the physiology of the female reproductive system and oocyte development. In pregnancy calcium is important for decreased blood pressure, as well as reducing risk of hypertension and preeclampsia. In pregnancy calcium is in high demand with around 30g transferred for foetal growth throughout gestation. Of course calcium is also important for healthy bones in mum too!

Magnesium: Nuts, seeds, dates and cacao in a dark chocolate are excellent sources of magnesium. Magnesium is one of the most abundant minerals in the human body and plays a very active role in regulating muscle and nerve function, for the production of proteins and DNA, in maintaining blood pressure and regulating blood glucose levels. In the context of fertility, magnesium supports healthy progesterone levels and thus in pregnancy is one of the many nutrients that may help reduce risk of miscarriage. 

NUT FREE CHOC TOP SLICE 

Makes 12-20 slices

Gluten free : Dairy free (opt) : Vegan (opt) 

1 cup pitted dried dates

1 cup dried apricots

½ cup tahini 

½ cup sunflower seeds 

½ cup pepitas 

¼ cup hemp seeds 

1 cup desiccated coconut (unsweetened) 

100-200g good quality dark chocolate*

Soak dates in ¼ cup boiling water for 10 minutes. Add dates, dried apricots, tahini, vanilla and maple to a food processor and blitz to dough consistency. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Add sunflower seeds, pepitas, hemp seeds and coconut and mix well. Line a 20x20cm cake tin with greaseproof paper. Press the mix into the tin evenly. Melt the chocolate and pour over the top. Set in the fridge or freezer for 3-4 hours or overnight. Slice and enjoy!

*we used 100g in this round, as you can see in the image the chocolate was fairly thin and cracked slightly upon cutting. We really love the fact it’s not super chocolatey. However, if you wish for a more even silky chocolate finish I’d suggest using 200g chocolate.