Chocolate and Coconut + 6 = Easy~Quick~Yummy
These delicious Pistachio Oat Cookie Bar Squares can easily be made vegan and gluten-free and are so pretty! Plus super quick and easy to make with only 8 ingredients including chocolate and coconut. They’re quite different from your typical holiday cookie, and yes they do stand out in a cookie crowd! Extra bonus they’re much healthier than your typical holiday cookie, but believe me no one will taste them and be disappointed. Let’s talk about that…
Pistachios are among the highest protein and lowest-calorie nut
These squares are adapted from a recipe in Jessica Murname’s wonderful book titled “One Part Plant”. Raw pistachios and oats are the main ingredients. Did you know pistachios are one of the most Vitamin B-6 rich foods around? Vitamin B-6 is helpful for blood sugar regulation and formation of hemoglobin. They’re also a good source of potassium and antioxidants, are among the highest protein and lowest-calorie nut, and their essential amino acid content is higher than any other nut–one of them being L-arginine which converts to nitric oxide in our body. Nitric oxide helps our vessels dilate improving blood flow.
Oats have a number of health benefits but the one we hear about most is fiber. Oats are a whole grain food high in soluble fiber that can help reduce LDL and total cholesterol levels.
Put some out for the big jolly guy in the red suit!
These remind me a little of the Magic Cookie Bars I made with my sisters as a kid. When I first made these Pistachio Oat Cookie Bar Squares I didn’t use the chocolate drizzle, but with the first bite my mouth said, “Where’s the chocolate?”
To store I cut parchment paper and lay between the layers. Whip up a batch for the big jolly guy in the red suit and you just might get something extra under the tree!
Pistachio Oat Cookie Bar Squares
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw shelled pistachios
- 1 cup rolled oats*
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 2 tbsps olive oil
- 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
- 1/3 cup shelled pistachios, roasted and salted roughly chopped
- 2/3 cup dark chocolate chips**
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line a 9-inch square pan with parchment paper, leaving “wings” for lifting the baked squares out of the pan.
- In a food processor with S blade attached, add the raw pistachios, oats and salt and process for about 30 seconds (until a meal starts to form). Drizzle in the maple syrup and olive oil while the motor is still running and the meal becomes a crumbly, almost wet dough.
- Press the dough evenly into the pan, then cover it with the coconut and chopped pistachios, pressing gently into the dough.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the coconut is nice and golden and the dough is cooked through. The squares should be a little soft–do not over-bake.
- Carefully lift the cooled dough out of the pan by holding two sides of the parchment paper. Cut into squares.
- In a microwave or double boiler, heat the chocolate chips until just melted (don’t allow to get too hot or it won’t harden later). Scoop the chocolate into a piping bag or plastic bag (snip the corner). Drizzle chocolate over squares.
- Refrigerate the squares until the chocolate hardens. Store the squares in a sealed container for up to a week.
Notes
Fix it! Plan Photos by: Bill Peterson Galleries 
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