Thursday, November 1 was World Vegan Day – a day for celebrating veganism, brought into life by The Vegan Society of the UK in 1994, 50 years after the term “vegan” was conceived. And what better way to celebrate it than to eat lots of fabulous plant-based food with other vegans/vegan-friendly people?

Here in Switzerland, the Vegan Society of Switzerland (Vegane Gesellschaft Schweiz) hosts an awesome annual potluck on November 1st. This year they kindly reached out to me, asking if I would like to bring some dessert and share the recipe, which is where these Chestnut Hazelnut Squares come in. I can’t get enough of them: soft yet substantial, sweet and nourishing. Paired with a cup of hot chocolate or a turmeric latte they’re my favorite fall treat and personal epitome of autumnal “hygge” 🙂

Chestnut Hazelnut Squares

Makes: 12 squares

Ingredients

• 400g cooked and peeled chestnuts (much easier if you can buy them like this)
• 100g ground hazelnuts
• 180 ml plant-based mylk (rice or hazelnut are my favorite here)
• 120g soft dates*
• 2 tbsp ground flaxseeds
• 1 pinch of salt
• 50g hazelnut chocolate (I use White Nougat Crisp from iChoc, which is heavenly!)
• 30g of the same chocolate, chopped
• 2 tbsp hazelnut butter

*The dates must be soft. If your dates are dry try soaking them in hot water first and draining, before blending. I use the Sukari pitted dates from Dattelmann (international website), which are gorgeously squidgy. They’re already pitted and (super) soft. Perfect for snacking or using in baking/cooking. Using their pre-prepared date paste is even easier! You can get 15% off items not already on sale with the discount code “blueberry15” {brand collaboration}.

Method

• Grind the chestnuts into a course flour and combine with the other dry ingredients (ground hazelnuts, flaxseeds and salt) in a large bowl.
• Heat up the mylk and melt 50g of the chocolate in it. Mash up the dates with a fork, add the mylk-chocolate mixture and hazelnut butter and blend the mix.
• Add the liquid to the dry mixture and combine thoroughly, before stirring in the chocolate chunks (I saved a few to sprinkle on top).
• Fill the thick, lumpy mixture into a loaf tin lined with baking paper and heat in an oven preheated to 180°C for ca. 30-40 minutes. It should be firm enough to hold together but not dry in the middle. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes, at least, before taking out and slicing into squares.

To turn this into a slightly more fancy dessert, serve warm with some ice cream, berry compote and a drizzle of hazelnut butter!

For more Potluck Recipe contributions and vegan goodness check out Vegan.ch.

Enjoy!

Feel free to tag @blueberrysmiles22 if you share your creations on Instagram, so I can share in the joy 🙂