Welcome to the Festival of Food Carnival. In celebration of the tradition of Easter chocolates, we're sharing recipe ideas for healthier alternatives - sweets and treats featuring real cocoa. Hosted by Diary of a First Child and Hybrid Rasta Mama, you're welcome to join us next time, or if you have a previously published recipe you'd like to share, add it to the linky below.

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You want to feel like a real cooking whiz? It's time to freestyle a recipe, and I'll show you just how with a simple and decadent dessert … that just happens to be relatively healthful as well!

For a naughty but non-guilty treat, I've been seesawing back and forth between two recipes: "Paleo Cookie Dough Bars" from Making the World Cuter and "Paleo-ized Monster Cookie Dough Dip" from Paleo Parents. I liked the ingredients and texture of the bars but the ease of eating it straight out of a bowl (what?). I began experimenting with different ingredients, additions, and subtractions, in a quest to find The One chocolate chip cookie dough recipe that could safely and deliciously be eaten raw. I also needed it to stay (as those recipes are) grain-free, dairy-free, and refined sugar-free. (Well, at one point I did experiment with butter, but it didn't make as much of an impact as I thought it might.)

Here's the thing: I've found my sweet spot. And I wanted to share it with you. Only …

I have no idea what any of the amounts are. I only know how I put it together to make it awesome-yumtastic. And — get ready for this — I dirty only one regular bowl and one regular soup spoon. Which I call a dishwashing win!

I decided that teaching you the free-flying way I assemble this dip is just as good — no, better! it's better! — than just a recipe. With measurements. And preciseness. Forget that! This is so much more: It's easy. And fast. And perfect for lazy people very special people with much more important things to do than something measly like reading the lines on a measuring cup. Pfft. (Those important things may or may not include shoveling cookie dough into their pieholes. And when I say "may not," I mean "definitely does.")

Let's get cooking, you rebels! Who's with me?

Ingredients

You'll want to just gather these to have on hand. Note: I will not be providing measurements, because we don't play that game. Fight the man!

• Coconut oil
• Raw honey
• Vanilla extract
• Coconut flour (optional)
• Baking soda
• Sea salt (optional)
• Flaxseed meal (optional)
• Chia seeds (optional)
• Almond flour
• Chocolate chips (I love the mini dairy-free Enjoy Life ones)
• Walnuts or other yummy nuggets (optional)

Equipment needed

• Soup bowl (microwave-safe)
• Soup spoon

Woot! Fewer dishes to wash! I do realize that spoons and bowls can vary in size. Ours are what I like to call "normal." I use the bigger of our two meal spoon sizes, the ones intended for eating soup. I think you'll do fine even if your spoon's a little bigger or smaller as long as you keep all your "spoonfuls" the same relative size.

Allergy notes

Grain-free, gluten-free, refined sugar-free, dairy-free, egg-free, fish-free. (Well, I don't know: Did you want to know if this dip had seafood in it? Well, it doesn't.) Contains nuts for sure. Vegetarian, vegan.

Directions

Ready? Ok.

1. Scoop three heaping spoonfuls out of your coconut oil into the bowl. This is approximately 1/3 cup; I decided to determine how many spoonfuls 1/3 cup was for my spoon so I didn't have to wash the cup measure every time I wanted to make this recipe. I'm a lazy genius like that.

2. Push the remnants of the coconut oil off the spoon with your finger, and then rub it into your hands as a moisturizer. (Did I mention to wash your hands before starting this recipe? Sorry.)

3. Scoop two heaping spoonfuls of honey into the bowl. This is likely something like 1/4 cup. No guarantees.

4. Unless it's hot where you are, the coconut oil and honey will be solid at room temperature. So: Pop the bowl in the microwave for 11 seconds. If you're not a microwave user (weirdo) (just joking) then you can get a pot dirty (sob) and heat it on the stove, or warm it in a larger bowl of hot water. (As in, the way you'd gently warm a bottle of breastmilk.) The oil and honey don't have to be liquid, just liquid-er. You want them viscous enough to stir together. There can be some lumps.

