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THIS IS AMAZING! They turned out incredibly and my friends absolutely loved them! Thank you Pinch of Yum for this SUPER EASY and DELICIOUS recipe!
Annie
Just gonna warn you, I’m a hot happy mess today.
- Hot as in it’s actually hot here. Needs-air-conditioning type weather. This is a strange and wonderful feeling that I have missed for the last 364 days and I am fully prepared to enjoy every hot Minnesota second of it.
- Happy as in pep in my step cause it’s a sunny Monday and summer is rocking my world. This weekend was all about outdoor time and life is good and imma bouta celebrate the sun with RAW CHOCOLATE SNACK BARS. Can’t even hold me down. It might get obnoxious.
- Mess as in covered with chocolate sauce and raw oat-pecan-date crumble from these bars. Literal chocolate sauce explosion on my face. Which I guess is fitting, since it just brings us back to happy?
Every time it’s summer here in Minnesota and I start to come alive a little bit (a lot) after many months of, to put it lightly, completely depressing weather, I ask myself: WHY DO I LIVE HERE.
There are places all around the world that have Minnesota-summer-like weather every single day and hour and minute of the year. What is the deal with our obsession with Minnesota. Why are we even here? But then every time I think about things like a non-white Christmas, my heart feels sad. And also… um… no, that’s probably it. I officially live here solely for white Christmases.
HOW TO MAKE OUR SALTED CHOCOLATE SNACK BARS:
Okay, and friends and family and not being loners. I guess there’s that, too. Sometimes Bjork and I talk – just for fun, mom! don’t panic – about moving somewhere warm. I mean, we have total location independence with our jobs (s/o to the internet) so tell me: where should we be headed? California? Arizona? Too crowded and earthquakey? Too much hot desert wasteland? I would be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about the move to either of these paradise places.
I just have this vision of a warm weather dwelling, all-around better version of myself. I could look out my window at palm trees and drink tropical smoothies and stuff. I’m not talking about HOT warm weather. Our year in the HOT warm Philippines was a beautiful, rich, so-glad-we-did-it experience. Also generally not my best year as a person in life. I basically wilted the minute we got off the plane and did not recover until we landed back in the US. So is Arizona too hot then? Would California kill me? From a distance, both are looking pretty palm-tree-heavy, warm-weather-loving amazing.
Hey you guys, do you love reading a food blog where we mostly talk about the weather?
Let’s regroup.
This can tie together, I think, because whether you live in lovely warm Minnesota and are currently experiencing THE BEST WARM WEATHER OF YOUR LIFE or you live in the smothering heat of the Philippines or the outdoor sauna that is the entire state of Florida, these no-bake raw chocolate snack bars are for you.
They are RAW(mazing) and no-bake and cold and naturally sweet and extremely simple and just everything good, tucked away in your freezer waiting for you at a moment’s hungry notice. They remind me of these epic bars my mom used to make growing up = Chocolate Revel Bars? anyone? = but with a little modern wannabe-hipster flair.
To start us off: oats, pecans, dates, coconut oil, and sea salt are going to make you a lovely glow-worthy crust.
Then: coconut oil, maple syrup (or whatever other natural liquid sweetener you like such as honey or agave or brown rice syrup FANSAY), and cocoa powder are going to make your chocolate layer which shall remind you of a chocolate frosting but more simple and more clean and more likely to end up all over your face.
And then finally, we add a little crumble on top and refrigerate or freeze, and LUCKY US!
We are #blessed with these raw chocolate snack bars for all the happy summer times.
If anyone else is contemplating a move, I’ll just say this: winters can be just a tiny bit of a thing, but Minnesota in the summer – around a lake, with a dog AND with friends obviously meant to say that first, and eating good food such as World Street Kitchen’s bangkok burritos and homemade Sebastian Joe’s ice cream – it is possibly the best thing a person could ever experience in a lifetime.
Plus we could be neighbors and then I’d bring you a pan of these chocolate snack bars when you moved in.
Or else you could convince me to move to your all-year-long warm place. Really guys, I’m up for either.
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Raw Salted Chocolate Snack Bars
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 12–14 1x
Description
Salted Chocolate Snack Bars with simple clean ingredients: pecans, oats, dates, cocoa powder, coconut oil, and maple syrup. SO GOOD!
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1 1/2 cups pecan halves
- 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
- 8 whole medjool dates, pitted
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
- a pinch of coarse sea salt
Chocolate Filling Layer:
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1/4 cup liquid sweetener – agave, maple syrup, or honey (more or less to taste)
Instructions
- Crust: Pulse all ingredients for the crust in a food processor until a sticky dough mixture forms. Set aside about 3/4 cup crust mixture. Press the remaining crust mixture into a 9×5 loaf pan lined with parchment paper.
- Chocolate: Whisk the chocolate filling ingredients in a small mixing bowl until smooth. Pour over crust.
