Chocolate cherry quinoa bars

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This blog first appeared in A Life Delicious.

These Chocolate Cherry Quinoa Bars come together with ingredients like almonds, walnuts and quinoa, and are sweetened with maple syrup. I then top them with dark chocolate and tart, dry cherries. These bars are easy to make, are nice and filling, and will become a snack that you will want to have on hand.

Recipe Features:

  • Healthy & delicious
  • Dairy-free
  • Chocolate that is vegan, organic and paleo
  • Quick & easy
  • Loads of great flavor

 

Ingredient Notes For These Chocolate Cherry Quinoa Bars:

  • Seeds – All I had on hand at the time were sunflower seeds, but pumpkin seeds will work great as well here.
  • Sweetener – For this recipe I use maple syrup. However, you can use honey if you like. To keep it truly vegan, though, maple syrup is the way to go.
  • Coconut Oil – The specific brand I use is shown below. If you try this brand, just be aware that you do not want to microwave this oil. What you want to do is soak the pouch in warm or hot water and then knead it well. Doing this will get it to the liquid state that you need.
  • Chocolate – Any dark chocolate will do, but I do recommend that you try the HU Kitchen brand I use for this recipe. It is absolutely delicious! And it contains no dairy or refined sugar. It is made with just three ingredients.
    • I use one heaping cup of this chocolate for the recipe. But, if you want a bit more chocolate, I would go up to a full 12 oz instead of 8 oz.
  • Dried Cherries – I use unsweetened cherries, but you can use sweet or unsweet. I just like to control how much sugar is going into my goodies whenever possible.

Recipe | Chocolate cherry quinoa bars

Ingredients

For the bar:

  • 1/3 cup Almonds, unsalted, roughly chopped
  • 1/3 cup Walnuts, roughly chopped
  • 1/4 cup Sunflower Seeds, roughly chopped
  • 1/4 cup Badia Trilogy Health Seeds: Flax, Chia, Hemp
  • 1 cup Ancient Harvest Traditional Organic White Quinoa
  • 1/3 cup Maple Syrup or Honey
  • Fine Sea Salt, just a pinch
  • 1 tbsp Nutiva Squeezable Organic Coconut Oil

 

For the chocolate topping

  • 1 cup HU Snacking & Baking Dark Chocolate Gems
  • 1 tbsp Nutiva Squeezable Organic Coconut Oil
  • 3 tbsp Dried Red Cherries, unsweetened, roughly chopped

 

Instructions

  1. Baking sheet: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Make the bar: In a large bowl, combine all bar ingredients and stir until well combined.
  3. Form the bar: Place onto the prepared baking sheet, and spread a large piece of plastic wrap over the top. Use a rolling pin to spread the bar out to a 1/2 inch thickness.
  4. Bake: Remove plastic wrap from bar and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the bar turns a nice golden brown. Allow to cool slightly while you melt the chocolate.
  5. Prep the chocolate: In a double boiler, melt the chocolate and coconut oil. Spread evenly over the cooked quinoa bar.
  6. Let it cool: Allow to cool for 5 minutes before topping with the cherries.
  7. Cut into bars: Place in the freezer for 30 minutes, then remove and cut into bars.

For more snack options, you can give these a try: