Hallo thare friends.
No, sorry, I was talking to the healthy sea salt dark chocolate bars. Because a chocolate bar that is made with healthy ingredients (everybody say hiii to the friendly oats, coconut, nuts, and seeds) and wrapped up in peanut butter and deep, fudgy, dark chocolate and sprinkled with sea salt to perk up your mouth with a bang – that’s the kind of chocolate bar that I want to be friends with now and forever more till death do us part. That’s normal, right?
These no-bake, extremely low-maintenance sea salt dark chocolate bars of wonder *pause to really think about that and now let’s go for a fist bump* are ready super fast, require very few ingredients, have significantly less refined sugar than your average chocolate treatster, and are stored in the freezer or fridge for easy access during Chocolate Emergencies. I’m having a flashback to the Inner Goddess Chocolate Truffles and remembering how much we love healthier, more wholesome chocolate bliss together.
If I had a real freezer right now, it would be filled to the max with ALL THE CHOCOLATE THANGS. But instead, this:
Kitchen Update:
The reality is that our fridge is officially sitting out in the driveway right now waiting to be hauled off the refrigerator graveyard, looking sadder, crustier, and more 1950s than ever before. And our new base of cooking operations is DRUMROLLLLLLLLLL the basement!
This is both good and bad news because 1) it means that I have to get really creative and force myself to not just drive to the closest bakery for a large cinnamon roll every morning, and 2) it means that the kitchen remodel is finally, for real, almost a year later, actually happening. Like, today.
Oh hey I just said KITCHEN. REMODEL. Also – when did I become a person who does adult things? This is so fun and weird.
I am totally the kind of person who would use a kitchen remodel as a very good excuse for eating out three times a day, seven days a week. But I am giving myself a challenge to just be okay with the chaos (HA HA says my real life self) and try to keep things at least 1% normal by having our breakfasts, lunches, and dinners at home on most of these kitchen remodel days.
So we packed up the kitchen and currently (like, literally, right at this moment that I’m writing to you) we are existing out of the basement, which is made up of four brick walls, cement walls, and exposed ceiling beams <– totally sounds cool, so I’ll let you think what you want. I am trying so hard to be resourceful and not fall into the eating out all the time trap which means we’re going to live off of a microwave, mini-fridge, slow cooker, blender, panini press, toaster, and rice cooker for the next 6 weeks.
Everything is happening so super speedy fast and I feel like I’m on some sort of wild ride to nice, normal kitchen functionality. Since the recording of that video less than 48 hours ago, demo has started in the most amazing, knocking-walls-down way possible annnd it sounds like our house might come falling down at any moment. Like literally right now as I sit here (in the basement, duh) and type this. WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING UP THERE.
Yesterday I put a ceremonious picture of me majorly smashing the wall (okay fine, majorly smashing, barely denting, whatev) on Facebook and Insta, but you guys know the real truth about us.
We are computer and food people and that’s where the skills reach a sharp decline. So we have a phenom team of guys that are doing the demo and installation of the new kitchen for us and I’m pretty sure that is the best decision we’ve ever made. I’m also pretty sure that they think we are the most bizarre, food-bloggy, work-from-home-dwellers. I mean, nothing screams weirdos like people who just wander around during a remodel, filming them actually doing work, filming ourselves pretending to do work, and still wearing the work from home attire of sweats and hoodies and slippers when they leave at the end of the day.
Dear Team, thank you for dealing with everything about us.
Sea salt dark chocolate bar, anyone?
Flaky sea salt, why you be so nummy?
I fully intent to exist off of sea salt dark chocolate bars loaded with oats and nuts and dried fruit and peeeeannnnuuuuut butttterrrrr for the remainder of the remodel. And/or life. It took me a couple tries to get them just right, because the first few rounds involved so many rolled oats that my mouth was like WHAT ARE YOU FEEDING ME. Not chewable. Stop with the large rolled oats.
