No Bake Healthy Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Shortbread Bars Recipe (2024)

Nov 17, 2017

Wait. WHAT??? Did you just say, HEALTHY Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Shortbread Bars?!?

Oh, yes. Yes I did! These bad boys have a:

• Butter-freeshortbread basecomprised of whole grain oats, honey, and natural protein powder
• Soft peanut butterfilling that is TO DIEfor, made with naturalpeanut butter and stevia
• Delicious and thick layer ofchocolate to make this one over-the-top treat

Are you drooling yet? I sure am. But you know me, it took a few trials to get this recipejust right. Ah, and so we begin…

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Trial #1:

When we’re talkin’ peanut butter and chocolate, I don’t think anyone could go wrong there. Just because these bars were sticky and gooey, they were still mighty delicious! These bars did not have a shortbread crust because I was aiming to make a portable protein bar-ish thing.

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Trial #2:

I was really surprised at howshortbread-like the shortbread base turned out! It was slightly crumbly and not too sweet, just like real shortbread cookies. But, the baseturned out much thicker than I wanted…just as thick as the peanut butter filling! In the next trial, I’ll cut the shortbread baserecipe in half.

As for the peanut butter filling, I was imagining a soft, fudgy texture. Unfortunately, it was hard, dry, and crumbly. I think the dryness factor was because I usedbrown rice syrup, which is a lot thicker than honey. I’ll use honey in the next trial.

And finally, the chocolate topping. It looked good, the texture was great, but the taste was awful. I used 100%cacao unsweetened chocolate mixed with 2 tbs of peanut butter and and 20 drops of stevia extract, and not even thatcould rid the bitterness ofthe chocolate! I’ll use 60% cacao chocolate in the next trial for a more pleasant taste.

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Trial #3:

FINALLY! SUCCESS! Sweet, sweetSUCCESS! I don’t think the word “delicious” can even begin to describe these addicting bites! The “buttery” shortbread base, the soft and fudgy peanutty filling, the smooth chocolatey topping, mmmm. These taste farbetter than the previous trials — no dryness and certainly no bitterness.

These HealthyPeanut Butter Dark Chocolate Shortbread Barshave the perfect balance of flavors with a healthy dose ofnutrition inside!

You can slice these into 9 large bars, 16 regular-sized bars (like I did), or 36 bites, depending on what you prefer and how many people you’re serving. These are very rich treats, so I prefer to slice these into 16 or 36. They’re perfect for parties!

These Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Shortbread Bars are best eaten close to room temp. Your teeth sink straight through the bar and you get all three flavors in one scrumptious bite! Mmmm… pure deliciousness.

“I’ll just have one more” you say. Oh, those famous last words…

Enjoy!

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With love and good eats,

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–Jess

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