Dark Chocolate Cherry Bars
Sweet, jammy cherries are sandwiched between layers of chocolate crumble made without any dairy or added sugars. The chocolate cherry crumb is topped with pockets of dark chocolate before baking to ooey gooey perfection.
Flavor Notes
cocoa | jam | allspice
Pairing Suggestions
midnights | sleepy girl mocktail | pinterest
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Why you’ll love these dark chocolate cherry bars
- Vegan and gluten free
- Melatonin rich cherries makes this the perfect late night snack
- Rich in antioxidants from the cherries and cocoa powder
- NO added sugars or syrups! Yep, this recipe is sweetened with whole fruits.
- Can be served warm or chilled – both delicious!
- Perfect meal prep snack.
- 1 serving provides over 25% of your daily magnesium requirements
Ingredients to make dark chocolate cherry bars
Frozen cherries: Using frozen cherries is essential – not only will it save you time because they’re pre-pitted, but the frozen water in the cherry cell walls makes their inner contents more accessible once thawed. Translation? Juicer, sweeter cherries.
Oats: a mix of rolled oats and oat flour form the base of the oat crumble in this recipe
Almond butter: to bind the oat crumble together. I prefer blanched almond butter in this recipe, but any runny, natural almond butter will work just fine.
Dates: to naturally sweeten the oat crumble and to help bind it together.
Water: the dates will be blended with some water to create a thick caramel sauce.
Cocoa powder: added to the oat crumble to give plenty of rich, chocolate flavor. Feel free to use natural cocoa or dutch processed – since we are not relying on a leavening agent to create rise in this recipe, either will work just fine.
Salt: a necessary component of the oat crumble – a pinch of salt counters any bitterness from the nuts and chocolate so that the sweetness from the dates can shine through.
Allspice: adding just a hint of complexity. An allspice blend (nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, star anise) complements the cocoa and cherry flavors soooo well! Plus, you’ll get a boost of antioxidants 🙂
Chocolate chips: a healthy sprinkle of dark chocolate chips seals the deal and makes these ooey-gooey chocolate cherry bars absolutely irresistible. This is a big do not skip! I personally love Hu dark chocolate gems and Trader Joe’s 72% dark chocolate chips.
How to make dark chocolate cherry bars
The cherry filling is simply cherries – nothing added to sweeten or thicken – which means that we’re going to bake them twice to allow the naturally occurring pectin to be released and help thicken naturally.
Part One: The Cherry Filling
Start by baking the frozen cherries in any oven-safe dish (I used a bread loaf pan). Once the cherries release their juices and start to bubble, remove them from the oven and set aside.
Part Two: The Crust
The oat crumble is secretly the star of the show in this recipe. You’ll need both whole rolled oats and oat flour. To make the oat flour, simply add a cup of rolled oats to a food processor or blender and blend on high until finely ground. To achieve a super-fine flour, I like to use an electric coffee grinder to further blend up the oat flour.
Add the oats, oat flour, cocoa powder, and salt to a large mixing bowl and whisk to incorporate.
Add the dates to a blender along with the water. Blend until a smooth caramel forms. The initial few seconds of blending will be quite noisy and choppy – this is totally normal. Just keep blending and they will eventually settle into a smooth, thick caramel paste.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Add the date caramel and almond butter to the well, stirring them together first before folding the wet mixture into the dry.
Part Three: Assemble & Bake
Layer 2/3 of the crust into a square 8×8 baking dish, using a flat-bottomed dish to firmly press down into an even layer.
Cover with the once-baked cherries.
Top with the remaining chocolate crust, then sprinkle with chocolate chips.
Bake the dark chocolate cherry bars for 20 minutes, until the cherries are bubbling. Open the oven and very carefully shake the pan to spread the melted chocolate chips into small pools. Bake for another 2-3 minutes, then remove from the oven.
Let the bars cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing (I knowwwww). These bars are delicious freshly baked from the oven, but my favorite way to enjoy them is cold from the fridge. Store in the fridge for up to 7 days.
FAQ
Recipe Tips
Frozen Cherries
This is my number one hack in any cherry recipe. Why? Because they’ve already been pitted for you! Skipping the pitting process saves an incredible amount of time in this recipe and in any others. I purchase my frozen cherries from trader joes, but you can also find them in Target and Wegmans.
Substitutions
Cocoa Powder
If you have it, dark alkalized cocoa powder has the best color and a neat, smooth flavor that comes from removing some of the acidity from the cocoa powder. Natural cocoa powder will also work in this recipe, don’t worry! The final oat crumble will just be a bit lighter, paler brown, and a touch more acidic in flavor.
Almond Butter
If you dislike almonds or have an allergy, another neutral nut butter will work just as well. I suggest walnut, oat, or cashew butters. For a nut-free version, you can use sunflower seed butter.
Chocolate chips
Feel free to swap in chopped dark chocolate bars if you don’t have any chocolate chips on hand! I do not recommend skipping this final ingredient, so definitely grab some chocolate either at the store or online (I personally love HU chocolate gems – purchase here) before you make this recipe!
Chocolate Cherry Bars
Equipment
- 1 8×8 baking pan
- 1 Food processor or blender
Ingredients
Chocolate Oat Crumble
- 2 ⅔ c oat flour
- ⅔ c oats
- ¼ c cocoa powder
- ½ c almond butter
- 15 pc medjool dates
- ¼ c water
- ¾ tsp salt
- ¾ tsp allspice
Cherry Filling
- 1 lb frozen cherries
Topping
- ⅓ c dark chocolate chips
Instructions
Cherry Filling
- Start by adding the frozen cherries to an oven safe dish. Any size dish will do. I used a bread loaf pan.
- Bake the cherries at 350℉ for 15 minutes or until their juices are released and have started gently bubbling.
- Remove from the oven and set aside for later.
Chocolate Oat Crumble
- If making oat flour from scratch, add about 3 cups of oats to the food processor and blend until they resemble a fine flour.
- Add the oat flour, oats, cocoa powder, salt and allspice to a large mixing bowl and stir to combine.
- To a blender, add the dates and water. Blend until a smooth caramel paste forms. You may need to hold the machine steady at the beginning – the dates will take a few seconds to break down.
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. To this well, add the date caramel and the almond butter. Use the well to briefly stir the wet ingredients together before folding them into the dry mixture.
- Line an 8×8 square baking dish with parchment paper.
- Layer ⅔ of the chocolate oat crumble into the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
- Pour the cherries overtop of the crumble.
- Drop the remaining ⅓ of the crumble mixture over the cherries in medium-to-large clumps. No need to fully cover the cherries.
- Sprinkle the chocolate chips overtop the dish.
- Bake the chocolate cherry bars at 350℉ for 20 minutes, then open the oven and carefully shake the pan back and forth to help the melted chocolate chips spread out a bit. Bake another 3-5 minutes.
- Allow the bars to cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving. Enjoy!
Recommended Products
8×8 baking dish
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Cuisinart Food Processor
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Joolies Dates
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Did you try this recipe? Let us know how it went in the comments section below!
