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Recipe and pictures updated 1/20/16.
Need a make-ahead snack option? These easy snack bars with the classic pairing of chocolate and peanut butter might just be your ticket! They have all the flavor of no bake cookies, but no cooking is required and no cookie-scooping is necessary.
I was recently on vacation with family for a week, and I knew I wanted some on plan snacks to take along. These worked great; I kept them in a refrigerator cooler (although I do like them better frozen) for times of emergency. If you need some other snacky ideas, here are some great options:
Trim Healthy Mamas (click here to find out more about the plan and see the products I love to use), I know some of you will raise an eyebrow at the oats included in an S recipe (low carb). According to my calculations there are 4.4 net carbs per serving from the oats, which is well within the recommendation of 10 net carbs or less for an S meal. Yes, we try to keep S and E ingredients (fats and carbs) separate, but sometimes it’s OK to use a little of an ingredient from a different fuel so long as you keep your portions in check. This is done a few times throughout the book, one of the most popular recipes demonstrating this being the Special Agent Brownie Cake which uses beans in an S setting.
I included the oats in this recipe because I wanted the traditional texture they offer (like a no bake cookie).
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If you want a healthy no bake cookie recipe, Sheri Graham has one right here!
Want more chocolate and peanut butter? Here are a whole bunch of chocolate recipes, and here are a whole bunch of peanut butter recipes!
Question of the day: have you ever had a no bake cookie? They’re a family tradition at my house.
You can find this recipe in my cookbook, Necessary Food.
- 1 cup natural peanut butter, as creamy as possible
- ½ cup coconut oil (use refined if you don't want a coconut flavor)
- 1½ cups old-fashioned oats (see note below for the carb counts)(use gluten free oats if necessary)
- 1 cup finely shredded low-fat coconut flakes (I used the Let's Do Organic brand that I find at my local grocery store; regular unsweetened coconut flakes will probably make these bars crumbly, but you may be able to process them a little to help things stick together better.)
- 6 T Briana's Baking Mix
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 5 tsp. THM Super Sweet Blend (or more to taste)
- ½ cup water
- Chopped nuts and Lily's Stevia-Sweetened Chocolate Chips, optional
- Melt the coconut oil and peanut butter together. If your natural peanut butter is stiff, you'll probably need to add a little extra coconut oil. Whisk the melted ingredients together, then add all the other ingredients. Use your hands to smash everything together until well-combined. If the dough is crumbly and not moldable, add a little extra water, a tablespoon at a time. Taste the dough and add more granulated sweetener if desired. Press the dough into a 9x13" pan, slice into 15 pieces with a knife, then freeze. Once the bars are frozen you can take them out of the pan and either individually wrap them or just transfer them to a freezer safe container. I like these best stored in the freezer, but a refrigerator could work as well (they're still eatable when frozen).
Briana’s Baking Mix
Suggested products:
- Finely Shredded Coconut Flakes
- Sugar-free Chocolate Chips
- THM Super Sweet Blend, as well as other great products, can be purchased from the Trim Healthy Mama online store.
Briana, I want you to know that these are my go-to snack bars. I’ve been making them for YEARS and keep them in my fridge all summer to keep my on plan. Thanks for the recipe!
I love this recipe so much! These bars are my favorite breastfeeding snack/treat.
Hi Briana! I was wondering if there is anyway to make this into a fuel pull? I know it’s a pretty heavy S but I thought I would ask anyway 🙂
I think it would be easier to find a bar recipe that’s already a Fuel Pull and try to adapt it to some of the same flavors. 🙂 You’d have to completely revamp this recipe and do a lot of experimentation to get it out of S territory.
I saw that you had just returned from Harrisonburg. Hope you had a wonderful time in my hometown. Thanks so much for all of the recipes.
That was a long time ago! I went to music camp in Harrisonburg for a few years and have lots of friends there. Beautiful place!
I discovered these bars in your cookbook and love them for a quick snack! The second time I made them, I made a peanut butter version by replacing the cocoa powder with peanut powder and we almost liked those better. The third time, I added stevia-sweetened chocolate chips to the peanut butter version and now I think I’ve nailed it! 😉 I’ve made a double batch every time! Thank you for so many great recipes!
Thanks for sharing your ideas, Stephanie! That sounds amazing!
Do you use these as a snack on their own – is there enough protein?
Having them on their own without additional protein once in awhile is probably OK, but I wouldn’t make a habit of it because while there is some protein, there isn’t a lot. 🙂
This recipe reminds me a lot of your butterfingers bars. I make them by baking the crust then when it’s cool, I crumble it up and kind of mix the chocolate mixture into it, then spread in the pan. Sooooo good. But wondering, does this recipe taste similar? Thanks!
Yes, those two recipes would have lots of similar flavors. 🙂
Could butter be substituted for the coconut oil with no change to the S setting? Also,I accidentally left out the baking mix. The bars still turned out fine, but I’m wondering if that would change it from an S, to an E since I missed out on the protein in tbd flour.
Yes, butter is an S ingredient as well so you could substitute it without changing the fuel type. However, I like to get as much coconut oil in as possible because it helps rev my metabolism better than butter does. 🙂 Leaving out the baking mix wouldn’t change the fuel type, just the texture.
