I love the convenience of energy bars, but I don’t love the ingredients in most of them! I’ve made date and nut based energy bars and chia seed energy bars ( a favorite at our house), but I’ve been experimenting with a recipe that would be largely coconut based, nut free and a healthy alternative to sugary snacks when my kids are around other kids.
The kids also requested that I include chocolate in these energy bars, and this recipe was born.
They’ve been a big hit! The only downside is that they have to be refrigerated to keep their firmness, but taste-wise, they are wonderful! Do you ever make snack bars at home? What’s your favorite recipe?
Chocolate Coconut Energy Bars
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 4 -6
An easy, healthy, grain-free energy bar made with chocolate, coconut and honey for an energy-boosting snack.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Cocoa Butter (28-30 wafers)
- 1/2 cup Coconut Oil
- 1/4 cup (or more to taste) honey
- 1/2 cup Cocoa Powder
- 1-1/5 cups Shredded Coconut
- 1/2 cup Chia Seeds (optional, can use extra Shredded Coconut instead)
- vanilla to taste (optional)
- Stevia tincture for extra sweetness (optional, to taste)
Instructions
- Melt the cocoa butter in a small pan over low heat.
- Add coconut oil and melt.
- Add honey and stir well.
- Stir in cocoa powder.
- Stir in chia seeds (optional) and/or Shredded Coconut.
- Add vanilla, stevia tincture or other flavors to taste (optional).
- Pour into a parchment paper lined 9x13 baking dish and refrigerate for 1 hour or until hardened (can also freeze).
- Cut into squares/bars and enjoy!
Notes
I don't recommend eating these in the evening! They tend to give a little too much energy!
Courses Snack
Like this recipe? Check out my new cookbook, or get all my recipes (over 500!) in a personalized weekly meal planner here!
Ever made your own energy bars? What flavor do you prefer? Share below!
I’m not seeing an amount for cocoa powder. Am I missing it? Would LOVE to try these!
Hi i’ll reply to the last comment which is 1/2 cup
what i would like to know is does anyone knoe the carb/calorie count on these ?
thanks
I thought you weren’t suppose to heat honey passed a certain temperature or it becomes toxic
I didn’t see a quantity for the cocoa powder….
Fixing now… 1/2 cup
I’ve tried a couple recipes now that call for the coconut oil, and both times even thought I’ve mixed and used a hand held blender, the oil is separating. Do u know what I am doing wrong? Thx!
1/2cup it says 🙂
Could you add almond butter to this for added protein?
Yep! Great idea…
I’m not able to re-pin this. Anyone else having trouble? Any suggestions?
Are the chia seeds supposed to be soaked or dry?
Dry works better in this recipe….
I see on mountain rose herbs the cocoa butter wafers are $13 for 1LB. Do you know how many you are getting? And does the 28-30 wafers this recipe calls for use the whole LB? Thanks.
I haven’t counted a whole pound, but the wafers in this recipe are not anywhere near a whole pound. I think I’ve gotten at least 8 batches from the last pound I purchased…
These are great!! Thank you for the idea/recipe!
I am all set to make these … and I bought the shredded coconut but I am nervous my son won’t like the overwhelming taste of the shredded coconut. Is there anything you’d sub for that part? Or is that kind of the whole point. 😉
The shredded coconut is a good source of nutrients, plus it absorbs the oils well… you could sub ground nuts or almond flour though…
You dont really taste the coconut. I love these. I could not find cocoa butter so I use 63% choc chips instead.
can you tell me the nutritious info please?
cal, carb, etc.
I only have shaved coconut on hand – would that not turn out so well in these consistency-wise? I suppose I could break the coconut down some in the food processor if that’d be necessary.
can you omit the honey? I use xylitol or stevia for sweeteners
Yes, but you might need to add a little extra coconut oil for volume…
thanks for the tip!
If you don’t have cocoa butter can you just use extra coconut oil?
Yes, they will just have to stay cool to be firm…
It says that coconut oil can replace cocoa butter but is it coconut butter, right? Since there is already coconut oil as the second ingredient. Double coconut oil would be too much and give different results. Thank you! These look delicious:)
Looks delicious! Can’t wait to make these!
What are your thoughts about subbing coconut sugar for the honey?
I haven’t tried it but it would probably work…
I have tried a sugar substitute for the honey and it was gritty. I ended up using powdered sugar and that was fine. I made these for my children 40 years ago, only without the Chia seeds, and used Carob Powder instead of Chocolate. I will have to try with Chia seeds. I also used peanut butter instead of the oil.
these sound right up my alley!
