How to Make Raw Lemon and Jackfruit Slice (Nut Free!)

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This Raw Lemon Slice is bursting with lemony flavour! With a crunchy Jackfruit-infused biscuit base and a creamy lemon icing, this slice is a refreshing snack. It tastes like a treat, but it is full of superfood goodness, and is completely free from refined sugar and nuts.

Why you’ll love this Slice

• It’s cheap to make: I like my treats recipes to be budget friendly, and this raw vegan citrus slice is no exception. Made from simple, cheap ingredients, this is a treat that you can enjoy without the splurge.
• It’s healthy: no refined sugar or carbohydrates went into the making of this delicious slice. It’s dairy free, and egg free, and full of complex carbohydrates that aren’t so damaging to your blood sugar.
• Kids love it: They love the thick lemon icing, and the sweet tangy flavour. I often use this as a bargaining tool to get them to finish their dinner. Gotta love those healthy treats!

What you need for this Raw Nut-free Lemon Slice:

The ingredients for this citrus slice are simple pantry staples that you won’t have to spend too much money on.

In these times of inflation and rising food prices, it is becoming completely essential to keep the grocery bill down. I have figured out a way to have yummy healthy treats without having to throw away dollars on specialty healthy ingredients.

Here’s what’s in this slice:

For the Base

• Desiccated Coconut – Blitzed into butter, desiccated coconut is a frugal way to bind the base. It acts as a glue which holds everything together. Some vegan recipes would call for coconut oil, which is really expensive! The coconut butter sets the base firm and crunchy, plus adds additional sweetness. You need about 250 g for the base.
• Oats – ground into a fine powder, the oats add bulk to this base mixture. They also give it a crumbly biscuity texture, which is very pleasant!
• Dried Jackfruit – I picked up Dried jackfruit, super cheap, from our local discount store, but you can easily get it from the supermarket baking aisle. If you aren’t able to find dried jackfruit, dried apricots would also work really well. You need about 200g, soaked, for the base. Once soaked, it is blended into a paste and mixed with the rest of the base ingredients.
• Lemon Juice – this is the hero ingredient in this Citrus Slice. The Lemon really enhances the jackfruit flavour and injects such juiciness into the base! It makes the slice burst with lemony sunshine. Use about 1/4 cup for the base and 1/4 cup for the frosting.
• Sweetener – I use Truvia as my go-to sweetener for all baking. A little bit goes a long way, plus it sweetens my treats without any weird after taste. Use about 1 tablespoon for the base and 2-3 tablespoons for the frosting (as per your sweetness preference).
• Salt – An essential ingredient in all baked goods (in my humble opinion), the salt balances the sweetness and enhances it. Use about 1/2 a teaspoon in the base and 1/2 a teaspoon in the frosting.

For the Frosting:

• Desiccated Coconut – the frosting for this Raw Nut Free Citrus slice uses about 250g desiccated coconut, ground into butter. The coconut butter is a cheap way to make the frosting firm, and is an alternative to coconut oil. I would not substitute the two, because the coconut butter provides a level of buttery creaminess that the coconut oil is not able to achieve.
• Coconut Milk – Mixed with the coconut butter, the coconut milk gives you a fudgey, buttercreamy frosting to die for! Coconut milk is super cheap to buy from the supermarket. You do not have to use coconut milk. I had a lot of leftover whey, which I used while recipe testing, and that also worked remarkably well.
• Lemon Juice – use 1/4 cup for the frosting, just to get that burst of lemon sunshine. The coconut milk/butter combination does make a rich icing, so a little bit of lemon juice helps to cut through the richness and make it more palatable.
• Sweetener – I use about 2 tablespoons of Truvia, because the coconut is already quite sweet. However, feel free to sweeten to your liking – the sweetener does not add any bulk or setting properties, so the measurement does not have to be exact.

Why I Love Raw Nut Free Slice

None of these ingredients are super wacky, right? All of them can be found at a mainstream supermarket, pretty much all in the baking section. Which means this slice is a super cheap, doable, treat to make.

I love defying the “Raw Slice” convention of using nuts. Nuts are SUPER expensive, and you really do not miss them in this Raw Citrus slice. It is still crunchy, it still sets firmly, and is still utterly delicious! No need to soak cashews or strain your blender by subjecting it to those tough nuts!

I love that with this recipe, I can enjoy a raw healthy treat at a fraction of the price of the usual healthy raw slice. This recipe probably don’t cost much more to make than ordinary oat cookies, but it is way more delicious.

Plus, because the slice doesn’t cost the earth to make, you won’t mind your kids eating oodles of it (which they will!).

How long does this Raw Lemon slice keep for?

This Raw Nut-free Citrus Jackfruit Slice tastes better the next day and keeps well for up to one week. After that, the coconut frosting gets that fridge crust, and while edible, it’s not at it’s best.

It probably won’t last that long, though….especially if your house is as full of little (and big) fingers as mine is!

Are Raw Slices Healthy?

Raw slices are usually comprised of nuts and dried fruit. Nuts are quite high in fats and carbs, and dried fruit in natural sugars. While these fats and sugars contain nutrients that are good for your body to consume, it is best to eat this slice mindfully.

Even in a natural form, these fats and sugars are waist-thickening if not eaten in moderation. It’s just too much for your blood sugar to handle and can lead to fat storage.

As aforementioned, this slice is different from most raw slices in that it does not contain nuts. However, it does contain coconut, which is high in natural fats. Unlike nuts, coconut is high in fibre, which in my books is a major bonus. I believe it does not make it as fattening as nuts.

While I would definitely indulge in a larger chunk of this slice than I would if it contained sugar and butter, I would still try to enjoy it in treat-sized quantities. This slice would definitely make you fat if you ate it without abandon!