Dark Chocolate Coffee Nut Bars (Vegan, Gluten Free)

February 27, 2018 by Jenna | The Urben Life 74 Comments

Dark Chocolate Coffee Nut Bars are homemade vegan, gluten-free, protein-packed treats perfect for breakfast or snack time. An assortment of nuts and seeds mixed with whole coffee beans, chocolate chips, and peanut butter baked into personal sized bars are both filling and energizing.

These dark chocolate coffee nut bars have been in the back of my mind for quite some time now. I have been wanting to create protein bars for breakfast but never put them as a priority. When I asked you guys what you want to see more of, an overwhelming amount of readers want to see more breakfast recipes! These are great because they work for breakfast or a mid morning to afternoon snack.

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I have to give credit where credit is due, and these bars would not be up here today without the help of my husband. He is always helping me come up with recipes and content for the blog. Recently we both went on separate trips and when we came back we compared the treats we both received. My mom gave me a dark chocolate bar with espresso beans and Zack received a swag bag with dark chocolate covered espresso beans. This gave us the idea to finally develop the nut bar recipe and include whole coffee beans!

I love snacking on nut bars because they’re full of filling ingredients and leave me satisfied – but of course, homemade is better because you can control what goes in. After testing this recipe, I know I’ll be baking homemade nut bars time after time. They take no time at all and are super simple.

Simply preheat your oven and spray your baking dish. Combine ingredients, spread into baking dish, bake, cool, and enjoy! Seems too quick and easy? That’s because it is, no tricks here.

Besides the whole coffee beans, my favorite part of this protein-packed nut bar are the pepitas! I love these little edible pumpkin seeds. I’ve been using them a lot these past few months and thought they would make a great addition to this recipe. When you bite down on this bar and get a pepita, you get a satisfying pop full of flavor.

Dark Chocolate Coffee Nut Bars (Vegan, Gluten-Free)
Yields: 8 bars

1½ cups lightly salted mixed nuts
1/2 cup gluten free brown rice crisp cereal
1/4 cup vegan dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup whole dark roast coffee beans
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1 tablespoon pepitas
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon peanut butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray 8×8 baking dish with cooking spray.

2. In a medium bowl, mix all dry ingredients together.

3. In a small bowl, mix together maple syrup and peanut butter until combined. Pour into medium bowl and fold until incorporated.

4. Transfer mixture to prepared baking dish. Smooth into an even layer using a rubber spatula.

5. Bake for 30 minutes then let cool completely.

6. Remove from baking dish then slice into even bars.

Enjoy and store bars at room temperature for up to one week!

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