No Bake Almond Butter Chocolate Oatmeal Squares
Here is a quick square recipe filled with oatmeal, almond butter and chocolate goodness! Love that these are no bake! Allow to sit for some time in the fridge and you have these ready to serve! They keep for a week or so in the fridge – if they last that long in your home! And they freeze well too to have some on hand for unexpected guests or when a snack attack happens!
Prep Time: 10 minutes Chill Time: 1½ hours Makes: 16-20 squares
Ingredients
3/4 Cup Ghee (or Butter)
½ Cup Coconut Sugar - packed
1 teaspoon Vanilla
3 Cups Quick Oats – if you only have large flake oats, blitz them in a food processor first to chop them into smaller pieces. Using only large flake oats will not hold the squares together.
¼ Cup Large Flake oats - for texture and to see the oats in the bars.
¼ Cup Hemp Hearts
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 Cup Dark or Semisweet Chocolate Chips
½ Cup Almond Butter (or peanut butter or any nut butter of your choice)
How It’s Made
Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper to overhang the pan (for easy lifting out).
In a medium pan, over medium heat, melt the ghee (or butter) and then add the coconut sugar. Stir until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is smooth and bubbling gently.
Add the vanilla and stir again.
Add the oats, the cinnamon and the hemp hearts and stir until they are well covered in the butter/sugar/vanilla sauce. Cook and stir for 1 minute.
Put half the oat mixture into your prepared pan and press it down firmly and evenly and into the corners. Put the remaining half of the oat mixture aside for now.
To make the filling, in a small pan on the stovetop, on low heat, melt the chocolate chips, then add the almond butter and stir until very smooth and runny. Alternately, in a glass measuring cup or a bowl safe for the microwave, melt the chocolate chips in 30-second intervals, stirring after every 30 seconds until smooth and add the almond butter, stirring until smooth and runny.
Spoon most of the almond butter/chocolate over the oatmeal layer in the pan and spread it out evenly to cover. Keep a little bit of the chocolate to drizzle on the top of the finished bars - or you can melt chocolate to drizzle (instructions below).
Spread the remaining oat mixture evenly over the almond butter/chocolate layer and press down carefully. If you kept some of the almond butter/chocolate, drizzle it over the top, using a fork I find works well. If you used up all of it, you can still add a drizzle: Melt ¼ cup chocolate chips either in a glass dish in the microwave in 30-second increments, or gently in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring until it is melted. Using a fork, you can drizzle the chocolate over the top of the squares or for more even strands, pour the melted chocolate into a small baggie. Seal the baggie and squeeze the chocolate into one corner. Snip a very small opening of the corner and immediately drizzle the melted chocolate over the squares.
Put the pan into the fridge for at least 1½ hours to harden. When you want to cut the square, take the pan out of the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for 5 minutes or so. Cut and serve!
Store the cut squares in an air-tight container in the fridge. These squares freeze well too!
Enjoy!
Variations
Sprinkle some sliced almonds on top before you drizzle.
Use peanut butter instead of almond butter.
If you use Peanut butter, sprinkle and press some finely chopped peanuts into the top oatmeal layer before you drizzle.
Use a vegan butter instead of ghee or butter.
Cut into bars instead of squares.
