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Toasted Coconut Snack Bars

January 14, 2019 · Natalie 24 Comments

Toasted Coconut Snack Bars! Oats, brown rice cereal, chia, flax, cinnamon, and coconut in a crispy no-bake bar. Any easy + healthy snack fan will love them!

THIS POST IS SPONSORED BY EDWARD & SONS

Hello January. Hello 2019. Hello time for quick, easy, and healthy.

I always find this time of the recipe year tricky – switching OFF the cookies/peppermint/fudge part of my brain and ON the healthy part overnight. Real food, meal prep, breakfast, nutritious stuff…I’m working on it.

Truth be told I wasn’t in the kitchen developing and shooting recipes for a full month. I left St. Pete on December 5th, got back on January 5th, and was all over the place in between. First my parents’ house in northern Florida > South Africa with friends for a couple of weeks > back to my parents’ for Christmas > to see my sister in Atlanta before she moved to Portland > to visit other family in North Carolina > finally back home to (sunny!) St. Pete.

Getting back in the kitchen and behind the camera definitely felt weird at first, but I’m slowly re-finding my healthier new years recipe rhythm. Starting with these Toasted Coconut Snack Bars!

I consumed ~~every single existing~~ lots of prepackaged bars on my plane/road trips, so I came back still craving snack-y things just minus the wrapper.

But we’re only two weeks post holidays, and I still barely know what day of the week it is, so these bars needed to be EASY (a.k.a. short ingredient list and no-bake please!)

The tricky thing about toasted coconut in a no-bake bar is the toasted part…usually. But Edward & Sons understands that we are lazy but also love the toasty taste of golden coconut flakes, so they have gifted us with Let’s Do Organic Coconut Flakes that come ALREADY TOASTED. And with no sugar or oil or anyting weird added either, just coconut. I am all about it – in no-bake snack bar form and straight from the bag snacking form too.

Since the coconut toasting is already taken care of, all that’s left to do is mix together:

rolled oats
crispy rice cereal
Let’s Do Organic Coconut Flakes
chia + flax seeds
cinnamon
salt

Then melt together:

maple syrup
coconut butter
and vanilla

And pour the melted stuff over the dry stuff, mix until sticky-coated, press into a pan, and refrigerate.

The chia + flax seeds could be all chia…or all flax…or hemp and chia…or hemp and flax…you get the idea. And the crispy rice cereal could be swapped for another cereal you love. And the oats could be subbed with quinoa flakes. And the coconut butter could be replaced with another nut/seed butter (although see recipe notes). So customize and make these bars yours.

Except the toasted coconut flakes, that part is non-negotiable. And don’t mess with the salt either because it’s key in granola-y things.

Happy new years no-baking to you!

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Toasted Coconut Snack Bars

★★★★★ 4.3 from 4 reviews

Author: Natalie
Prep Time: 00:15
Cook Time: 4:00 (chilling time)
Total Time: 4 hours 15 minutes
Yield: 8 bars 1x
Category: snacks
Method: no bake
Cuisine: american

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Description

Toasted Coconut Snack Bars! Oats, brown rice cereal, chia, flax, cinnamon and coconut in a crispy no-bake bar. Any easy + healthy snack fan will love them!

Ingredients

Scale

1 1/2 cup (80g) Let’s Do Organic Unsweetened Toasted Coconut Flakes from Edward & Sons
1 cup (100g) rolled oats
1 cup (30g) crispy rice cereal
2 tbsp (15g) chia seeds*
2 tbsp (15g) flax seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup (90g) coconut butter**
1/3 cup (105g) maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract

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Instructions

In a mixing bowl, stir together the oats, rice cereal, toasted coconut flakes, seeds, cinnamon, and salt.
In a small saucepan (or microwave), melt the coconut butter and maple syrup together. Whisk in the vanilla.
Add to the dry ingredients and mix to coat.
Press firmly into a loaf pan or dish (I used this 9×6″ baking dish) lined with parchment paper.
Chill for at least 4 hours until set.
Slice and eat!
Keep covered in the fridge for up to a week, or freeze for longer storage.

Notes

*Or 1/4 cup total of any mix of seeds you like

**You can use other nut or seed butters, but the coconut butter becomes firm in the fridge so they hold together and have the best texture with coconut butter.

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1 bar
Calories: 378
Sugar: 10g
Fat: 26g
Saturated Fat: 8g
Carbohydrates: 29g
Fiber: 7g
Protein: 9g

Keywords: vegan, gluten-free, easy, no bake, meal prep, granola, breakfast

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SunButter Gingerbread Cake Bars

December 17, 2018 · Natalie 23 Comments

SunButter Gingerbread Cake Bars! Soft delicate cupcake meets moist crumbly blondie with a delicious dairy-free white chocolate drizzle. Vegan and gluten-free!

THIS POST IS SPONSORED BY SUNBUTTER

With the most lovable blondie-meets-cupcake texture. And all the best December spices mingling with the deep sweetness of molasses. And my favorite kind of butter to bake with, SunButter, bringing its moisture and delicious subtle seed flavor to this holiday party in a pan.

Also important to mention, these three little words: WHITE CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE.

Yeah, cookies should be feeling mega jealous right now.

Others who are currently feeling left out: a) butter butter b) non-flax eggs and c) white sugar. Because these bars are vegan and gluten-free and don’t involve any of those things. Which wins them a seat at the “healthier” holiday dessert table, dontcha think? But vegan white chocolate made with the yummy magical stuff that is melted cacao butter drippily drizzled on top to sweetly offset all those spices means they could hold their own at the “classic” dessert table too. This is one of those best of both worlds situations.

Healthy AND holiday-y ingredients in these SunButter Gingerbread Cake Bars include:

SunButter. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this stuff is texture/moisture fairy dust in baking. Gooey but also soft and fluffy? With SunButter it’s possible.
Coconut sugar.
Molasses. Gives it that classic gingerbread flavor, but you can replace with maple syrup if you’re not a fan.
Flax eggs.
Almond milk.
Lemon juice. Makes anything ginger spiced that much better.
Oat flour. We ground our own from rolled oats.
Baking soda.
Ginger, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt. Or you could use this gingerbread spice mix for a more complex flavor than just ginger + cinnamon.

And if you swap out the almond milk for coconut, they can be nut-free too!

The glaze. Cacao butter isn’t the easiest stuff to work with, so this took some trial and error. In the end I landed on a really simple combination of melted cacao butter, vanilla, powdered sugar, and salt. I just couldn’t get the texture right with maple syrup as the sweetener, so if you want a refined sugar-free glaze instead try this recipe.

Besides all the above delicious reasons, I extra love these bars because they were made in collaboration with my creative baking partner Sonya. Because we all know holiday baking is better with friends. Also because I never would’ve been able to narrow down all my gazillions of gingerbread ideas without her (cookies? muffins? brownies? a house?). Nor would I have been able to shoot a video this majestically festive without the help of my friend Dan, so this one was a big time team effort.

Even though we are all currently in South Africa and sadly couldn’t bring any of these bars with us, I hope you make/love/devour them with some of your favorite people too!

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