The chocolate in these homemade crunch bars is soft and melt-in-your-mouth, the crunch is interesting and healthy - using granola or puff cereal or quinoa, and put it together with 3-ingredients in minutes!
Chocolate Homemade Crunch Bars (3-ingredients, vegan)
Chocolate homemade crunch bars with the crunch folded into a fudgy chocolate. Melt in your mouth magic.
However, this isn't just any fudgy chocolate. This is a fudgy chocolate made of high quality dark chocolate with super healthy whole grains, or toasted quinoa, or rice puffs, or your favorite granola folded in. This recipe spells opportunity. Fudge for breakfast?
Ok, well, maybe not entirely. But still super healthy. Partly because of the chocolate, partly because of the cereal and a few other things.
How Healthy is Chocolate?
Dark chocolate is rich in nutrients including fiber, iron, magnesium and copper. And it is considered one of the best sources of antioxidants - right up there with blueberries. Cacao is made from the seed of the cocoa tree. So this is all pretty cool for a seed.
Studies show dark chocolate can improve your overall health and support your heart health. To get these benefits, you need to use true dark chocolate with 70% cacao or higher. Some quality brands I know of include Hu, Enjoy Life and Theo Chocolate.
Boutique chocolate however, can get pretty pricy. So I turn sometimes to quality main-stream brands including Lindt and Ghiradelli. Choose the flavor carefully however, regarding Lindt and Ghiradelli, not all bars are dairy-free.
I especially love that a single bar (3.5oz) provides 70% daily requirement of iron and 60% of mood-boosting magnesium!
This recipe also includes nut butter which gives you healthy fats and fiber. And the puffed grains or oats or granola you choose provide fiber and other essential vitamins and minerals. And all put together in minutes. Minutes people! And only 3 ingredients.
So I'd say this recipe is a big win-win for team chocolate!
Why These Homemade Crunch Bars Are So Good
1. The bars are full of fiber and magnesium, as well as antioxidants.
2. These bars are melt-in-your-mouth fudgy, thanks to the addition of nut butter to the chocolate.
3. This recipe has only 3-ingredients, so the bars are super easy to make, and make quickly!
4. Also, these little treats are vegan, paleo, dairy-free, and refined-sugar free.
Tips to Make These Chocolate Crunch Bars
While it’s really very easy to make these vegan chocolate bars, here are few suggestions to make the process go flawlessly.
- Melt your nut butter in the microwave for 15 seconds to make it easier to stir up. Stir it up in the jar to be sure oils are more incorporated. My favorite runny brand to use is Whole Food's 365 brand. Be sure to use a nut butter that has only nuts, of course. No sugars.
- Use sunflower butter if you want to keep this recipe free of nuts.
- Choose your crunch wisely! I have used puffed rice, puffed amaranth, toasted quinoa, healthy cereals like Kasha or Smart Bran. And of course, a granola is a perfect option. Be sure not to use something that might become soggy, like rolled oats.
- When it is time to slice squares, dip your knife in a pot of boiling water, wipe it off and make a single cut. Repeat until you have cut all squares.
If you like easy chocolate desserts, you will love my chocolate protein bars recipe and how-to as well as my recipe for Chocolate Carmel Cakes. It has a bit longer ingredient list, and but so delicious and nutritious!
And the 2 easiest recipes on the planet:
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Chocolate Homemade Crunch Bars (3-ingredients, dairy-free, vegan)
Ingredients
- ½ cup cashew butter (I have also used WholeFoods 365 brand cashew butter)
- OR use sunflower seed butter to make it nut-free (I use this brand)
- 1 ¼ cup dark chocolate chips
- ¾ cup puffed whole grains (You can use puffed rice or amaranth, or use a vegan wholesome puffed cereal, OR as I said in the post, oats or granola also work, just makes the recipe a bit different) (I used this vegan brand in this recipe)
Instructions
Prep
- Line a 6-inch square container with parchment.
Make the bars
- Put the nut butter and chocolate chips in a pot or glass measuring cup, and then put that into a pan with hot-to-boiling water. Don't let any water splash into your fudge!
- Melt both, swirling together with a spoon.
- When fully blended, fold in the puffed cereal.
- Pour mixture into parchment-lined container.
- You can sprinkle options on top or leave plain.
- Refrigerate for at least 1 hour to allow it to set, and slice! Enjoy!
Nutrition
Dee Dine is founder of Green Smoothie Gourmet, a plant based recipe blog, and author of the recent cookbook, Crazy Healthy with 4 Ingredients and another immunity-boosting smoothie shot book, 4-Ingredient Smoothies + Juices , due out in January 2021. On this blog you'll find incredibly easy recipes with hidden veggies for anyone wanting to eat healthier, regardless of diet. Dee has graduate degrees in sciences and journalism, editor at The Feedfeed and a nutritional expert at WikiHow. More about Dee Dine here.
Anna
Made these today at work and they're SO good. They were devoured! 😊
Dee Dine
That's the best news Anna, thanks for telling me!
Ela
These bars made me stop breathing for a few seconds because they look out of this world! 😍😍😍 Such a wonderful and easy recipe, Dee. ❤
Debbie
Haha, Ela, what a super nice compliment! I've been eating them all day! Thanks for stopping by! Dee xx
Jess @choosingchia
These look AMAZING dee! Love how healthy they are too!
Debbie
Thank you Jess, I am so happy you love them! Take care, Dee xx
Natalie
These bars look and sound so delicious! Perfect treat to make with kids!
Debbie
Natalie, thank you so much! I agree, so easy to make with them! Dee xx