This coconut bar sounds amazing. Thank you for all your recipes…especially your natural deoderant. My daughter has Lyme Disease and we are going completely natural. I love that it works and love how it is so easy. Blessings to you and all your creativity.
What are the benefits of the chia seeds?
I substituted the cocoa butter with cocoNUT butter by mistake and it is delicious! Used unrefined sugar to adjust flavor since I didn’t have stevia tincture.
These will be so useful for my husband when he goes back to college next week! He doesn’t like nuts, so that’s a lot of energy bar recipes ruled out.
These look and sound completely delicious! 🙂 Pinned for later! 🙂
Just wondering, what does it mean when you say you have a “background in nutrition”?
I made these and LOVE them, however, I altered the recipe a little bit.
I don’t like shredded coconut (it’s a texture thing) so, I added more chia seeds + coconut flour + coconut sugar
I also added slightly more cocoa butter
Lastly, I added a tad more honey since I didn’t add any stevia
I stuck them in the fridge so they would harden faster. I then took them out, cut them up and individually wrapped them. The result is delicious, solid at room temp and easily portable.
Rather than using stevia, how about using real maple syrup? I make a similar “chocolate bar” and agree about the downside of needing refrigeration but the maple syrup has lots of minerals, etc. that are so good for you! I think I am going to throw in the chia seeds on this one, too!
These are fantastic!!!! I added cacao nibs. Perfection! 🙂
I so glad to have found this website full of healthy but tasty looking recipes. I am looking forward to working my way through the recipes.
I have managed to purchase all the ingredients but i am not familiar with the american cup measurements. Is it possible you could add the quantities in grams. Also i couldn’t get hold of the cocoa butter wafers so i bought a tub of cocoa butter. How much of this do i need to add?
many thanks
uk
Katie – I found the attached website which might help you in converting this to British measurements:
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Q-A/BritishEquiv.htm
The first time I made these I added a very large scoop of almond butter before even reading the comments, AWESOME. I will be making these bi-weekly on the off weeks of my no bake Paleo Chocolate Protein Cookies. I did use the optional vanilla extract and raw honey and left out the Stevia. This recipe is one of my favorite “cheats” that is not a cheat for my Paleo lifestyle. Thank you for my sanity, because you created such a wonderful sweet treat. Next up, I am going to crush unsalted pecans, almonds or walnuts to add to the bars and maybe unsweetened cranberries or cherries. Also, the coconut is not an overwhelming taste if you do not like coconut. I found cocoa butter at Nuts.com, you have to cut it, but less expensive and great quality.
I made these bars without reading the comments. I sort of blended all of Wellness Mama’s energy bar recipes together. I made a paste out of dates, raisins, and cranberries then added the melted cocoa butter and coconut oil. I added almonds, cashews, walnuts, and pecans as well. I also added a handful of dark chocolate chips. They smell wonderful. I used this recipe as the base then added all of the other ingredients. I know this was posted a few months ago, but I figured I would tag it onto your’s so maybe other people would see it and try.:-)
Anything that uses coconut oil in it’s ingredients just has to be good. Definitely going to add this to my collection of coconut oil recipes.
Can the cocoa butter wafers be substituted for anything?
Maybe a but butter. I just made these and didn’t have cocoa butter, so I used some cashew and almond butters. It tastes nice, but I haven’t refrigerated them yet. They might not set up great.
Awesome recipe; its super easy and quick to make, and it tastes great. I just did a quick (and rough) nutritional value estimate for a few things. If this is split into 8 servings, then it comes out to right around 500 cal, with 36 grams fat (nearly all saturated). This is exactly what I was looking for, something easy to make, pleasant to eat, and takes care of filling in my much needed calories. Ate one just before and another halfway through an 8 hour hike; kept me energized the whole time.
I’m so sad after being so excited! Mine came out with an awful bitter after-taste.. Anyone know why? Would love to give this another shot!
Maybe the Stevia. I find Stevia bitter.
Mine came out bitter as well. I omitted the stevia. Next time I might try more honey or a little maple syrup. I’m excited to try other variations- almond butter and caoco nibs sound especially delicious!
Is there a substitute for the coconut oil? I’ll use your original recipe for myself, but my boyfriend is allergic to coconut.
These are so delish! Taste was comparable to my Newman’s dark chocolate bar that I had earlier. Excited to try variations!
