Do I have to use coffee flavored chocolate?

No, you can use any dark chocolate you want - bars or chips.

Can I swap almond butter for something else?

You can use any other nut or seed butter in place of the almond butter. It will slightly change the taste, but the recipe will still work.

The filling is super oily!?

Yes, the filling is oily. You can dab it with a paper towel after pressing it into your lined loaf pan.

Hazelnut Coffee Bars (Paleo, Vegan)

Description

Rich coffee and hazelnut bars with a no-bake filling and dark chocolate coating.

Ingredients

Scale

Filling

1 cup Medjool dates (10-12)
1/2 cup dry roasted hazelnuts
1/3 cup almond butter (no sugar, no salt)
1/4 cup cocoa powder (24g)
1 tsp instant coffee
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt

Topping

2 Tbsp dry roasted hazelnuts, chopped

Coating

2 dark chocolate Arabica coffee bars (about 2.8 oz)*

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Instructions

Line an 8x4 inch loaf pan with parchment paper and set aside.
Soak the dates in hot water for 5 minutes**
Drain the water from your dates and add them to a food processor, along with all other filling ingredients. This includes the hazelnuts, almond butter, cocoa powder, instant coffee, vanilla and salt.
Blend, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed, until the mixture starts to clump and can be pressed together to hold it's shape. This will take a couple minutes.
Place the filling mixture into your lined loaf pan. Firmly press it down using a spatula or your hands. The filling will be quite oily, so you can dab it with a paper towel to remove some of the moisture.
Add the chopped hazelnuts on top of the filling and press them down so that they stick.
Place the bars in the freezer for at least an hour to set.
Once chilled, melt the dark chocolate for the coating.
Remove the bars from the loaf pan and cut them to desired size (I cut mine into 12 pieces).
One at a time, dip the bars in the melted chocolate. Place the dipped bars on a parchment-lined baking sheet to set.
Optional: drizzle with additional chocolate and top with chopped hazelnuts.

Notes

*Another option is to use plain dark chocolate or chocolate chips. You can add a teaspoon of instant coffee to the melted chocolate if you want the bars to have more of a coffee flavor.

**To soak the dates, place the dates in a glass or ceramic bowl. You can either heat a pot of water on the stovetop and pour it over the dates until they are fully submerged. Or, pour water over the dates and then heat them in the microwave for 1 minute.