No-bake cookies and I have a bit of a love/hate relationship. I love how easy they are to make; I hate how unattractive they tend to be. I love how rich the chocolate and peanut flavors can be; I hate the raw oatmeal that frequently overwhelms the cookies. When I ran across these no-bake bars, I couldn’t believe I’d never thought to try making the cookies into bars. At least they would look better, right?
I’m going to be flat out honest here and tell you my thinking when I started making these. (My friend Donna can attest to it because we were talking on the phone at the time.) I thought, “I’ll make these because the kids will love having a dessert over the weekend and I won’t be tempted to eat more than one.”
That is seriously funny in hindsight. I almost licked the saucepan clean as I was waiting for the bars to harden in the refrigerator. The additional coconut, honey, and nuts in these bars take them far out of the league of traditional no-bake treats. That oatmeal that I dislike in other cookies? It is providing structure and just a bit of flavor, instead of being the dominant ingredient.
There are plenty of options with these bars. If you prefer a completely unprocessed ingredient list, use a pure dark chocolate, natural peanut butter and unsweetened coconut. If you are like me and have yet to give up your refined sugars (and are too impatient to make a special trip to the store), use whatever is in the house.
I found that a 1″ square piece satisfied my chocolate craving. {edited to add, one square at a time, that is. I can’t even describe how much I enjoyed these treats!} As I was enjoying one of these with my husband late last night, we both agreed that they put store bought candy bars to shame.
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup unrefined coconut oil unrefined is important here for the coconut flavor
- 2 cups rolled oats not instant oats
- 1 cup coconut
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 1 1/4 cups dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Optional: toasted coconut for topping
- Melt the peanut butter, honey and coconut oil in a medium-size saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir frequently as the mixture melts. When it has melted, remove from the heat and stir in the remaining ingredients. Stir until the chocolate has melted and the ingredients are well combined.
- Pour into an 8x8 pan. Refrigerate until the chocolate hardens, at least 3-4 hours. Slice into 1"-2" square pieces. Store in the refrigerator. Enjoy!
{originally published 3/3/13 – notes and photos updated 11/11/15}
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