Healthy No Bake Coconut Bars

Remember when I mentioned I had another no bake recipe to share in my Healthy No Bake Cookies post? Welp, here it is!

There’s coconut involved!

This recipe is similar to the no bake cookies — just with unsweetened coconut added for a hint of coconut flavor and no protein powder. I figure this is a good version for the folks that love coconut and for the folks that aren’t a huge fan of protein powder.

They’re also great if you’re in a time crunch because you don’t have to worry about forming them into a cookie shape. Just press the batter into a pan, sprinkle with coconut, let it sit in the fridge a little while and they’re done. Easy peasy.

If you can’t tell, I had way too much fun taking photos of these bars… and this isn’t even half of the photos I took. I had to be selective.

The red and wine kitchen twine just makes baked goods look so festive and cute. I couldn’t help but take a billion photos. Okay, more like 50.

I love the combo of peanut butter, chocolate and coconut so much and it works well in these bars. Oh gosh, writing that somehow made me think of Magic Cookie Bars – now I want one of those. (Maybe I can made a healthier version.) Anyhow, these bars are delicious, easy to whip up and quite amazing, in my opinion. I hope you love them as well!

• 2 cups old fashioned oatmeal
• ½ cup creamy peanut butter
• ½ cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• ¼ cup maple syrup
• 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
• 3 Tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut, plus more for topping

1. Grease an 8X8 glass baking dish with coconut oil or line with parchment paper.
2. Combine oatmeal and shredded coconut in a mixing bowl and set aside.
3. Combine peanut butter, almond milk, maple syrup and cocoa powder in a sauce pan. Cook on medium heat while stirring the mixture until well combined. Heat until mixture is fragrant and thickened, about 5 minutes or so.
4. Turn off stove top and stir vanilla and sea salt.
5. Pour mixture over the oatmeal and shredded coconut and mix until well combined. Pour batter into the prepared baking dish and press down until the batter is evenly distributed across the dish. Sprinkle with extra coconut, press down once more so the coconut sticks.
6. Place dish into the fridge and let sit until the bars are set up (about 2 hours). Remove from fridge, cut into bars and enjoy. Store any leftovers in the fridge.

Twitter Party!

PS – Don’t forget that I’m hosting a Twitter Party about eating and staying healthy throughout the holidays with Bolthouse Farms today. It’s at 6:00PM EST / 3:00PM PST and the hashtag is #HolidayFoodHacks. See all the details in my recent post. Hope you can join me!