Nut and Chocolate Paleo Snack Bars

These little bites of heaven take me to my happy place. Seriously, when I bite into one I feel like I'm committing a Paleo diet crime, but I'm not! Against All Grain is a blog someone sent to me, and I was very impressed with the first recipe I tried. I have to remember that these are healthy but very rich due to the enormous nut content, so I restrain myself to 1 small bar at a time. They are really hard to resist!

To make the recipe strict Paleo, I replaced the peanut butter with almond butter, and omitted the honey. Didn't even miss it. I just happened to have Ghirardelli 60% chocolate chips chilling in my pantry, which I pressed into the bars sparingly, maybe 1 per bar.  I thought the idea of flattening the bars onto parchment paper then freezing the whole pan was GENIUS. Do you know how many batches of homemade protein bars I've painstakingly scraped off the bottom of the glass dish even after I greased the heck out of it?  This technique will improve all my future bar-making attempts!

RECIPE:
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup almond butter
2 tbsp coconut oil
2 cups raw nuts - use whatever you have on hand: almonds, walnuts, pecans, cashews
5 dates, pitted
1/4 cup sunflower seeds or pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips (optional)
dash salt

Melt the almond butter and coconut oil in a small saucepan over low heat until they can be easily whisked together. Using a food processor, chop 2 cups nuts  and dates very fine with a dash of salt. Add coconut flakes and sunflower seeds and pulse a few times to mix in.  Add the melted nut butter mixture to the processed nut mixture and mix until well combined. Line a 8x8 or 9x9 pan with parchment paper and pour mixture into pan. Use another piece of parchment paper or plastic wrap to mash bars down flat. Press in chocolate chips. Stick in freezer for 30 minutes. Once frozen, lift out of pan and peel off parchment paper, then cut into small bars with a sharp knife. Store in freezer (my favorite!) or fridge and try not to eat the whole batch in one day!