Coconut Cookie Butter Bars

Coconut Cookie Butter Bars

We're finally getting settled into our new place in Long Beach, and totally loving it. We have both a Trader Joe's and a Jamba Juice within walking distance (melt my heart!), and have gotten back to our daily runs, which is great for both my rear end and Maddie's. Alex and I have been dating almost 5 years (holy cow!) and this is our first place we've lived just the two of us. And seriously, we're loving it. I finally don't feel guilty about setting up a food shoot on the counter and not picking it up for hours, or for filling the fridge with vegan goodies and crowding out my roommates food stores. This is gonna be a great move for us. And to celebrate our first new recipe in our new kitchen, I got a little splurgy. This sweet treat is a celebration of independence and deliciousness, of new beginnings and late night snacking- and man, it is good. But I won't lie, its a dessert you may want to eat in moderation. Its rich, fudgy, and filled with crunchy, sweet cookie butter...perfect for celebrating, and even better when shared with your significant other.

Before we go any further, a couple quick notes:
1) We used Trader Joe's brand crunchy speculoos cookie butter, which is NOT gluten-free. In our recipe, we offer both a GF and regular flour mixture as options, but to keep this recipe totally gluten-free, try making your own cookie butter from Foodie Fiasco's tried and true recipe.
2) This recipe is a little time consuming, with all the refrigeration. To make it easier on yourself, cook the base the night before, and prep the rest in the morning when the cake has had all night to set.
3) This is a seriously decadent dessert. We cut our bars into about 12 large squares, but each time we eat one, Alex and I end up splitting it, so feel free to cut these into much smaller-even bite sized- pieces.

Ingredients:
Sugar Cookie Layer:
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour OR gluten-free all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon xantham gum (only if using GF flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups organic sugar (we used coconut sugar, which is why our batter is slightly browner than usual)
1 cup coconut oil or vegan butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 mashed, ripe bananas (medium sized)
1/2 cup shredded coconut

Cookie Butter Layer:
1/2 cup coconut oil or vegan butter
1 cup cookie butter

Chocolate Layer:
1/2 cup coconut oil or vegan butter
1 cup chocolate chips or chopped bar chocolate

Directions:
Sugar Cookie Layer:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine flour, xantham (if using), baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a stand mixer, beat together sugar and coconut oil (or butter) until whipped, about 1 full minute on high speed. Add in vanilla and bananas, and continue to mix until combined. Add in dry ingredients and mix again, until a batter forms. Toss in shredded coconut and mix one last time to distribute it throughout the batter. Pour batter into a greased or lined 8x8 glass baking dish (for thinner bars, feel free to use a 9x13 inch pan), and bake for 30 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes clean. When finished, let cool on the counter for at least an hour (but up to overnight), or in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to set. While cooling, make cookie butter mixture.

Cookie Butter Layer:
In a small saucepan, combine the coconut oil or vegan butter and cookie butter over low heat. Stir frequently, until mixture melts together, then promptly remove from heat and let cool and thicken. Once thickened to the consistency of slightly thinned cookie butter, pour/ spread mixture over cooled cookie base. Immediately store in the fridge or freezer, to set cookie butter layer, for about 30 minutes. While setting, begin chocolate layer.

Chocolate Layer:
In a small saucepan, combine chocolate and coconut oil or vegan butter over low heat, stirring frequently until mixture melts together. Remove from heat and pour chocolate mixture over chilled cookie butter layer, immediately placing bars back into the fridge or freezer for about 30 more minutes to set completely. 

Once the entire cake has set, remove from fridge or freezer, and cut. If frozen, allow cake to warm slightly to room temperature so the chocolate doesn't crack. Cut into 12 (or more) squares, and serve. Saves well in a covered container in the fridge for about a week, or in the freezer indefinitely. Enjoy!

print recipe