So the trick for these is to pulse most of your “filling” — all the healthy nums including the oats — in the food processor to get a really nice, small, easy-to-eat texture that feels less like eating some grains you foraged in a field and more like yum yum yum yum yum yum yum perfectly textured peanut buttery sea salt sprinkled chocolaaaaate.
Thanks for reading and following along with our kitchen remodel and not judging me for being awake or showered for 20+ hours when we filmed episode one (always a really good idea) and making + devouring yummy desserts together.
You make me happy in my heart.
But no, I was talking to the chocolate.
Healthy Sea Salt Dark Chocolate Bars
- Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 24 small bars 1x
Description
Healthy Sea Salt Dark Chocolate Bars! Made with healthy ingredients including oats, coconut, nuts, and seeds. Wrapped up in peanut butter! YUM!
Ingredients
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1/2 cup salted butter (coconut oil is a good alternative)
- 1/3 cup raw honey
- 4 ounces bittersweet dark chocolate
- 1 3/4 cups rolled oats
- 1 cup nuts, coconut, or seeds (I used 1/2 cup pecans and 1/2 cup coconut)
- 1 cup dried fruit (I used figs)
- coarse sea salt to taste
Instructions
- OPTIONAL (but highly recommended): In a food processor, pulse 1 cup of the oats, your filling, and your fruit. This really helps the texture of the bars not to feel so much like chunky health bars and more like a well-mixed yummy chocolate bar. For my filling, I ended up using 1/2 cup nuts and 1/2 cup coconut and I pulsed them both through the food processor as well as my figs – see picture in the step-by-step photo above. I left 3/4 cup of oats un-processed to add variety to the texture.
- Put all your oats, filling, and fruit in a large bowl. Line a 9×13 or smaller pan with parchment paper.
- In a small saucepan, melt the peanut butter, butter, and honey over low heat. Add the chocolate and stir until melted. Remove from heat and pour the mixture into the bowl with the oats, nuts, and dried fruit. Mix well (and work quickly so it doesn’t start to get too sticky on you). Press into the prepared pan, sprinkle generously with sea salt, and chill for 2-3 hours to harden (I put mine in the freezer). When solid, cut into 24 bars and store leftovers in the fridge or freezer.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: dark chocolate bars, sea salt chocolate bars, healthy chocolate bars
My understanding is that raw and un-soaked oats are not healthy. See the Weston Price Foundation and Sally Fallon’s work.
Gave you a shoutout on my blog today! Just wanted to share the love and let you know how much I love your recipes. You can find it here: http://ashleyardele.com/10-ways-to-spend-this-valentines-day-as-a-college-student/(opens in a new tab)
I messed up my link on accident! So sorry, here it is:
http://ashleyardele.com/10-ways-to-spend-this-valentines-day-as-a-college-student/
We are 11 & 13 years old we made this recipe and it is YUM
So glad to hear you enjoyed these bars! 😊
I tried your bars today they came out really yummy. I have a question my brother wants to try this but he doesnt have dark chips. Can he use cocoa instead?
Hey how long can the bars last in the fridge before going bad?
I made these last night as a healthy treat to have after dinner and everybody loved them. I didn’t have peanut butter, and I didn’t want to wait til I had it to make the recipe, so I used almond butter instead. They turned out a little soft, not sure if it was because of the substitution, but I honestly didn’t care. They went down the hatch anyways!
Wow! These are amazing!! I haven’t even tried them yet…just licking the bowl 🙂
I am sadden that I have NO dried fruit, or I would make these RIGHT NOW. sigh….
I always reach the unhealthiest of snacks to get my afternoon chocolate fix.. but this is definitely about to change as I have to recreate these chocolate bars! Not only do they look delicious, but it’s crazy that they are surprisingly healthy. Thanks for the great recipe and idea!
Is the coconut sweetened or unsweetened? Thanks! These look terrific.
Unsweetened. But either could work. 🙂
Hi Lindsay! I loved seeing that preview of your remodeling! Can’t wait to see more Youtube videos 🙂 This bars look super delicious and I plan to try them out later this week 🙂 Might throw in some caramel sauce as well. Can’t wait!
Love your website and love your recipes! I especially gravitate to all things chocolate.