5. Dribble some vanilla into the liquid-ish-ness and mix that in, too. What's a dribble, you ask? Well, definitely at least 2 teaspoons. But I love vanilla, so I do more like 1 Tablespoon.

6. Sprinkle some coconut flour on top. How much is "some"? Wow, you have a lot of questions. It's about 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons. If you don't have coconut flour, you can skip this step. I have it, and I love adding more coconut goodness.

7. Shake sea salt on top. I love salt, so I shake until I see shining little crystals on every part of the surface. If you don't love it so much, use less or skip it altogether. You can also use kosher salt, or whatever salt. I won't check.

8. Add a dash o' baking soda — no, you're not baking this, but it adds a little zing. You'll want approximately a teaspoon. Mix it all in.

9. If I'm feeling like some extra texture and nutrition, I'll also shake a little flaxseed meal or chia seeds into the mixture. This is your call.

10. Now the real fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants part! Start shaking almond flour into the goopy mess. It will likely end up being something like 1 1/2 cups total, but do a little at a time until it's the consistency you want. Plus, that makes it easier to stir without flinging flour over the sides of the bowl. Shake; stir. Shake; stir. You know you're done when it's the color and consistency of regular chocolate chip cookie dough. (And if you don't know what that's supposed to look like … um … guess?) You want to aim toward drying it out, because it will mush back together. Once you've got it where you want it, stop! And there's really no way to do this wrong. All of these ingredients, stirred together? It's foolproof yum.

11. Shake as many mini chocolate chips on top as you think you want. Stir them in. Add a few more. Because you can never have too much chocolate.

12. Stir in any walnuts or other add-ins. I'm rather a purist and like it best with just the chocolate chips, but options to add include walnuts, cashews, macadamia nuts, candies, raisins, dates, and so on.

To serve, you can either spread the mixture onto a baking sheet and chill, and then cut into bars. I do like it that way as well. But: That gets a baking sheet, and a knife, and ultimately a plate dirty. So I often just serve it as a dip.


And what I dip into it is the spoon. Which I then dip into my mouth.

Repeat.

Any amount you don't eat, refrigerate covered. Keep the spoon handy, though, so you can nibble as you need to. Ours last at most a couple days with two and a half people having at it — that's Sam, me, and Alrik if he spots its presence. (Yes, we tend to share a spoon. But you're allowed to get another spoon and/or bowl dirty if you'd feel more comfortable with that.)

Look at that! You made a whole dessert without measuring a thing the proper way! Julia Child would be so proud. Or scandalized. One of those. I'm going with proud.

Now go eat up your chocolatey-doughy goodness!

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Please take a moment to visit the blogs of our other Festival of Food participants. The links in this list will be live by the end of the day, as participants are all in different time zones.

• Got children who won't eat their fruit? On a healthy eating plan and yearning for something decadent? Mrs. Green's decadent avocado smoothie recipe ticks ALL the boxes! You can also find Mrs. Green at Little Green Blog.
• Lindy at Poppy Soap Co. shares Delectable, Grain Free Chocolate Cookie Bites, a simple, savory cookie that you will not be able to resist. You can also find Lindy on Facebook. 
• Luschka at Diary of a First Child shares her favourite vegan chocolate cake recipe, perfect for when you've run out of eggs. Add some coconut oil for a taste extravaganza.  You can also find Luschka on Facebook.
• Sarah at Why Food Works shares Chocolate on Your Face (a mug cake, revisited), a recipe that yields batter you can use as a facial — or bake up into a healthier-than-normal mug cake, right in your microwave. You can also find Sarah on Facebook.
• Angela at EarthMamas World shares one of her families favorite desserts, chocolate chia pudding. It is as easy as it is delicious!  You can also find Angela on Facebook. 
• Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama shares the Easiest, Tastiest 5-Ingredient Chocolate Cake! This recipe literally takes minutes to throw together and is Gluten, Grain, and Dairy Free. You can also find Jennifer on Facebook.
• Lauren at Hobo Mama has a simple cheater's way to make this decadent-tasting but guilt-free Freestyle Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, and it dirties only one bowl and one spoon! You can also find Hobo Mama on Facebook.

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