Healthy Candy Bars
These Healthy Candy Bars are basically your favorite - but healthified! They have a chewy, nutty base, gooey date caramel, a little crunch, and a thick chocolate top. They're SO good! Perfect for a sweet snack or post-dinner treat without the added sugars.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup dates pitted and soaked in hot water
- 1/4 cup almond milk optional, you can use reserved date water
- 1 1/3 cup almond flour
- 1 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/2 cup nut butter of choice
- 3 graham crackers crushed
- 1/2 cup peanuts chopped
- 1 1/3 cup chocolate melted
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- flakey sea salt to top
Instructions
- Line an 8x8 inch baking pan with parchment paper, leaving some overhang so you can easily lift out the bars later.
- Soak the dates in hot water for about 10 minutes while you prepare your first layer. They need to soak just long enough for them to blend into a smooth, sticky caramel later :)
- In a bowl, mix together the nut butter, maple syrup, and almond flour until it forms a thick dough-like mixture.
- Press this mixture evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan. It might seem crumbly at first, but press until it's not. This is your chewy, nutty base.
- Drain the dates, reserving some of the water (about 1/4 cup).
- In a blender or food processor, blend the dates with a splash (about 1/4 cup) of almond milk or the reserved date water. Blend until smooth and creamy.
- Spread this caramel evenly over the nut butter base.
- Roughly crush the graham crackers and chop the peanuts. Sprinkle them evenly on top of the date caramel, gently nestling and pushing them in so they stick.
- Freeze for at least 1.5 hours so these layers get secured. (I didn't do it this way, but I feel like melting the chocolate and pouring over now would be a quicker way to make these bars. I wanted to cut them up so the chocolate coats entire bars, but they were just as good with chocolate only covering the top!)
- When the bars almost done freezing, melt the chocolate and coconut oil together (either in a microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring in between. Or, over a double boiler).
- Carefully lift the bars out of the baking pan and cut into even rectangles.
- Spread the melted chocolate evenly over each bar using a spatula, or fully dunk each bar into chocolate for the full candy bar effect. Place the bars back in freezer for at least an hour.
- Top with flakey sea salt. Enjoy!!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!