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Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie Bars: a simple vegan and gluten-free recipe for thick, chewy, super-chunky chocolate chip cookie bars.
Okay, can I see a show of hands for people who love the warm, comforting smell of cinnamon, maple syrup and chocolate all beautifully mixed together?
‘Cuz… if I could bottle this scent and carry it around with me in my purse, I would. ?
But you know, only for the really rough times. Like, for when your coworker/frenemy passive aggressively tells you your outfit is actually cute today. Or, when you realize you left the extra-special 7-layer birthday lasagna in the oven 30 minutes too long. (Well, in this case, you’d probably need to air out the kitchen first before you could smell anything but smoke…) Or, when–oh, you get the idea.
Are you sensing that baking/eating/fooding is therapeutic to me? (Yep, fooding.) Woah, did I just sense a nod of mutual agreement on your end? A-ha! I’m not the only one. 🙂
Just one whiff of this worry-melting aroma and you’re happy as a clam. That’s what these Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie Bars are all about. Once you pop these guys in the oven, the baking process just spreads this blissful scent all throughout your abode.
Bonus? They’re incredibly easy to make, full of simple ingredients and sweet-tooth nourishing. Yep, nourishing. P.S. If you’re looking for a sugar-free cookie bar, try this totally droolworthy Magic Cookie Bars recipe from All Day I Dream About Food. To make then vegan, use vegan butter, vegan chocolate chips and coconut condensed milk. And enjoy!
Check it out, these Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie Bars are…
- quick and easy to make
- super chunky, with generous portions of walnuts and chocolate chips
- vegan and gluten free
- perfectly sweet, with a light cinnamon kick
- thick, chewy and deliciously satisfying
The best part is, this recipe and I go waaay back. It was one of the first recipes I ever tried that was made from better ingredients (i.e., not ingredients referred to as Those That Shall Not Be Named). Back then, I was putting all my efforts into making something healthier for my mom and just trying to figure out the difference between good calories and bad calories. *Sigh* Cue The Barbra belting out “Memories… like (light?!?) the corners of my mind!!!!”
Anyway, years later, I’m a little less clueless about the whole Good vs. Bad ingredients business, and this recipe still kicks butt. At least according to my mom.
So before you even think about figuring out how to bottle this scent, make these Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie Bars first. Don’t worry, we can figure out the scent as a team (and sing like it’s the last thing we’ll do on this earth). After all, us weirdos have got to stick together! 😉
In the meantime, let’s make some more gluten free treats! I’m particularly drooling over these Gluten Free Sugar Cookie Bars from Flippin’ Delicious. They look soooo yummy and my friend Brianna (the genius blogger behind Flippin’ Delicious) even included vegan options in the recipe! Woohoo! Next up, I’m gonna be making my Gluten Free Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and my Easy Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies. 🙂
More Gluten Free Vegan Cookies & Desserts: Best Moist Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe, Almond Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, Easy Gluten Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies.
chocolate chip walnut cookie bars - vegan, gluten-free
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
- 3 tablespoons unsalted, natural nut butter
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Dry Ingredients
- 1 cup gluten-free rolled oats
- ¼ cup gluten-free oat flour
- 2 tablespoons ground flax
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ cup chopped walnuts
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Add-in Ingredients
- 1/3 cup vegan chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper or greased foil. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: coconut oil, nut butter, maple syrup, sugar and vanilla.
- In a large bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients: oats, flour, flax, cinnamon, walnuts and salt.
- Pour the wet mixture over the dry mixture. Stir together until well-incorporated. I like to fold the mixture together with a rubber spatula. Fold in chocolate chips.
- Pour this mixture into your baking pan. Using a rubber spatula, spread into an even layer.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes. Keep in mind that the bars will harden as they cool.
- Allow to cool on a cooling rack. Slice into 16 bars. Enjoy!
Notes
- You can easily swap out the nuts for another ingredient, like cacao nibs or dried fruit. 🙂
- Adapted from Oh She Glows.
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Try my Healthier Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies. I mean, can you really resist these?
And for my fellow chocoholics out there, try my Double Chocolate Chip Coconut Cookies (Vegan) They’re out of this world. ? ?
Question of the Day
What’s your favorite kitchen scent?
I can’t wait to hear your responses. ❤ demeter
I’m just waiting for that stack of deliciousness tipping my way! They look amazing.
