These chocolate coconut vegan and gluten-free granola bars are a perfect snack or a pick me up — they're filling, nutritious, soft and chewy, and totally satisfy a chocolate craving!
Chocolate Coconut Vegan & Gluten-Free Granola Bars
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 10 bars
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Vegan, Gluten-Free
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
Granola Layer
- 3 cups gluten-free oats
- 1 cup finely shredded coconut
- 5 tbsp coconut oil
- 3 tbsp coconut butter
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- dash of salt
Chocolate Layer
- 1 cup bittersweet vegan chocolate chips
- 3 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ¼ cup finely shredded coconut for topping
Instructions
Granola Layer
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread oats and shredded coconut evenly and toast for approximately 5 minutes. Remove from oven and pour into a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
- Using a double boiler, melt together coconut oil, coconut butter, maple syrup, salt, and vanilla. Stir to combine well. Pour over oat mixture and mix thoroughly.
- Line a 9 x 9" baking pan (or one of a similar size) with parchment paper. Pour oat mixture into the pan and spread mixture out evenly. Use an additional piece of parchment paper to press the mixture down by laying parchment paper on top and pressing down with your hands or with a flat bottomed jar. Make sure to press everything down well and evenly. Place in the refrigerator and refrigerate for 20 minutes or more to allow mixture to cool.
Chocolate Layer
- While the granola bars are cooling off, combine all of the chocolate layer ingredients, except shredded coconut, in a glass bowl. Using a double boiler method melt all the ingredients together, stirring occasionally. Once mixture is uniform, remove the granola bars pan from the fridge and pour chocolate mixture on top, making sure it is evenly spread. Sprinkle with remaining shredded coconut and place back in the fridge to cool off for a few more minutes.
- When ready, remove from pan and transfer onto a baking sheet. Cut granola into squares. Store in an air-tight container, preferably in the fridge for longer freshness.
Notes
This chocolate layer comes out soft and chewy. If you prefer a harder and crunchier chocolate layer reduce the coconut oil to just 1 tbsp.
Keywords: Chocolate Coconut Vegan & Gluten-Free Granola Bars
Gabrielle says
how many does this serve ? I couldn't find it on the recipe :)
Audrey says
Hi Gabrielle. Sorry, some kind of a glitch seems to have caused the number of servings to disappear from the recipe card there. I just fixed it. The recipe makes 10 bars.
Freshteh says
I baked the bars at 350 for 20 minutes and they came out perfect. They are very tasty and nutritious. I used quinoa flakes. Thanks Audrey for a great recipe!
Audrey says
Hi Freshteh. Sorry for the delayed reply. Glad you were able to figure it out and so happy you liked the bars! :)
Freshteh says
How long do we bake the bars? Is it at 350?
Thanks,
Freshteh
Audrey says
Hi Freshteh, the bars actually don't need to be baked in this recipe. The oven is preheated to 350 just to toast the oats and coconut, which are then added to the granola layer mixture.
Becky says
Very flavorful! A new favorite recipe!
Audrey says
Thanks very much, Becky. So glad you liked them!
Create.Live.Dream says
Hey! I made these tonight and posted about it on my blog and linked to you here! Thank you so much!!
http://createlivedream.wordpress.com/2014/04/03/mmm-good/
Audrey says
Thank you! So glad you liked them and thanks for sharing your experience making them!
Audrey says
Hi Amanda. Glad to hear they turned out delicious, but too bad about them being loose. Mine were quite firm and remained firm. Their firmness comes from two main factors: one is the cooling and solidifying of the coconut oil and butter, and two is the packing the granola part down really tightly into the pan prior to baking.
Did you change any of the ingredients? If it's not due to the ingredients being different, then the only thing I can think of is maybe they weren't pressed down hard enough? I've had that experience making other granola bars before, where if you don't compact them really well (some elbow grease needed), then they can come out a bit loose. Or perhaps they needed to cool a bit longer? If they are warm when cutting them then the coconut oil/butter will not have solidified yet, so they would be a bit more loose at that stage.
In terms of troubleshooting the batch you have, I would try refrigerating them for a bit to see if they'll firm up more. Or, when all else fails with my granola bar making, I turn it into actual granola and use it as such (happened to me with this recipe, for example).
I hope this is helpful. Hard to troubleshoot from a distance... All the best with it!
Danielle H says
You mention baking. At what point do you bake the granola bars, or do you just toast the oats?
Audrey says
Hi Danielle,
Sorry, that was a typo on my part -- I meant prior to refrigerating. Hope that clears that up.
Amanda says
I made these today and mine are very loose and fall apart, not as firm as I thought. Any suggestions?
Audrey says
Hi Amanda, 2 things I can think of: they need to be pressed down really well and then chilled to hold their shape. And also the coconut oil and butter need to be mixed through the mixture well before they are put into the pan. Might be that something went amiss in one of these areas for you.
createlivedream says
Can u freeze these?
Audrey says
I haven't tried freezing them personally (they go pretty fast around here), but I don't see any reason why they wouldn't freeze nicely. If you freeze, let me know how it goes. Seems to be a common question today :)
Paula Vipond says
How many grams in a cup? I'm in UK and I do not understand cups.
Audrey says
Hi Paula. Fair question :)
1 cup oats = 85gr (so you'll need 255gr)
1 cup shredded coconut = 100gr
1/2 cup maple syrup = 164gr
1/2 cup chocolate chips = 90gr
Paula Vipond says
Thank you, I have a child with food allergies. He loves coconut
Audrey says
Hi Paula. No worries. I hope your child likes these bars. I have another very easy coconut recipe on here that you might want to check out. It's easy enough to make with kids and it's very allergy-friendly: raw coconut snowballs.
Shianne says
This looks fabulous! Have you ever tried freezing them?
Audrey says
Thanks so much, Shianne!
No, unfortunately I didn't try freezing these, but I did keep them in the fridge. I have a feeling they'd freeze nicely though.
Linda says
For some reason your post doesn't show up in Chrome browser. The photos do, but not the rest.
Audrey says
Hi Linda. Thanks for pointing it out. That's very strange. I'll investigate.
Audrey says
Hi again Linda. I just had several people check for me and they all said it's displaying fine for them in Google Chrome. They all use a mac though, so it might be a Chrome for PC problem, or it might just be that you need to do a hard refresh. Just wondering -- are you using a PC? It would help me know if I need to fix anything further. Thanks so much!
Debra @ Worth Cooking says
These look great! Love the idea of using quinoa flakes. I have never used those before, but I want to try them now.
Audrey says
Thanks so much, Debra! Yeah, I use quinoa flakes frequently as an oat substitute, especially in oat cookies, etc. It usually works really well as a substitute.