Okay my friends, are you looking for a sweet treat (for a Final Four party perhaps?) that doesn’t take you long to pull together and doesn’t completely throw you off of your “eating-healthy” plan? Something sweet enough to truly make you want to have two but won’t make you feel guilty about eating “bad”?
You have found the perfect treat!! Plus, these are truly DELICIOUS! There’s a subtle coconut flavor (which can be replaced if you so choose…so sad for you if so) , peanut-buttery goodness and the typical amazing concoction of oatmeal and chocolate to contend with. You cannot NOT like these. I challenge you!
Found these bad boys on Pinterest and featured on the Money Saving Mom blog and wanted to give them a try. I’ve had something similar (which will be shared in a future blog post) from my future mother-in-law – she makes the BEST no-bake oatmeal chocolate cookies. These are similar but slightly different with a coconut spin and are in bar form. You can also customize these guys to be however you’d like with dried fruit and nuts. And if you’re not into coconut, you can leave that out!
And I don’t know why I keep referring to them as ‘guys’, apparently these bars are male?!? Ha anyways, I digress…
Ingredients:
- 1 c. peanut butter
- 1/2 c. honey
- 1/2 c. coconut oil
- 2 c. old fashioned oats
- 1 c. shredded coconut (if you’re anti-coconut, I swear this consistency isn’t too weird…my anti-coconut fiance loved it!)
- 1/2 c. chopped walnuts (insert in here any nut you choose OR dried fruit)
- 1 1/4 c. dark chocolate chips
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
How to Make:
Prepare yourself for the easiest bar making on the planet! No need for an oven, you just need a stove top. That’s it!
First, you’re going to melt together the first three ingredients. The cup of peanut butter…
…the 1/2 cup of honey…
…the 1/2 cup of coconut oil (butter works too if you don’t have coconut oil on hand).
Melt all of the ingredients together but stirring over medium to low heat. Once thoroughly warmed and mixed, turn down to low and grab another bowl for mixing the remaining ingredients.
Measure out 2 cups of oats…
…a cup of shredded coconut (or another dried fruit if you’re REALLY anti-coconut)…
…the 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts (or another chopped nut of choice)…
…the 1 and 1/4 cup of dark chocolate chips…a few may escape and end up consumed, it happens…
…and the teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Mix all of these dry ingredients up and then slowly pour in your melted warm ingredients on top. Stir, stir, stir! You need to thoroughly coat everything!
Then, pour into a greased 9×13 baking pan (higher sides would be better) and spread as evenly as you can on the bottom.
Then pop this into the fridge until it hardens! Ours was ready to go in about an hour or so, but just keep checking in on it to see if it’s ready to go! Then, slice these up with a sharp knife and serve ’em up to your favorite people…or if you desire after having one, hoard them for yourself 😉
Regardless, these are delicious, addicting and you really can’t feel too terribly bad about having a treat or two of these.
Enjoy!!
Spatulas & Buttons 