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Chocolate Oat Bars inspired by the rich and aromatic flavors of Mexican café de olla. Made from a mixture of rolled oats, applesauce, nut butter, maple syrup, semi-sweet chocolate, and a few other ingredients for the best breakfast treat or healthy snack!
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These chocolate oat bars are the perfect gluten free breakfast and tasty snack!
Made with rolled oats, applesauce, a bit of maple syrup for some sweetness, semi-sweet chocolate, and a special Café de Olla nut butter, these bars are a quick and easy breakfast or snack option. Not only are they gluten-free, but they’re also free of refined sugars, making them a great option for anyone looking to eat a little more healthily.
The Inspiration
The inspiration for this recipe came from this Café de Olla Nut Butter that I just launched in collaboration with Ground Up!
The nut butter has a wonderfully aromatic and complex coffee flavor thanks to the cinnamon, cloves, and star anise that are blended throughout. It’s sweetened with coconut sugar and made from a base of almonds and cashews, giving it a really great texture, too!
Here’s where to get it:
- Availability: The Café de Olla Nut Butter is only available for a limited time! We only have a batch of 1,800 jars to sell, so when they’re gone, they’re gone for good!
- Where to buy it: You can purchase a jar at the Ground Up website.
- Discount code: Get 15% off your purchase by using the code ‘isabeleats15′ at checkout!
What You’ll Need
- Oats: You’ll need old fashioned rolled oats, not quick-cooking oats.
- Café de Olla Nut Butter: Adds that wonderful café de olla inspired flavor! If you can’t get your hands on this particular nut butter, you can use your favorite creamy all-natural almond butter instead.
- Spices: Ground cinnamon and cloves.
- Applesauce: Gives the bars a fluffy and moist texture as well as a little added nutritional boost!
- Maple syrup: For a little added sweetness.
- Eggs: Used as a binder for all the ingredients. I haven’t tested this recipe without eggs, so I’m not sure if using flax eggs would work.
- Vanilla extract: For added flavor.
- Chocolate chunks: I used semi-sweet chocolate chunks that I roughly chopped, but you could also use chocolate chips or even mini chips. Whatever you have will work!
How to Make Chocolate Oat Bars
First, blend half of the oats in a blender or food processor until it resembles a flour and is fairly smooth. It doesn’t have to be super fine or 100 percent ground, but try to get rid of any whole oats.
Then, mix that into a large bowl with the remaining whole oats and the rest of the dry ingredients – baking powder, ground cinnamon, and ground cloves.
Next, mix together all the wet ingredients – the nut butter, unsweetened applesauce, maple syrup, eggs, and vanilla extract – before combining it with the dry ingredients.
Fold 2/3 of the chocolate chunks into the batter, pour everything into a square 8×8 baking dish lined with parchment paper, and top with the remaining chocolate chunks.
Bake for 30 minutes at 350°F or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bars comes out clean, and let cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing and eating!
Tips and Substitutions
- Nut butter: Don’t have café de olla nut butter? You can use any creamy all-natural almond butter instead.
- Chocolate: I used semi-sweet chocolate chunks that I roughly chopped for a rustic texture, but you can also use regular chocolate chips or mini chocolate chips instead. Whatever chocolate you have is great!
- Espresso powder: If you aren’t using the café de olla nut butter but want to make sure you have that Mexican coffee flavor throughout, mix in a teaspoon of espresso powder into the dry ingredients.
- Healthier option: If you’re wanting to make this a little healthier and less on the dessert end of the spectrum, only mix in 1/3 cup of chocolate chunks into the batter and top the finished bars with a very light dusting of powdered sugar.
I hope you love this recipe as much as I do!
If you purchase a jar of my limited edition Café de Olla Nut Butter, I would love it if you would leave a comment below and let me know! Thank you so much for all your support.
Café de Olla Chocolate Oat Bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups rolled oats, divided
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch ground cloves
- 1 cup Café de Olla Nut Butter
- 4 ounces unsweetened applesauce
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks, roughly chopped, divided
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8×8 baking dish with parchment paper and set aside.
- Add 1 cup of rolled oats to a food processor or blender and blend until fairly smooth so that it resembles flour.
- Transfer the oat flour to a medium bowl and add in the remaining 1 cup of rolled oats, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and ground cloves. Stir to combine.
- In a large bowl, add the Café de Olla nut butter, applesauce, maple syrup, eggs, and vanilla extract. Whisk until fully combined.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and fold together until fully combined.
- Add in ½ cup of the semi-sweet chocolate chunks and fold them into the batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and top with the remaining ¼ cup of chocolate chunks. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing.
Video
Notes
- Discount code: Get 15% off your purchase of my Café de Olla Nut Butter by using the code ‘isabeleats‘ at checkout!
- Nut butter: Don’t have Café de Olla Nut Butter? You can use any creamy all-natural almond butter instead.
- Chocolate: I used semi-sweet chocolate chunks that I roughly chopped for a rustic texture, but you can also use regular chocolate chips or mini chocolate chips instead. Whatever chocolate you have is great!
- Espresso powder: If you aren’t using the café de olla nut butter but want to make sure you have that Mexican coffee flavor throughout, mix in a teaspoon of espresso powder into the dry ingredients.
- Healthier option: If you’re wanting to make this a little healthier and less on the dessert end of the spectrum, only mix in 1/3 cup of chocolate chunks into the batter and top the cooled bars with a very light dusting of powdered sugar.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi, Isabel just wanted to say that ordered the cafe de olla nut butter on Tuesday I am sure it will a taste great !