Hi Briana,
My family does not care for coconut. Do you think I can leave it the coconut flakes without messing up the outcome?
Thanks.
No, the coconut flakes act as part of the flour in the recipe so I’m afraid the bars would be too wet if you just left them out. The finely-shredded coconut flakes I mentioned in the recipe actually don’t have much of a coconut taste to me (I’m not a big coconut fan either)! You could try substituting with more oats, but that would make these a crossover for Trim Healthy Mamas.
Is there a substitution for coconut? .maybe more oats?
That would probably work but would put these bars into crossover territory (or very close, at least) for Trim Healthy Mamas. 🙂
The recipe on your blog clearly says old-fashioned oats. But in this comment above you say that you call for fiber. Can you please clear this up for me?
Hi Rita! I’ve tweaked this recipe as of a few months ago, so the comment you saw was likely referring to the old version, which included oat fiber. 🙂
I have been making these weekly for the past several weeks. I am hooked!
What is the baking mix meant to “replace” (from conventional cooking). As we do not need to eat low-carb or lose weight (we are just ditching sugar) , can I just use flour for the baking mix?
We are cutting a lot of sugars out of my child’s diet and sometimes need “treats” to take to church/school/parties etc. This looks like a tasty option!
Hi Hannah! I use the baking mix as the flour in a lot of my recipes. Because of the properties of the low carb flours in the baking mix (coconut flour, oat fiber, etc.) and the other ingredients added to account for those (i.e. lots of extra liquid), I’m not sure if just substituting regular flour in its place would work. I know you would have to adjust amounts, and I’m just not sure how it would act. I started eating this way at 17, so I honestly don’t have tons of experience baking with white flour! You’re welcome to try this recipe with white flour, but I’m afraid I can’t vouch for the results. My suggestion would be to find a similar recipe that uses flour and sugar, then just substitute the sugar with whatever you’re using to sweeten with right now. 🙂
WOW!!! I just finished making and eating these today. I didn’t know eating healthy could taste so good. YUM!!!! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
I’ve made these bats for quite a while. Never printed the recipe (just came to your site.). Could you tell me the original recipe (before you put in your baking blend) This time I’ll print to keep! Thanks in advance.
Hi Felicia! The old recipe calls for 1/3 cup cocoa powder and 6 T ground golden flax instead of my baking mix. Instead of THM Sweet Blend it called for 6 doonks THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder and 2 packets of Truvia. I prefer the new version, and I highly recommend that you try it!
Thanks Briana. I may. What do you feel is the biggest differences in the finished product?
I think they have a better texture with my baking mix, and the flax taste is gone. The sweetness is better too.
My husband loves no bake cookies, but doesn’t “need” to lose weight. We like eating healthier options though. I made your bars (using Gentle Sweet and mostly oats) and I made another recipe that is similar but uses honey as a sweetener. Your bars win and satisfy his craving. Thanks Briana!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing!
Can I use the THM baking blend? These look yummy! Adding it my ‘must try’ list!
Generally the rule of thumb is to use 1 cup of THM Baking Blend for every 3/4 cup of my Baking Mix called for, then adjust from there as necessary. 🙂
Hi, just wondering is the coconut oil liquid or solid? I have the liquid coconut oil and have found on another recipe that it was to much oil.
Solid. 🙂
Can I use the liquid coconut oil and if so how much would I use?
I assume you can, but having never used that kind I’m not sure how much you’d use. I’ve always assumed that solid and liquid would measure the same so I’d probably start with the same amount and then go from there.
The only difference better solid and liquid is the temperature of the room!
I used liquid coconut oil and omitted the water and they were perfect, just a thought.
With your baking mix, can I substitute Trader Joes Just Almond Meal for the Oat flour?
Hi Jen! My Baking Mix actually doesn’t call for oat flour. It calls for oat fiber which is very different from oat flour and soaks up a lot more liquid. I do not recommend substituting almond flour for the oat fiber because oat fiber is a much drier flour than almond flour.
For these no bake snack bars, you could try using a low carb flour of your choice (such as almond flour) in place of my Baking Mix, but you’ll probably have to decrease the liquid in the recipe.
I made these tonight but made some changes based on my needs: I used a coarse ground almond flour in place of the oatmeal and omitted the water. They. Were. AMAZING! I froze them in a silicone pan and then cut them into squares. These are my new favorite dessert. Thank you!
Awesome! Thanks so much for letting me know the changes you made – I’m sure that might be helpful for others too.
I made these last night – a half-batch in a 8×8 pan. You’re right – because I ‘cut’ between them and then froze them, they popped right out of the pan this morning! They are great! Really chocolatey – I think I could use a little less cocoa powder and maybe a little less water. But YUM! Thanks, Briana. 🙂
Oh, my, these sound wonderful! I used to make something similar to these, then I got out of the habit. I do that…I’ll go for a while and be stuck on just a few recipes, then I move on to others and forget about them. Thanks for the reminder and for providing such a wonderful wealth of new ideas here! I always get excited to see a new post from you. 🙂 God bless you, Brianna!