Chocolate Cherry Bars
Chocolate oat crumble bars filled with a jammy cherry filling and topped with melted puddles of dark chocolate! These dessert bars are refined sugar free and vegan, making them the perfect late night snack.
Equipment
- 1 8x8 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 8x8 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!