Chocolate Covered Nut Date Bars

Looking for a wholesome snack or a healthy no-bake dessert idea? These decadent chocolate covered nut date bars have everything to fix your sweet tooth. They are vegan, gluten-free and refined sugar free, with an irresistible crunchy-chewy texture!

I’m always up for new wholesome healthy snack recipes to try. I usually prepare a whole batch and then freeze the portions individually. This way, I’m always ready whenever I have a little craving showing up. Homemade snacks are my favorites because you have full control over the ingredients you are using. I always go for natural ingredients, and want my snacks to be energetic to fuel my body until the next meal.

I have created countless of snack recipes but this one seems to be a winner, at least for David who went absolutely crazy about it. As you can guess, he tried many of my recipes over the years, and among them all he told me “this is for sure one of your best recipes”. And when I asked him how I should call the recipe, his answer was “something delicious”. No doubt he’s crazy about it – and he’s not even into sweet things usually.

An easy no-bake recipe

First of all, these bars are a no-bake recipe that you can prepare straight into your loaf pan. I grease and lined it with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on long side. Once the bar has cooled, I can then pull on the paper to help the cake to detach from the loaf pan.

Basically, you pulse all the ingredients (except oil and chocolate) in a food processor until you get a “paste” and the mixture holds together. If dates tend to be a little bit too hard in texture, I recommend you soak them into water before using, especially if you don’t have a super strong food processor. You might also need to add a few teaspoons of water if the mixture is still too dry to form a paste. Once ready, transfer the mixture to the loaf pan, smooth out the top using your hands, a spatula or the bottom of the glass, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the chocolate topping. It’s easy-peasy! Just melt chocolate with coconut oil. I use dark chocolate, usually 70%, because it’s healthier and because it happens to be my favorite. Alternatively, semi-sweet chocolate would do too. Once the nut-date mixture is set, cover with melted chocolate, add a few extra nuts on top, sprinkle with sea salt, and place back in the fridge for about 10 minutes. You don’t want to leave it too long or the chocolate will harden and break out when you will slice the bars. So make sure you remove it from the fridge early, slice it, and place it back if you want to enjoy later.

What to expect in these bars?

• They’re vegan – no dairy or animal products in this recipes. Butter is replaced with coconut oil and we use dark chocolate here.
• Gluten-Free – the bars are very minimalist and low-carbs, prepared with nuts instead of flour.
• Naturally sweetened – this the best part; there is no sweetener except the sugar naturally contained in fruits, here the dates. If you are trying to cut processed sugar from your diet, this is just perfect!

Also, I like that the recipe is extremely versatile and you can replace some of the ingredients with other ones. This way, a single recipe can become 2 or 3 recipes depending on the number of times you do it. Here are a few ideas with the ingredients you can use and swap:

• Nuts – use pretty much any nuts of your choice: walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, cashews, pecans…
• Nut butter – I like to use nut butter because it helps the mixture to hold together. A few ideas: peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter…

There is no one way to do it right, there are plenty of possibilities. Explore and be creative!

More sweet healthy snacks you might also like:

• Healthy Oat Peanut Butter Cups
• Healthy No-Bake Energy Bites
• Almond Energy Balls with Dried Fruits
• Easy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

Chocolate Covered Nut Date Bars

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• Author: Delphine Fortin
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Total Time: 10 minutes
• Yield: 12 servings 1x
• Category: Healthy snacks
• Cuisine: Healthy

Looking for a wholesome snack or a healthy no-bake dessert idea? These decadent chocolate covered nut date bars have everything to fix your sweet tooth. They are vegan, gluten-free and refined sugar free, with an irresistible crunchy-chewy texture!

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 3/4 cups (260g) nuts of your choice, chopped (I used walnuts and almonds)*
• 1 1/2 cups (150g) pitted dates, chopped
• 1/4 cup (65g) natural almond, cashew or peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 ounces (55g) dark chocolate
• 1/2 Tablespoon coconut oil
• Flaky sea salt

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Instructions

1. Grease a 9×5-inch (23×13 cm) loaf pan with oil and line with parchment, leaving a 2-inch overhang on long sides. Set aside.
2. In a strong food processor, pulse nuts, dates, nut butter, vanilla, and salt until finely chopped and mixture holds together. If mixture is too dry, add some water, one teaspoon at a time, and pulse again. Pat into the pan and smooth out the top. Refrigerate until firm, about 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, melt chocolate with coconut oil. Drizzle over the nut mixture, sprinkle extra nuts on top, flaky sea salt, and refrigerate until chocolate just begins to set, about 10 minutes.
4. To serve, let stand at room temperature 10 minutes, then remove from pan using parchment before slicing.

Notes

* You can use any nuts of your choice, either a mix of nuts (cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds…) or just a single type of nuts.

Back-To-School, Chocolate, Dairy-Free, Energy Bites, Gluten-Free, Healthy, Nuts, Refined Sugar-Free, Vegan, Year Round

Did you make this recipe?

Lastly, if you make this Chocolate Covered Nut Date Bars, be sure to leave a comment and give this recipe a rating, letting me know how you liked it. And of course, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Thank you and enjoy!