- Topping: Sprinkle remaining crust on top and press gently to get it to stay put in the chocolate mixture. Sprinkle with extra sea salt if you’re obsessed with sea salt not that I know a-ny-thing about that. š
- Chill: Place the whole thing in the freezer and chill for 2 hours. Cut into bars and serve!
Notes
Recipe inspired by the Everyday Detox cookbook!
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 5 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: chocolate snack bar, chocolate dessert bar, healthy chocolate snack bar
Note: This post contains affiliate links.
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of best healthy snacks. Check it out!
Everyone I’ve made these for absolutely LOVES them. Could you tell me whether these are vegan and/or gluten-free? It feels like the answer to both is yes, but I’m not certain.
These bars are definitely gluten free, but only vegan if you use agave or maple syrup!
Iām going to give these a go they sound delicious beautiful Australia is the place to be especially here up north
would it be ok to cut back on the coconut oil?
These are SO good!!! I made these as a healthy alternative for dessert (post holidays and I’ve been cravings sweets like crazy). Definitely the added salt on top makes these that much tastier!
These are pretty tasty and remind me of homemade granola!
However, I was following the recipe and not looking at the pictures… and the recipe tells you to place 2/3 of the crust mixture aside, and then put the remainder in the pan (which I think is the opposite?)
Mine also came out too crumbly… did I not freeze long enough, or did I not pulse the ingredients enough?
These were great! I made them for a vegan gluten free friend and we all loved them. I ended up with too much crust mixture, so I next time Iāll make the same amount of crust, double the filling, and use a 9×9 pan. Thanks so much for this great recipe!
Awesome, Michelle!
Hi
Tanx for your great recipe
I have a question
Instead of coconut oil which oil can I use it
Can I use peanut butter or almond butter?
Just made these and I am obsessed!! They were so easy and taste amazing!
*sigh* no coconut oil. š Can I sub it with another oil, like light olive oil perhaps?
So, you are killing me with ALL these yummy desserts!! I am sitting here eating a salad and reading how to make these chocolate barsš So yes I am going to make them as soon as I finish eating this salad!! I just happen to have all the ingredients!!
I live in HOT Georgia so I need a no bake dessert because itās just too hot to bake.
Awesome, Patty!
Australia.
Just sayin’.
(Also just sayin’ that these need to happen to my life and face. Immediately.)
It’s not possible to ask this question without sounding snarky, but if the chocolate is heated…. are these actually raw? Either way, they look delicious.
I grew up in Michigan…a job took me West and I knew I’d long for those snowy white Christmas moments again…12 years later I cant imagine NOT driving to shop for presents with the windows open, Christmas music bumpin’ and palm trees all around. Watching Elf outside on a lawn with hot cocoa & sweater NOT freezing my bum off. Check out Del Mar, CA…
If youāre allergic to nuts, what could you sub with? More oats and dried fruits? These look great and I want to try them, just w/o the nuts.
These were AMAZING! Definitely going to be making them again soon. I toasted my pecans (just because I love toasted pecans) and I wanted to eat the whole pan! Thanks for creating such amazing refined sugar free dessert recipes!
Easy to make, but the result was too sweet (I used light maple syrup) and too oily.
Hi! I made these bars and they were DELICIOUS, but I think dates may upset my stomach. Can you think of a good thing to replace them with? Thank you!!
Hi, I’m not a fan of dates, the food that is. Is there anything I can substitute the dates with, please? Love your website, my first time finding it but I’ll be a regular I’m sure! Many thanks, Kirsty, Scotland. BTW we are on a heatwave, extremely unusual for Scotland… It’s a sunny 24 degrees here!!! Normally more like 10 … Happy days..
These are delicious! I’ve made them at home with my food processor but I’m traveling and am wondering if you think they’d work with a blender…
Just made these. Crust turned out amazing. Chocolate sauce not so much. Too thick so had a tough time spreading it š should still taste great though!
Thank you for this wonderful recipe. I would like to ask permission to use this recipe for our Sweet Homemade Valentines Competition. I’m having a hard time searching for recipes and I finally found one. š
Ok so I am now obsessed with your site and have blasted it all over facebook lol I am in LOVE with these bars…IN LOVE!!!!
Can I just tell you how much I appreciate the truth you share about Minnesota?? My husband is from just outside the Twin Cities and every time we visit he goes on another kick about how much he wants to live there! I’m a desert girl. -40 winters are not my thing.
I’ve made these a couple times now and love them. I use whatever nuts I have on hand and it works just the same. (Peanuts are my favorite) Buuut, this weekend I added a layer of rice krispies under the chocolate and mixed some in the topping and they turned out amazing. I rolled them out a little thinner too. The krispies and rolling them thinner lets me have bigger pieces! It’s a good cheat if you’re counting calories and want a little more volume!
Glad you’ve enjoyed them!
These are yummy and easy! Thank you!