Dark Chocolate Pecan Cookie Bars
on Nov 05, 2018, Updated Apr 11, 2024
These Dark Chocolate Pecan Cookie Bars recipe are gluten free and dairy free. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for a mouthwatering dessert.
These dark chocolate pecan bars are thick and chewy, ultra chocolatey, and totally gluten free thanks to delicious and versatile pecans.
They also happen to be one of my favorite vegetarian thanksgiving recipes!
Cookie bars at Thanksgiving might seem like an untraditional choice, but they are a tradition for us.
It’s a fun tradition alongside the other pecan must haves like pecan pie and pecan cream pie.
How to make dark chocolate pecan cookie bars
Step 1: beat the almond butter, melted coconut oil, brown sugar, honey, and vanilla until well combined. Add eggs and beat well.
Step 2: Add 1 ½ cups of pecan pieces to a blender or food processor and grind into flour.
Step 3: In a separate bowl, add pecan flour, baking soda, salt, and coconut flour and whisk to combine.
Step 4: Add the dry ingredients to the wet, beating until combined. Fold in 1 cup of pecan pieces and the chocolate chunks.
Step 5: Grease an 8 by 8 dish and press batter evenly into the pan using a rubber spatula (it will be thick).
Step 6: Bake at 350 degrees for 15-17 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Serve warm, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
If you love the flavor of nutty pecans mixed with rich chocolate, you will love these!
These cookie bars are an indulgent treat to enjoy year round, but especially during the holidays.
The ultimate pecan lover’s dessert.
I used an entire bag of chocolate chips for extra chocolatey goodness.
I used my gluten free chocolate chip cookie bars as the inspiration for this recipe.
Once I made those, I knew that it was possible to make chewy decadent cookie bars without any wheat.
The secret? A combination of nut butter and gluten free flour (or in this case – pecan flour.)
The nut butter helps make these extra soft and moist without the use of excessive oil.
In fact, there is barely any oil at all in this recipe!
Dark Chocolate Pecan Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup creamy almond butter
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon coconut oil, melted
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups pecan pieces, ground into flour
- ⅓ cup coconut flour
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 10 oz dairy free dark chocolate chunks
- 1 cup pecan pieces
Instructions
- Beat almond butter, melted coconut oil, brown sugar, honey, and vanilla until well combined
- Add eggs and beat well
- Add 1 ½ cups of pecan pieces to a blender or food processor and grind into flour
- In a separate bowl, add pecan flour, baking soda, salt, and coconut flour and whisk to combine
- Add dry mixture to the wet, beating until combined
- Fold in 1 cup of pecan pieces and the chocolate chunks
- Grease an 8 by 8 dish and press batter evenly into the pan using a rubber spatula (it will be thick)
- Bake at 350 degrees for 15-17 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream
If I’m using almond flour instead of making pecan flour, is it still 1.5 C? Also using an egg substitute to make these vegan.
How should I store these overnight? Fridge? Counter? Freezer?
Fridge for best freshness, but in an airtight container countertop would probably be fine also.
These are so yummy, and decadent. As much as I love anything with chocolate in it, and could eat it all day long, these were very rich, and I could only eat one at a time ☹️ The upside is, they lasted longer that way . Thank you for the recipe, , it is something I will definitely be making again, and maybe share with friends…maybe
I made these and they are delicious but just a recommendation, you should mention in the recipe to use dairy free dark chocolate. Some brands that make dark chocolate morsels have milk in the ingredients.
I will make sure that it does, thanks!
Lillian, thank you so much for pointing out the milk content in most chocolate chips. I get severe nerve pain from eating even the smallest amount of milk – like what is in regular chocolate candy or chocolate chips.
Do you have any tips on how I could incorporate coconut in this recipe?
You could add some shredded coconut flakes and it should work!
I made these last Thanksgiving and everyone loved them!