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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. 😉
- 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!
Not hot here in India anymore, but I’ll take these bars any day! Love that pouring chocolate – is it weird that I don’t even like chocolate but want to smother my face with it right now?!
Not weird at all! 🙂
the bay area is quite nice. it’s not quite warm all day everyday like la (i kid, sometimes it’s cool in la, ha), but i like the (slight) change of seasons.
Love the bay area! 🙂 Thanks, Heather!
I am SUCH a huge fan of chocolate and salt. To the point where I kind of don’t even want to eat chocolate without it. Is that weird? It just makes it so next level delicious I can’t get enough. Needless to say, I will definitely be trying these!
http://www.sprinklesandsaturdays.com
We’d definitely agree! Salted is always the way to go. 🙂
Moving from NY to an island in Belize with the Caribbean Sea and swaying palm trees outside my door may just be the best decision I’ve ever made -just sayin! ☀️????????????????????????????????????????
Whaaaat!? Sounds amazing! 🙂
You were in the right area- Colorado! We have over 300 days of sunshine, all 4 seasons, AND white winters 🙂 And the nice thing is that the snow is always lovely. I grew up in Wisconsin and the snow inevitably got dirty because it never went away!
Sounds amazing!
Perfect for adding to my arsenal of no bake goodies for the summer.
Enjoy, Emily! 🙂
These bars sound perfect! So much better than sneaking a handful of milk chocolate chips to curb the chocolate cravings. This past winter and greyer than grey spring has me contemplating a move to year round sunshine. But then summer finally emerges and I’m alive again and I find my northern state to be the best place on earth for 3, maybe 4 months. It’s a vicious cycle!
Oh it definitely is! 🙂 Enjoy!
This recipe sounds great! I have a kid with a nut allergy. Is there something I could substitute for the pecans?
A large part of the base of the bars is pecans, so there isn’t a great substitute. You could try subbing in more oats, but it might not be quite the same texture!
i’d totally move to California if i could…weather, food, and weather because i am sick of Texas heat.
These look totally amazing and I just realized how hungry I am. Trapped on campus with no access to a kitchen, I should know better than to read your blog. I can’t help myself!
This is so freaking relatable. Every winter, I wonder why I live in the Midwest (Ohio and Illinois), and the rest of the year, I’m fully okay with it. And chocolate bars are always relatable. These look perfect!
Thanks, Ellen! Enjoy!
These bars sound rawmazing! I cannot wait to try this recipe out – thanks so much!
Hope you enjoy them!
Seattle is pretty much exactly like Minnesota, except it’s not frigid cold and snowy in the winter. There is no where else I’d rather be in the summertime. Blue skies and 80ish degrees every day. Ahhh… These bars do look amazing!! I can’t wait to make them.
Unfortunately, I *don’t* live in one of those year-long warm places, or even close to it. I live in one of those semi-cold, year-long rainy places: Western Washington! Totally not my preferred weather and I am certainly hoping that one day will bring me to a place of more year-round (ish) sun!! So, while the appeal of being neighbors with you (some of the coolest people I know from online, IMO! ) is quite enticing, I vote that we both move to a warm sunny place and be neighbors there. These bars look deee-licious…I’m thinking I need to make them for the fam pronto!
The bars look too decadent to have such healthy ingredients. I can’t wait to give them a try.
Come to Tucson! Yes, it’s hot here but it’s a dry heat. 🙂 Sometimes the humidity is in the single digits! The summer heat is the price we pay for near-perfect weather 8 months of the year. And if I ever need a break, I can be in a cool woodland in an hour by driving up Mt. Lemmon. The desert here is not the waste-land that most people think — it’s surprisingly lush. People come here from all over the world to photograph our spring wildflower blooms.
This is definitely food of the gods…mmm! Pinned!
Thanks, Tonya! 🙂
For something so healthy these look deliciously indulgent! It has been uncomfortably humid here so I’ll take all of the cold snacks please!
Hope you enjoy them, Hannah!
You are my go to when I need to cook something but have no idea what to make. Thank you for all of your recipes!
Now this recipe…..sounds yummy, I am always hungry as I am feeding 2 babies, and I happen to have all the ingredients in my house! I might have to make it before I even think about dinner 🙂
And as far as MN goes, try to embrace the winters!
-Naomi ( maiden name Carlson:) )
Thanks, Naomi! 🙂 Hope you enjoy them!
Is there an easy go-to alternative to make these nut-free?
The pecans are a large part of the base of the bar, so there’s not a great alternative – you could try replacing them with more oats, it just might not be the same texture or stick together quite as well!
These bars are just all types of perfect!! I mean, oatty nutty crust plus chocolate?! I’m in. Also, if you reeeeally want some heat, come down to south Louisiana – I’d imagine it’s the same type of wilting heat as the Philippines. 🙂
Yikes! Hope you enjoy the bars!
I love that this recipe calls for dates. I LOVE dates in things and I hardly ever see recipes using them. Do you have any more date recipes you might want to publish?
P.S. We are considering Texas as a warm place where we might make a new home. Chicago winters are getting to be more than we can bear!!
I love how healthy these bars are! Sometimes I just need something really sweet, but from fruit rather than sugar, and I also need another element of crunch and chocolate! So, this would be perfect!
Definitely! 🙂 Enjoy!
Ooh, these look delicous! We’ve got a whole tub of dates at the moment so what better time to find this recipe than now?!!
Aleeha xXx
http://www.halesaaw.com/
Seriously! 🙂 Hope you enjoy them!
I grew up in NJ where it was cold and dreary in the winter (probably not exactly like Minnesota, but close) and now live in hot and humid Texas. I think I actually spend more time indoors here then I ever did in NJ. We have two seasons…summer and a tiny bit of winter. I go out in the winter and stay inside with my best friend (the A/C) the rest of the year. To me Minnesota sounds really good! I guess we always want what we don’t have.
Where in Texas do you live? We are seriously considering Texas for our retirement. Maybe around Austin? Do please tell me the truth about Texas. I live in Chicago.
Sounds a lot like where i lived,
betty1 ( The northeast, grew up in Ny, and wound up in TX).
Lindsay, tx is hot and humid, but air conditioning and a pool fix lots of things…in between cooking, of course!
Love your posts about life, cooking obsessions, and of course, sweet Sage!
And the bars sound scrumptious…now, to find dates,so i can make these!
Good perspective for us to have, then! 🙂 Thanks for the comment!
I have all the ingredients on hand! Woohoo! This treat is in my very near future! If I could move anywhere, it would be Denver, Colorado area. The Rockies are too be-oooo-tiful for words and the food culture is amazing!
Totally agree! Love Denver. Hope you enjoy the bars!