Made with a few pantry ingredients like coconut + dates, these No Bake Paleo Samoa Bars are girl scout HEAVEN! They’re sweet + gooey + divine, but they’re also gluten free, dairy free + come together in minutes!
Can we just talk about the tragedy that is NO Girl Scout cookies in England?! My poor husband has never ever had the joy of a tagalong or a thin mint from the freezer. It makes me sad. And so, I decide to go ahead + create some at-home versions.
While I was at it, I figured I’d make them gluten, dairy + refined sugar free so I could have some too! Yay!
Paleo Samoa Bars
If you live under a rock, or if you’re from England, you might not have any idea what a Samoa Cookie actually is. Which again, is a tragedy, but I digress.
The traditional version is part vanilla cookie, part coconut caramel + part chocolate. They’re absolutely insane + worth all of the hype that they get.
To make our version paleo + no bake, we’re leaving out the vanilla cookie part of the cookie, but I promise you won’t miss it at all. Instead, we’re using soft, sweet dates + toasty, crunchy coconut. And what we’re left with is a quick, no bake bar that’s pretty dang close to the original.
No Bake Cookie Bars?
Truth be told, this recipe isn’t 100% no bake – whoops! We don’t bake the bars or anything, but the only way to get the rich, nutty flavour of the coconut to really come through us is to toast it.
Now, you don’t HAVE to use an oven to do this, it’s just my preferred way. I toss the coconut onto a sheet pan at 350f and bake it for 8-10 minutes. It gets golden + the most incredible coconut flavour this way.
Once that’s done, you can shut off the oven, though. Because the actual process of making the bars couldn’t be simpler + it doesn’t requiring any type of cooking at all! Win!
Making No Bake Samoa Bars
Putting together these Paleo No Bake Samoa Bars couldn’t be easier. It’s basically just tossing a bunch of stuff into a blender or food processor. The only thing to note here is that if the dates you decide to use are old or hard, be sure to cover + soak them in boiling water for a few minutes before you are ready to use them. Oh, and remove the pits, ha!
Simply add the dates, toasted coconut, vanilla, + nut butter to your food processor or blender and pulse. You will want to pause to scrap down the sides of the blender or bowl a few times during the process, but you’ll end up with a sticky dough that holds together well.
To make them into bars, I pressed the mixture into a parchment lined loaf pan. I then put them into the freezer to chill for 30 minutes or so before drizzling them with the chocolate/coconut oil mixture and chopping into bars. However, you can totally roll these into balls if you like or press them into an 8×8 for thinner bars! Whatever you’d like.
These No Bake Paleo Samoa Bars are gluten + grain free, dairy free, refined sugar free, soy free, egg free + Paleo compliant! They are so quick, so easy + bound to please the entire family. My husband took these to his office + they were gone in a matter of minutes!
They’ll keep fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days, in the fridge for a few weeks + in the freezer for a few months. But, I imagine they won’t make it much longer in your house than they did in ours! They’re SO good.
As always, if you try these babies out, I’d love if you’d leave a rating or review down below in the comments. It really helps people to find my blog + to get to try these yummy recipes. And be sure to tag me on instagram too! It fills my cup so much to see my recipes in your kitchen!
P.S. If no bake treats are your jam, be sure to check out my No Bake Paleo Brownie Bites + Paleo Cookie Dough!
No Bake Paleo Samoa Bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups coconut
- 1 1/2 cups dates
- 2 tbsp peanut, almond or cashew butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate
- 1/2 tbsp coconut oil
- sea salt, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350f or 175c and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Remove the stones from the dates! If the dates are hard, cover them and soak in boiling water. If they are soft, skip the soaking step! Be sure to strain the water off of the dates before using them!
- Spread the coconut into a single layer and toast in the oven until golden brown, roughly 8-10 minutes.
- Add the toasted coconut, dates, nut butter and vanilla to a food processor. Pulse until combined! Stop and scrape down the machine as you go until you have a sticky ball!
- Form the samoa's into whatever shape you like. Feel free to choose balls or to press them into bars. For this recipe, a standard loaf pan lined with parchment works well. Press the mixture into the pan + leave in the fridge to cool.
- Melt the chocolate and coconut oil together. Drizzle over the bars or dip the balls. Sprinkle with sea salt + enjoy!
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