Chewy Chocolate Trail Bars

Healthy Chocolate Trail Bars Recipe Notes
These chocolatey, chewy, no bake trail bars are delicious! Perfect for when my energy is dipping mid day, and need something quick. The mixture is made from oats, toasted almonds, pitted dates, shredded coconut, cocoa powder, cashew butter (or tahini), maple syrup, vanilla & sea salt. It gets pressed into a 9"x13" pan with a generous sprinkling of mini chocolate chips pressed into the top. I like to sprinkle the top with extra sea salt before eating. My recipe was inspired by brownie granola bars by the Minimalist Baker. ​

Why I love these chocolatey trail bars

• They are no bake, except I do toast the oats and nuts in oven for 10 minutes.
• Trail or energy bars (especially homemade chocolatey ones with oats and nuts and coconut) make a delicious, quick grab and go breakfast or snack.
• They satisfy my chocolate cravings in a healthy way.
• Naturally sweetened treats using dates and maple syrup are my fav. 
• They are wonderfully chewy.
• They are made using whole food ingredients

I use mini chocolate chips to press into the top of these granola bars. (I wouldn't use regular sized chips here.) 

HOW TO PREP CHOCOLATE TRAIL BARS

1.  Toast oats and almonds in the oven for 10 - 15 minutes. You could probably skip this step but I           prefer to add it in. 
2. Blitz half the nut/oat mixture until fine crumbs in a food processor. Then add the other half, and        pulse a few times. You want some chunks remaining. Don't wash the food processor, you'll use it        again for pureeing dates. 
3. Add to a large bowl with cocoa powder, unsweetened coconut and salt. 

4. Soak whole pitted dates in hot water for 30 minutes. Drain and discard water. Add to the food processor along with the vanilla. Blitz scraping/pushing down the sides a few times until it is as smooth as you can get it. Add to the bowl along with tahini and maple. (I like to heat it until drizzly first.)
5. Using clean hands, mix everything together until evenly combined. 

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