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Halfway Cookie Bars – rich cookie base with melty chocolate chips and meringue baked to golden gooey perfection – but vegan, gluten-free, and healthier!

THIS POST IS SPONSORED BY HU KITCHEN

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I am all kinds of excited about this recipe, so my apologies in advance if I talk too fast or shout too much or ramble too long. I just can’t help it.

I’ve had this idea tucked in the back of my mind for years, and that is not me exaggerating that is facts. It’s one of those childhood favorite treats my mom used to make that seems to be unknown and underrated by most of the world, which is truly a tragedy.

In my house they were just called “those really yummy chocolate chip cookie bars with the brown sugar meringue on top”. But it seems that the small faction of the world that does acknowledge their existence refers to them as Halfway Cookie Bars. And that’s cuter so we’ll go with that.

Now these are not the kind of bars that scream HEALTH. No no, the original halfway cookie bars are the kind of bars that should be sliced small and shared with many. They are rich and messy and gooey and very chocolatey and that meringue. The meringue topping is decadence plopped on top of decadence and baked to a golden caramelized heaven. Unnecessary but unforgettable, so somehow very necessary.

I’m sure by now you can see why they aren’t a very common vegan dessert – ahem, brown sugar meringue.

But it was time. Time that I put aside my fear of aquafaba, forget the failed attempts of years passed, and give it another chance for the sake of bringing VEGAN halfway cookie bars into this world.

And friends, it worked! I had my doubts but it worked.

We’ll dive into the details in a moment, but first I need to share the other VERY EXCITING thing about this recipe. It is from my very favorite brand of chocolate, Hu Kitchen, and it goes by the name of Gems.

Hu Kitchen has just created a chocolate chip/chunk hybrid designed for baking or snacking, and I have done both and can tell you they pulled it off FLAWLESSLY.

I will (have…many times) eaten other chocolate chips straight out of the bag, and while it’s not the worst activity to have to participate in it’s never the best chocolate eating experience either.

These are different. These taste like eating a high end chocolate bar just in perfectly bite-sized, adorably gem-shaped form. Vegan and paleo with a most enviable ingredient list (organic cacao, unrefined organic coconut sugar, organic fair-trade cocoa butter). Not overly sweet, melt wonderfully, honestly exceeded even my expectations. Which were high because if you’ve ever tasted a Hu Kitchen bar you know they are NOT messing around when it comes to chocolate.

A day has not gone by this week that I haven’t eaten at least a handful of these precious little things, and I don’t see that trend stopping anytime soon.

How to make Vegan Halfway Cookie Bars

First comes the cookie base. Oat flour, applesauce, almond butter, salt, vanilla, coconut sugar, the usual cookie things you hopefully have on hand.

They are not AS rich as the original, but still pretty dang rich.

Press this into the bottom of the pan, and then comes THE GEMS!

Now for the trickier part, meringue.

Aquafaba (chickpea liquid) whipped up with sugar into fluffy clouds of sweetness.

I used a can of organic no-salt added chickpeas and coconut sugar. I do recommend powdering the coconut sugar in a high speed blender first to avoid collapsing the meringue, and adding it VERY SLOWLY. Like spoonful by spoonful slowly. You can use regular white sugar instead, that is a slightly safer way to go if you are new to aquafaba meringue. A half teaspoon of cream of tartar helps to stabilize the meringue too.

I am no aquafaba expert, there are much more detailed tutorials out there if you do some googling on the topic.

Spread on top of the bars and bake!

Another tricky step, waiting for them too cool. But if you slice too soon they will be too gooey/crumbly, so patience.

Or pop them in the fridge overnight and forget, because these things are really good cold too.

It brings me endless gobs of joy to be able to share products with you that I truly (TRULY) love, turned into recipes I have always dreamed of creating.

So I hope you love these bars. And I hope you love Gems. And if you are on the fence just order the 6 pack already, pay shipping once, and treat yourself to the best chocolate hexagons money can buy.

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