Everyone loves to eat cookie dough. But how about elevating the dough and making it even better? Like for example no bake bars covered with homemade chocolate? If you are intrigued, I promise you would love this recipe.
What is special about these bars
The Healthy Cookie Dough Bars are practically peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough covered with chocolate. They are totally decadent and healthy at the same time. How is that possible? The cookie dough is made with spelt flour and natural (preferably organic) peanut butter. For the chocolate on top you have two options: you can use dark chocolate with little or no sugar as it is healthier than the milk one. Or you can make your own milk chocolate, following the recipe below.
What does this dessert taste like
I find the taste of these cookie dough bars similar to Snickers bars: chewy and chocolatey and with a bit of peanut twist. Of course, they are not the same and even better: they are healthy! They contain oats, spelt flour and coconut flour: a great combination for additional flavour and chewiness. So if you like tasty and nutritious desserts with peanut butter, this recipe is right for you!
Are these bars baked
This is a no bake cookie dough dessert. And yes, it is perfectly safe to eat as it doesn’t contain raw eggs, not even raw flour. Before mixing the dough, the flour and oat mixture is heated on a pan and that way any potential harmful bacteria is killed.
Can you make this dessert low carb
Yes, this dessert can be easily converted to low carb cookie bars, suitable for a keto diet. Just use xylitol or erythritol instead of honey and substitute the oats and the spelt flour with almond flour or almond meal. Make sure you use chocolate chips with over 80% cocoa content.
More details you will find in the recipe notes below!
How long can you store this dessert
You can keep these bars in the fridge for at least 4-5 days. I would even leave them for a week as they don’t contain ingredients that can get spoiled easily.
I made these bars several weeks ago and now I keep salivating when writing about them. I am sure you would love them! If you decide to make this recipe, please don’t forget to share with me your experience: here or on Instagram!
And if you liked the recipe, you may also enjoy some other recipes with peanut butter:
Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting
Keto Peanut Butter Cups
Carob and Peanut Butter Energy Balls
Peanut Butter Yogurt Parfait with Mini Pretzels
Healthy Cookie Dough Bars
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 1 cup/ 120 g spelt flour, whole grain or white
- ½ cup / 50 g rolled oats
- 3 tbsp/ 20 g coconut flour
- ⅓ cup / 100 g honey
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ cup/ 50 g butter
- ¼ cup / 50 g peanut butter, organic (see notes)
- ½ cup / 80 g chocolate chips
For the homemade chocolate:
- ¼ cup/ 60 g cocoa butter , about 2,1 oz
- ⅓ cup/ 90 ml heavy cream
- 2 tbsp/ 30 g coconut sugar
- 2,5 tbsp/ 20 g cocoa powder
Instructions
Dough:
- In a frying pan over medium heat combine oats, spelt flour and coconut flour. Mix for 4-5 minutes until you start noticing the flour darkening just a bit. Remove from heat (don’t let it become brown) and transfer to a large mixing bowl.
- Place a small saucepan on the heat and combine inside the butter, peanut butter and honey. Mix until all are combined very well and the mixture is homogeneous. Pour into the mixing bowl with the flour.
- Add vanilla extract and stir with a wooden spoon to make a dough. Let it cool for 15-20 minutes and add also the chocolate chips (make sure the dough is cool, otherwise they would melt).
- Spread the dough on the bottom of a small pan (8 x 5 inch / 20 x 12 cm or similar) lined with parchment paper. Leave the pan in the fridge.
Homemade chocolate:
- In a small saucepan heat the cream until it starts simmering. Lower the heat and and let simmer, mixing from time to time, until the cream reduces its quantity significantly and becomes yellowish. Let cool.
- Melt the cocoa butter on a double boiler (or on a pan but at a very low heat). Add the cocoa powder and the coconut sugar. Stir very well until incorporated. The mixture will remain grainy because of the coconut sugar: this is not an issue. Remove from heat and let cool.
- Make sure both mixtures have cooled down and have the same temperature. Using a rubber spatula add the cream to the cocoa mixture, folding gently. Pour the resulting smooth mixture on top of the cookie dough and spread it with the spatula.
- Cover the pan with cling film and let the bars refrigerate for few hours before serving them.
- Cut the bars with a sharp knife.
- Store in the fridge for up to a week.
Notes
- Don’t forget to line the pan with parchment paper, otherwise you will have issues to remove the bars without ruining their shape. I made this mistake before photographing mine and that’s why the bars on the photos look slightly broken.
- For a Keto version: substitute the oats and spelt flour with 1,5 cups almond flour or almond meal. You may need to increase slightly (with about 1 tbsp) the coconut flour in case the mixture is still too wet. Use low carb chocolate chips (with 80% cocoa). Substitute the honey with ¾ cup xylitol or 1 cup erythritol. Use 2 tablespoon of erythritol or xylitol also for the chocolate, instead of coconut sugar.
- Make sure you read the content on the peanut butter package before buying it: it should contain only peanuts and nothing else. Some products contain hydrogenated oils which are very unhealthy.
- If you don’t have time to make a homemade chocolate, just melt 7 oz/ 200 g store bought dark chocolate and spread it on top. If you are not concerned with sugar or carbs, you can choose normal milk chocolate.
- The homemade chocolate is adapted from Sugar Free Londoner
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