German Chocolate Bars
My favorite cake flavors remade into a fun, no-bake cookie bar. Chocolate, caramel, coconut and pecans are a magical combo!
Servings: 25 cookies
Calories: 145kcal
Ingredients
Chocolate Cookie Layer
- 1 cup oats gluten free, if necessary
- 1 cup pecans
- 6 ounces dates (about 1 cup packed Medjool dates), pitted
- 3 1/2 ounces dark chocolate *divided
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Date-Coconut Layer
- 12 ounces dates (about 2 cups packed Medjool dates), pitted
- 1/2 cup coconut unsweetened
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Cookie Bars
- 1/2 cup pecans halves for beautiful presentation
Instructions
- Line a 9×9 baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- Heat dark chocolate and coconut oil in a double boiler over medium heat, stirring to prevent burning. Once chocolate is smooth, remove from heat and set aside.
- In a food processor bowl, combine the oats and pecans. Process to form a coarse flour.
- Soak 6 ounces of dates in hot water for 1 minute, then drain excess water. Add the soaked dates to the food processor bowl with the oatmeal mixture. Process to break up dates and form a sticky mixture.
- Add 2/3 of the melted dark chocolate and coconut oil, along with sea salt. Process until fully mixed.
- Press the chocolate oatmeal cookie dough into the base of the lined pan. Use wet hands to space it evenly in the pan. A pastry roller helps compact the layer of cookie dough and even the top (wet the pastry roller to prevent the cookie dough from sticking to it!). Tip: Place the baking pan in the freezer while preparing the date layer – it will help set the chocolate so it’s easier to spread the sticky date mixture on top.
- Soak the remaining 12 ounces of dates in hot water for 1 minute and drain. Add the soaked dates to a food processor bowl and process on high for about 1 minute. Stop the food processor, and scrape the date mixture of the sides of the bowl, and the process for another minute. Repeat until the date mixture is very smooth and caramel-like in texture (be patient with this process!).
- Add lemon juice, sea salt, and coconut to the date mixture, and process to mix together.
- Add the date and coconut mixture to the top of the chocolate cookie layer. Use wet hands to spread it out into an even layer, and a wet pastry roller to smooth it out into an even layer.
- Top the caramel coconut layer with pecans. Wrap the pan in foil, and freeze the cookies for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Cut the bars into 16 or 25 pieces.
- While the bars are still frozen, drizzle with remaining dark chocolate and coconut oil mixture. Drizzling them after they are cut is easier than cutting them (the chocolate will break off).
Notes
Don't like Coconut? Omit the coconut in this recipe and they will still be delicious! It will be more of a caramel-pecan chocolate cookie bar.
No Pecans? Other nuts work too! Substitute the pecans for walnuts or almonds.
Nut Free Caramel Coconut Cookie Bars: Omit the pecans in the cookie base and sub 1/2 cup additional oats and 1/2 cup coconut. Omit the pecans used for the topping.
Nutrition
Calories: 145kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.001g | Cholesterol: 0.1mg | Sodium: 95mg | Potassium: 204mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 14g | Vitamin A: 7IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 1mg