I was wondering if you could recommend a substitute the oatmeal in your recipe “Healthy sea salt chocolate bars”. I’ve eliminated all grains in my diet for GI reasons and didn’t know if I could just eliminate it or if there was something that could be substituted.
Thanks!!
These are truly AMAZING!. My son requested I not make them much as they were just too good and he’d eat them all :-). I didn’t have parchment paper, so made them without… NOT a good idea, but we got through it!
Thanks for the comment Lee! 🙂 I’m so glad you liked them!
Good luck with your kitchen remodel!! I moved back home with my parents for the past month (our landlord needed to sell the property, and we couldn’t find an apartment in time… Boo…), and literally 3 days before I moved back, they started a kitchen remodel. 3 days!! I’ve been without an oven or stove for 5 weeks, and their remodel won’t be done for another 4 weeks at least. It’s insane! Definitely forced me to be creative using a microwave, toaster oven (thank goodness theirs isn’t the pop-up kind), slow cooker, electric donut maker… All from their itty bitty laundry room we now call a kitchen. No basements around here — bummer! Anyway, this very long paragraph is all to say I hope you’re still able to cook up lots of yummy food and take awesome photographs (thank goodness you mastered the basement photos last winter — I have no idea how you do it without natural window light! Well okay, I do since you wrote a blog post about it, but still… How you stay sane). In the meantime, I’ll just sit here drooling over your gorgeous healthy chocolate bars. And then want to eat the entire batch in one sitting. Because I’m a chocoholic like that.
Oh no! I feel your pain Amy! 🙂
Hi,
I was wondering, what would you recommend as a nut free version of this please? I love the idea, but have a severe allergy!
Thanks!
More oats, more dried fruit, maybe chia and flax to fill it up in place of the nuts. 🙂
I am so pumped to make this, and your narrative about your kitchen remodel is hysterical. xx
Love this recipe! Good luck with the remodel!
If you do happen to go pick up a delicious cinnamon roll, you HAVE to try Isles Bun and Coffee (http://www.islesbun.com) if you haven’t been. Soooo good!
Hey, I just subscribed after finding a post of yours for Indian food over on BuzzFeed. I have friends who absolutely hate people who substitute or take out main ingredients, so I hope you won’t hate me, but can I make this without the peanut butter? I want to skip as many calories as possible and just focus on the chocolate! But would I need something else to hold it all together? Thanks in advance!
Yes, I would use something else to hold it together. I tried lots of different ways, like using cocoa in place of the actual chocolate, or coconut oil in place of butter, but this was the best tasting. 🙂
These are what I want forever and ever. Also, I love that video! Hope you’re staying sane through all of the renovation!
Thanks Lauren! We’re doing our best. 🙂 one day at a time!
Love this bars! Dark chocolate is my favorite. 🙂
Sheesh. I’ve been away from blogland for awhile because, duh, the weather is awesome and I must be outdoors! And then what. I pop in to see what you are cooking and it has to be this outrageously, delicious-looking bar. So this goes on the to-do list for the next rainy day! 🙂
So excited to see your kitchen remodel! And best of luck with that kitchen basement thing you’ve got going. I had my kitchen demolished the VERY SAME DAY that I moved in. The fridge was in the dining room and everything else in the living room for weeks! Argh. I was soooooo sick of frozen/microwaveable foods by the time that was over. ~Julie
Ah yes, the joys of a kitchen remodel. Trying to be thankful but there are definitely some… uh… inconveniences. 🙂
I wasn’t expecting these to be that good, but oh my gosh! They are so DELICIOUS! I can’t stop eating them! Even though they’re in the fridge, they keep finding their way into my mouth! YUMMMMMMMMMMMM!
Ahahaha yes! makes me happy. glad you liked them Sommer!
These look amazing and even more so since they are easy and made with ingredients I have on hand – thanks for sharing!
Good luck with your remodel!
Thank you Dina! We might need the luck – haha!
This looks soooo good, omg!!!
Hope you’ll sot by our blog!
Amalie, sundesager.dk