Cocoa Spiced Almond Clusters

Cocoa Spiced Almond Clusters

This recipe for Cocoa Spiced Almond Clusters creates a nutty chocolate treat. You won’t have any guilt about gifting a jar of these over the holidays.

Use these almonds as a snack, in trail mix, or chop them and sprinkle them into other recipes like my Quick Chocolate Protein pudding.

The almonds and cocoa in this recipe are two foods in the Super Food category. Almonds are a low carbohydrate food, rich in fiber and monounsaturated fat (“good fat”). Recent research associates the consumption of almonds with elevating blood levels of “good” cholesterol (high-density lipoproteins or HDL) while lowering the levels of “bad” cholesterol (low-density lipoproteins or LDL).

Cocoa powder (also known as cocoa solids) contains no fat and provides the chocolate flavor. Cocoa solids are what contain most of the antioxidants associated with chocolate. When consuming chocolate for its health benefits, you should look for chocolate with the highest percentage of cocoa. However, in large doses, such as a bite of chocolate bar, high cocoa chocolate bars taste can bitter.

Servings: 24, ¼ c servings – this recipe was created as a large batch for easy gifting but is easily reduced

Ingredients

6 c almonds, raw and unsalted
¼ c liquid egg whites
2 T cocoa powder, dutched
2 t cinnamon
½ c Splenda granulated

Directions

Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Cover a large cookie sheet with aluminum foil and lightly spray it with non-stick spray.

In a large bowl, mix egg whites and almonds to thoroughly wet the almonds. Add cocoa powder, cinnamon and Splenda and mix well, coating the almonds evenly.

Roast almonds for 45 minutes or until almonds begin to harden. Remove from oven and cool completely. Bend the foil to loosen the nuts from the foil and break them up into smaller clusters. Bend edges of foil up to pour into containers.

Nutritionals

The nutritionals are for each ¼ cup serving.

Calories: 210
Fat: 18g
Carb: 8g, 4g fiber
Protein: 8g
Sodium: 10mg

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