Gluten-Free and Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Shortbread Bars

|Updated May 26, 2020

@healthwithvictoria

Today is Friday, woohoo! We are spending the weekend baking vegan treats and grilling healthy veggies for our MDW BBQ. If you haven't checked out our vegan bbq sliders recipe, click here--and thank us later. As for dessert, The Beet has you covered with delicious options such as white chocolate chip cookies and these gluten-free peanut butter chocolate shortbread bars. These little treats are unlike any other dessert or peanut butter cup because they have a cakey filling and crunchy layer of chocolate.

These peanut butter chocolate shortbread bars are healthier than most desserts and they're gluten-free, vegan, grain-free, and even keto-friendly because this recipe uses almond flour as a substitute for regular flour.

Have a healthy and safe MDW weekend!

Recipe Developer: Victoria @healthwithvictoria

Why we love it: We are PB obsessed and always looking for different ways to enjoy peanut butter anything. This recipe is also much healthier than you may think, and will become an instant classic with your family and constantly be on your baking rotation.

Make it for: Your MDW bbq party or a healthy dessert treat.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Bake Time: 10-12 minutes

Freeze Time: 15 minutes

Gluten-Free and Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Shortbread Bars

Makes 4 bars

Ingredients

Shortbread Crust

1 cup Almond Flour
1/2 cup Coconut Flour (if you don’t have coconut flour, replace with more almond flour)
3 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted.

Peanutbutter Filling

1 1/2 cup Peanut Butter (or nut butter of your choice)
2 Scoops @ancientnutrition vanilla collagen (or protein powder, you can also sub with coconut flour)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate Layer

1 cup Hu Kitchen gems (or chocolate chips).

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
For the shortbread crust, combine all ingredients into your bowl and mix until a dough is formed.
Press into an 8x8 (a bread loaf pan works too) parchment-lined baking dish and bake at 350 degrees until the edges are golden brown (around 10-12 minutes).
While the crust is baking, mix all peanut butter filling ingredients in a separate bowl and set aside. Once your crust is done, let it cool for 15 minutes in the freezer.
Take out the crust once cooled and spread the peanut butter layer on top of the crust and let set in the freezer for another 15 minutes.
Finally, melt your dark chocolate in the microwave and top off the bars with the chocolate layer. Let set in the freezer for only 10 minutes, cut serve and ENJOY I also suggest keeping these in the fridge or freezer!