Easy Almond Butter Cup Bars

These almond butter cup bars are rich, fudgy and the perfect sweet treat to try making when you’re looking for a no-fuss recipe.

Made with just a handful of ingredients and some kitchen time, these almond butter cup bars have the right balance of crumbliness and creaminess. These bars have three layers and look absolutely stunning, and if you’re intimidated by how beautiful they look, don’t be- they are actually really easy to make too.

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Ingredients For the Recipe
Kitchen Tools Needed
How to Make the Almond Butter Cup Bars
Frequently Asked Questions
Tips to Make the Almond Butter Cup Bars
Recipe
Discussion

Plus, you can make them in a nice batch and store some for later too. Ready to dive right into the recipe? Scroll down and keep reading to discover more about the recipe.

Ingredients For the Recipe

You’ll need three sets of ingredients to make these almond butter cup bars.

Crust:

1 ½ cups raw or roasted almonds or walnuts
¼ cup cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup packed dates

Almond layer:

1 cup almond butter
1 tablespoon maple syrup
Pinch sea salt

Ganache:

1 ¼ cup dark chocolate
7 tablespoon light coconut milk
1 tablespoon coconut oil

Kitchen Tools Needed

How to Make the Almond Butter Cup Bars

Once you have all your ingredients ready, here’s what you’ll need to do to make the bars.

crush almonds, cocoa and salt in food processor

For the crust place the cocoa, salt, and almonds in a food processor.

Process until you get crumbs.

Pour the mixture into another bowl and add the dates to the processor.

add both the mixture into a food processor

Blend the dates until you get small pieces and pour the almond mixture back into the processor.

Process until you get a dough.

place the mixture on to the mold over baking paper as the base layer

Place the dough in a bowl or pan lined with baking paper.

add maple syrup, salt, sugar and almond butter in to the bowl and mix well

For the almond layer, add the maple syrup, salt, and almond butter into a bowl and stir until all the ingredients are incorporated together.

Place this layer over the first one and smooth it on the top using baking paper.

Place in the fridge until you create the ganache.

For the ganache, cut the chocolate into small pieces and place it in a big bowl.

add coconut milk, coconut oil and mix it with the chocolate pieces

Microwave the coconut milk and coconut oil and pour the warm mixture over the chocolate chunks.

Stir until the chocolate melts. If you choose to use the stovetop for this step, just place all the ingredients in a pot and cook on medium heat until the chocolate is melted.

Pour the ganache over the top of the almond layer.

pour the mixture over the second layer and let it freeze

Put it back in the fridge for 5-10 minutes and it’s ready to be served.

cut the Almond Butter Cup Bars into pieces and serve it with almonds and fresh blue berries

Frequently Asked Questions

What Can I Use Instead of Dates?

Dates are the best choice for this recipe since they act as glue and help hold the other ingredients together. They are also naturally sweet, and incredibly healthy- you can use them with pretty much any other ingredient you’re thinking of adding to your almond butter cup bars.
If you don’t have dates or just don’t want to use them, you could use prunes or dried figs instead. Remember that the texture of either of these ingredients will not be the same as that of the processed dates, which means you will need to tweak the number of other ingredients you are adding in to get the mixture to have the right texture.

What Other Sweetener Can I Use?

While this recipe calls for the use of maple syrup, you don’t necessarily have to stick to it. You could use honey, agave syrup, or even some stevia. To lend these almond butter cup bars an extra depth of flavor, you could also use brown sugar as a sweetener.

Can I Replicate the Recipe with Another Nut?

You definitely can! You could swap the almond butter in the ingredients with the nut butter of your choice- peanut butter and cashew butter are two excellent choices. And of course, you’ll need to use peanuts or cashews for the crust, depending on the kind of nut butter you are using.
You could also just skip the almond butter, and use any seed butter instead.

Can I Store the Leftovers For Later?

You definitely can! Just transfer the bars into an airtight container and refrigerate them for as long as a week. If you want to store them beyond that, you can space them out in a freezer-safe container and freeze them for up to 3 months. Just remember to allow them to thaw and come to room temperature before you serve them so that you get the chance to relish these bars with their original texture.

Tips to Make the Almond Butter Cup Bars

All set and ready to give this delicious recipe a shot? You might want to keep these little tips in mind before you do!

A piece of Easy Almond Butter Cup Bars on a tray

When preparing the ganache, make sure you add the coconut oil- it is actually what helps firm up the layer. If you don’t have coconut oil, you can use melted chocolate chips instead of compound chocolate, since chocolate chips do have some added oil to keep them solid, which is exactly what you need.
If you are concerned about the coconut flavor the oil will bring into the mix, use refined coconut oil- it practically doesn’t have any strong smell, and the flavors of the other ingredients will still shine through.
You could use chunky or creamy almond butter for this recipe- it all depends on your personal preference. If your almond mixture seems too runny, you can thicken it up by adding a bit of almond flour or almond meal into it.
Remember to allow these bars enough time to chill in the refrigerator for them to set well so that you can cut them into those perfect-looking bars.
If you’re making these in a hurry and are looking to firm them up quickly, you can pop them in the freezer for a few minutes for a quick chill.

Enjoyed making these almond butter cup bars? Looking for some more similar sweet treats to try your hands at? Here are some no-fuss recipes you might want to check out.

Recipe

Yield: 12 Bars