Homemade Candy Bars: Dates, nuts, and more healthy goodies combine to create these low sugar candy bars; high in protein and ridiculously delicious!
Healthy Candy Bars
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The only sugar in this recipe comes from the chocolate. So you can control how much you are using.
These delicious homemade candy bars are the perfect way to curb those treat cravings! They are easy to make and easy to switch the recipe up to fit any preferences. Recipe for healthy candy alternatives low in sugar and high in flavor.
The Most Healthy Chocolate
Dear Readers, y’all know I love love love me some chocolate! So of course I use chocolate in my candy bars. Here’s the thing though…
Chocolate isn’t all that bad! In fact, depending on what you’re using, it can even be healthy for you.
In this healthy candy bars recipe you can choose which chocolate to use. Keep in mind that the dates and maple syrup make this bar plenty sweet so you can choose a lower sugar chocolate and still have a sweet treat.
Chocolate with a higher cocoa percentage is usually lower in sugar. For the healthiest dark chocolate, use one that contains a cocoa percentage of 70% or higher, which isn’t just low in sugar, but also provides more antioxidants and health benefits.
Chocolate’s Effects on your Mood
Y’all I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but I recently got divorced. This was the hardest decision I ever made, in fact it took me three years to make. Ultimately it was a healthy decision. However, following the divorce I started spiraling into a depression.
With this family loss, I lost my appetite. It was replaced by grief & stress. I dropped 16 pounds in a month. So much had happened, so much shock, so many world rocking discoveries & changes. So much PAIN…⠀
The Divorce Diet⠀
This happens when someone is in trauma. They call it the “divorce diet” and I was on it. Try as I might- I couldn’t keep down solids. Many nights I spent on my bathroom floor crying so hard I was puking & unable to get up.⠀
Then morning came & I had to woman-up because I had a job to do & kiddos depending on me. I learned how to be strong like never before…
“Sometimes a strong woman is one who is able to smile this morning like she wasn’t crying all night.”
That was me.
I’d force myself to eat yogurts, drink chocolate milk & do whatever I could to get liquid calories even though I wasn’t the least bit hungry.⠀
People kept saying how good I looked & I kept thinking “funny, I feel like crap.” But I’d smile & say thank you.
You know what happened though? Eventually I wasn’t having to pretend as much. Eventually I was thinking “Funny, I feel pretty okay too :)”.
Fake it til you make it?
They say time is the great healer. I think that’s wrong: sometimes time doesn’t heal anything at all. I think action and sharing might be the great healer. ⠀
But time still deserves it’s spotlight because sometimes we need time before we can act. BALANCE.
One day my friend invited me over and we talked. I wasn’t so alone that day. She sent me home with a container of homemade candy bars similar to these, and for the first time in weeks I actually wanted to eat something.
Did you know chocolate in small amounts can actually be used as an antidepressant? I wasn’t aware, but there are loads of studies that show that Dark chocolate stimulates the production of endorphins that create feelings of pleasure.
Maybe I should rename these Candy Bars “Anti-depressant Candy Bars”. Haha! Just kidding, that puts WAY too much pressure on them.
But y’all, whether you’re depressed or not, these candy bars are fantastic and will put a smile on your face.
Enough talk, let’s eat!
Recipe for Healthy-ish Candy bars:
Tangled with Taste
Yields 24 Candy bars
Serves 24 Candy bars
Homemade Candy Bars: Dates, nuts, and more healthy goodies combine to create these low sugar candy bars; high in protein and ridiculously delicious!
20 minPrep Time
4 hrCook Time
4 hr, 20 Total Time
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1 2/3c Cashews
- 1 1/2c Dates
- 1/3c Almond Butter
- 1/4c Peanut Butter
- 1/3c Maple Syrup
- 1/2c Coconut Flour
- 2/3c Unsweetened Shredded Coconut
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 2 cups Dark Chocolate (chips or chunks- 70% or higher cocoa content recommended)
- 1 1/2 TBS Oil (Coconut or Vegetable)
Instructions
- In a food processor, grind the cashews to a rough meal.
- Add all other ingredients except the chocolate and the oil. Then Pulse until you have a sticky ball of dough.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment, then press the cashew mixture out over the pan to all the edges. (It helps if you get your hands wet throughout this process as the water keeps the mixture from sticking to them)
- place mixture in the freezer for 2-3 hours.
- Combine chocolate and oil in a pan over med-low-low heat and stir while it melts.
- Once just melted, pour the chocolate mixture over the cold cashew mixture and use a spatula to quickly spread it out to the edges and smooth it.
- Place the bars back in the freezer for one hour until chocolate is set.
- Grabbing the parchment paper by the edges, remove the large bars from the pan and cut to 1-3 inch candy bars.
- These will keep in a container in the freezer for up to four weeks.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Adapted from Darleen's candy Bars in "It's all Good" by Gwyneth Paltrow.
*Alternative Ingredients
This recipe is very versatile. Other ideas include:
- If you’re not a fan of peanut butter then use all almond butter.
- If you’re unworried about sugar, then try using speculoos cookie butter.
- Cashews are my favorite nut, but you could do half the called for cashews and try alternating in pecans, peanuts, or other favorite options for the other half.
- I use a large cookie sheet and create thin bars equal in chocolate mixture verses nut mixture. However, you could also use a small pan and have more of a 2 to 1 ration on the nut mixture vs chocolate.
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