Can u tell me how many calories and protein in one bar?
i just calculated these bars precisely as written. the recipe indicates it serves “4-6”, so for 4 bars each bar contains: 905 calories, 245g Fat (60g saturated fat), 20g sugar, and 10g protein. for 6 bars each bar: 600 calories, 165g fat (40g saturated), 13g sugar, 7g protein.
lol. have fun!!!
That us a lot if calories how big are these bars?
I cut my bars into about 2″ x 3″.
im looking to make these only thing i cant get in this ity bity town is the cocoa butter wafers what would be a good substitute?
They should work
I used peanut butter chips instead of the wafers and it worked perfectly. I did not use any stevia as I didn’t want it too sweet.
What is a good substitute for coconut oil? I use it for vapor rub, lotion, and oil pulling, but my son has a genetic disorder called MCAD. He can’t break down middle chain fatty acids. I was wondering if all the healthy fats are middle chain like coconut oil. I have been using butter, but we go through ALOT of butter that way. It doesn’t seem healthy to just have one type of fat. We also use a little extra virgin olive oil.
I used coconut butter because I dont have cocoa butter. Tasted good.
Thank you!
so easy to make and tasty!
I made these today added some ground up raw almonds and pecans so yummy!!
My biggest problem with these was not eating most of the batter before I could get it refrigerated. I got creative with the next two batches, added hemp hearts, some walnuts, and fresh banana in one and fresh banana and ground up peanuts in the other. Think peanut butter would have been even better but didn’t have any, so sort of made my own. Ditto with the coconut butter from what I read it’s just finely ground up coconut flakes with some oil added to it.
These are really yummy, thanks! I used yacon syrup instead of honey and it worked great. I couldn’t find unsweetened coconut, though (just the standard sugary stuff in the baking aisle) so they’re probably sweeter than they would be otherwise. I will try it again when i can find unsweetened organic coconut.
Also, BTW I cannot even *imagine* this recipe being 4 servings! I spread it out over 2 cake pans, resulting in 32 little squares. And just a couple of those little squares are plenty rich for me!
this is wonderful!
What is the difference between coconut oil and coconut butter? Thank you.
I just made two batches. The first one just as written except all I had was the sweetened coconut flakes so I left out the stevia. The second batch I played with a little. My favorite cookie has always been the oatmeal chocolate peanut butter no bake cookies and these reminded me of them in the second batch I added 1/2 cup peanut butter 1 cup oats and a little stevia. I probably should have left out the stevia because they were a little too sweet with the sweetened coconut. Next time I may just substitute the coconut with 2 cups of oats since I am not fond of the texture of coconut. Both batches were delish. It’s a great recipe on its own and allows for lots of creativity.
Awesome ! My husband gave these a 10. I will be making more tomorrow 🙂
I used Colombian Dark Chocolate with 85% cocoa, which had cocoa butter in it so used 1 cup in place of butter and cocoa powder. Also used chopped almonds in place of chia seeds. Used Stevia to counter the dark chocolate. Only problem is the bars are to soft at room temperature so keep refrigerated.
Hi my partner has been trying to make these, but they wont set properly, what do you think the problem could be? Thanks
wonderful site – recipe sounds awesome – especially love all the commentary with sugestions, results, etc
I just made these and tweaked the recipe a little. I used coconut cream instead of cocoa butter and added 1 tbsp of maple syrup. They are a huge hit at our house!! Thx for the recipe!
Thank you for this. How long do you think these last for and do they need to remain refrigerated? Would they last for a week?
Could coconut flour be used instead of shredded coconut?
It could, though it might change the texture slightly.
Hi I think that is true
After adding the cocao powder, the solids and the oils stay separate. What is wrong? The solid portion (i guess the shredded coconut and cocoa powder) tastes really yummy like dark chocolate, but I don’t want to waste a bunch of cocoa butter and coconut oil that will end up just staying separate.
Awsome recipe, I should give it a try, but I need to make the butter first 🙂
How long can I store them for?
Can I feed this to my 1 year old?
Thanks
I make a similar bar starting with base of 1 and 1-2 cups dates and one cup of nuts in food processor and then add coconut, coconut oil, chia seeds, hemp seeds, collagen powder, cocoa nibs, cocoa, nut butters, etc. process until gets like a dough ball adjusting butters or oils as needed. I line a loaf pan with parchment paper and cut them into bite sized squares and freeze them. Then I pop them out of pan and keep in freezer for quick treat that is packed with staying power!!!