Nice! 😉 Let me nudge some in your direction. Thanks Julie! 🙂
I love how these bars are chock full of healthified ingredients! Walnuts and chocolate are my love language. Making these straightaway after I get home from vacation as my first comfort food. Food in bar form is the best. Maybe I’ll just steal a few of yours!
It’s the good stuff, Laura! 😉 Let me know if you end up making them–it would make my day! Come on over and I’ll bake ya a whole tray. 🙂 Enjoy you vacay!! (Omigosh… did that whole thing just rhyme? *blushing*). xoxo
Oooo these make me want to be fooding hard! 😉 Now I’m inspired and ready to do some therapeutic baking this weekend…making it the same as every weekend…ha!
Haha! Let’s do fooding together! If we stand in a group, people won’t judge us. 😉 YAAS! Same here! To us, the therapeutic Fooding/Baker/Foodies! Thanks, Liz. 😉
These are just perfection, again! Your sweet treats are always so rich and luscious, love them all ♥︎
Also, I laughed so much reading about your rough times. Oh, those frenemies…. 😀
Aw, thank you so much Evi. That means a lot to me. 🙂 Rough times are so much better when we can joke about ’em, dontcha think? 😉 Thanks Evi! xoxo
Those chocolate chunks!!!! <3 LOVE that you used oat flour..it's one of my favorites!
Oat flour is the BEST! I make almost everything with it! Thanks, Jennifer. 🙂
These look really GOOD! I can practically smell and taste them through my computer screen, your photos look delicious!
Thanks so much Amanda! 🙂
Baking is definitely therapuetic for me, too! I just love being in the kitchen…it’s my happy place! And the smell of cinnamon, maple and chocolate is just heavenly. I will gladly join your team to learn how to bottle the scent! 🙂 These bars are absolutely gorgeous, Demeter! I love how thick and full of flavor these are. I wish I had a whole stack to munch on right now! Pinned!
Baking/Food/Cooking = Happiness. *happy sigh* Alright, now we’ve got a few members to this team. Let’s do this1 😉 Sending you a virtual stack. Thanks for pinning and visiting, Gayle. xoxo
Hahaha! Girl I’ll bake and bust out into song with you anytime… just beware I can’t carry a tune and I’m notorious for singing the wrong lyrics. And Fooding? Umm you need to copy-write that! I’m with you – baking/cooking/eating is all seriously therapeutic to me as well AND I happen to love a good waft of cinnamon and maple throughout the house. Love these bars, Demeter!! And you know what? I can actually work with this! I’m totally going to sub out the chocolate for white chocolate and eat ALL the deliciously vegan, gluten free bars my tummy can handle! Yayyyy! Pinned! Cheers, girlfriend and Happy Early Easter! xo
Haha. How am I not surprised? Well then, let’s do this! Just make sure someone puts all of the animals away before you and I scare them all. LOL. Woot woot on you being able to eat this! No cocoa for Cheyanne, no cocoa for Cheyanne! 😉 Thanks for pinning and your usual brassy awesomeness. Happy weekend, Chey! xoxo
These are incredible, AGAIN! You’ve done it again. Isn’t your mom a lucky mom to receive cookies like these….
And I am so with you on the whole therapeutic thing: I bake when I’m stressed (Whisk whisk whisk!) I eat when I’m sad and I cook the best dishes when I need a pick me up.
Anyway, great recipe Demeter. I can’t wait to hear more of your personal stories!
Thank you so much Vivian. 🙂 I just really wanted her to feel like she wasn’t deprived (she’s got a HUGE sweet tooth.) Food fixes everything. 😉 More to come. Thanks, Viv! xoxo
Oh Demeter!! These look so good! I can only imagine the smell permeating through the kitchen when these are made. I agree with you about bottling the scent…just imagine. It would be a best seller, I’m sure;) All of your treats look so good and I love how they are made with ingredients like coconut oil and flax. That means I can eat extra, right ?! Hehehe. That’s totally what I’m telling myself anyway. These are definitely on my to-make list for sure. Happy Easter girl!!
Aw, thank you so much Dawn! 🙂 If this scent could be bottled, the world would probably be much happier. 😉 YES! You can eat extra! Haha. They’re just like healthy granola bars. Hope you get a chance to make them! Happy Easter, Dawn! xoxo