1/2 cup raw unsalted cashews
1/2 cup water
3-4 dates, pitted
1 Tbsp cocoa or carob powder
1/4 tsp vanilla
Blend it all up in the blender until creamy and smooth. This is soooo goood. You can stop here and dip a banana in it, yum, or strawberries or carrots. Then if you also want some hot cocoa, divide the remaining dip into two mugs (unless you ate a lot of it, then just one mug). Add another tsp of cocoa, and 1 Tbsp of sugar or sweetener of choice (optional). Heat it in the microwave. Add more cocoa or sweetener as desired (depends on how big your mug is). This was the best hot cocoa I ever tasted (I only tasted it as I made it for house-mate). The dip with carob is great so I suspect the hot "cocoa" with carob substituted would be great too. Note: each serving is only 1/4 cup cashews which is about 1 oz, so not excessive. Of course, the sweeteners are a bit excessive so this definitely counts as an occasional treat.
I got this idea from people on the Fuhrman forums talking about what they eat when they want something sweet, and someone talked about dipping bananas into a chocolate-peanut butter dip. It was in the back of my mind as my bananas have been ripening to perfection this week.