Paleo Granola Bars (gluten-free)
These chocolate nut bars make for perfect snacks – they’re sweet and filling! The bottom portion is made up of a combination of nuts and dates. The top layer is just chocolate and coconut oil! So really, you just need like 4-ish ingredients to make these babies. I used a combination of walnuts, macadamia nuts, and almonds for the base of these bars – but you can use whatever combo of nuts you want (or have in your pantry). As much as I’d love to have this be a “raw” recipe, it tastes 100 times better after some oven lovin’. Baking the bars gives the nuts a toasty flavor and the heat caramelizes the dates which results in them melting right into the nuts. This is what keeps the bars together so well. If you were to leave the base raw, you’d end up with very crumbly bars. Trust me, baking them is key. Once they’re out of the oven, you can serve them as is if you want. BUT, adding a thin chocolate layer makes them taste more like a dessert. Melt some chocolate with a bit of coconut oil, then pour it right on top. Put the pan in the fridge until the chocolate hardens – then slice and serve! You can even cut them into long bars and eat them like paleo granola bars 🙂 These chocolate-covered nut bars are picky-husband approved, which hopefully means they’ll be picky-child approved too. Because really, aren’t picky husbands and picky kids kind of the same? (or maybe I have a lot to learn?). Either way, someone in your family is bound to love these bars. Like this recipe? Pin it to your favorite Pinterest board now so you will remember to make it later!
