You guys! What’s better than cookie bars?

Cookie bars made with real, whole food ingredients, zero refined sugars, zero artificial anything, and plenty of whole food goodness. These (Paleo, gluten-free, and vegan-friendly) almond butter cookie bars are sure to become one of your new favorite sweets!

All things Almond Butter.

I have been craaaaving almond butter like no other lately and have been adding it to smoothies, yogurt, on top of sliced apples with cinnamon, and in all of the baking recipes.

I found that almond butter works perfectly in these cookie bars: they provide a delicious texture and give an amazing, subtly sweet flavor too! I’m a huge fan of jars of almond butter made without any refined sugars or oils; because almond butter doesn’t need all that! Some of my favorite jars are Wild Friend’s creamy almond butter, the creamy almond butter from CostCo (which you can also get on Amazon – game-changing), and the creamy almond butter from Whole Foods Market.

When buying almond butter, it’s important to pay attention to the ingredient list to check out the before-mentioned added sugars and oils. Almond butter (as well as peanut/cashew/walnut/pecan/etc.) should only have one ingredient: almonds; in the case of almond butter. Of course, the addition of a little sea salt or maybe some additional goodness (coconut, spices, and other real food ingredients), never hurt. Just make sure that when you’re looking for a classic jar of nut butter, you go with the one that has just one ingredient.

Along with being delicious, almond butter is a total superfood. Almonds and almond butter are rich in fiber, protein, monounsaturated fats, vitamin E, manganese, magnesium, B vitamins, and copper. Numerous clinical studies have shown that almonds contain potent antioxidants to reduce free radical damage, stabilize blood sugar, and lower ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol.

Almond butter + miniature dark chocolate chips + almond flour = sweet and nourishing cookie bars!

Almond Butter Cookie Bars

Yields 9-16 bars (depending on how you cut ‘em!)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup creamy almond butter
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 egg, or flax egg to make vegan
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1 cup finely ground almond flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup miniature dark chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a 8×8 baking dish with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Combine the wet ingredients: creamy almond butter, coconut oil, egg or flax egg, and vanilla. Stir well to combine.
3. In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients: cinnamon, sea salt, almond flour, and baking soda. Mix well.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir well. The dough should be thick and sticky. Stir in dark chocolate chips.
5. Bake cookie bars for 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and cookie bars are golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool completely before removing from dish. Cut into even sized squares and dig in!
6. Cookie bars will keep in an airtight container for 3-5 days. I store mine in the refrigerator because I like them cold! :)

Notes:

-Feel free to swap out the almond butter for another nut butter of choice. Cashew and peanut would make delicious swaps in this cookie bar recipe.
-No mini chips? No problem! Swap with a chopped up dark chocolate bar or regular sized chocolate chips! I love using dark, dark chocolate in this recipe, but feel free to use your fave.
-This recipes contains affiliate links – thank you for supporting VK!
-This recipe is lightly adapted from Bakerita’s Paleo Chocolate Chip Blondies recipe!