In a world where protein bars and low carb bars seem to be at the start of each checkout lane, there’s a lot of confusion as to what’s ketogenic and what’s not. Truth be told, there’s very few bars on the market now that are keto friendly (they’re mostly protein and pretty low fat), and there’s tons of bars stocked full of high GI sugar alcohols using marketing to camouflage themselves as low carb. The biggest danger with these high GI bars are that even though they can say they are low carb nutritionally, they will raise blood sugar and insulin levels tremendously. Ultimately, they’re able to knock you out of ketosis. That’s where these coconut cashew bars come in
They’re pretty easy to make, can be refrigerated or frozen depending on what texture you’re going after, and can be carried around with you if you’re in a pinch (keep in mind if they get too warm they will start to melt a bit). Best of all, they’re keto-friendly! If you like a more crumbly texture, feel free to run the cashews through a food processor prior to adding them into the mix – this way you get a lot of small chunks rather than larger pieces.
Yields 8 servings of No Bake Coconut Cashew Bars
The Preparation
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- salt, to taste
- 1/4 cup low-carb maple syrup
- 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1/2 cup cashews, raw or roasted
The Execution
1. Combine melted butter and almond flour in a large bowl and combine.
2. To that, add cinnamon, salt and sugar free maple syrup. Mix well.
3. Next, add shredded coconut and mix again.
4. Roughly chop 1/2 cup of cashews (you may use raw or roasted) and add it into your coconut cashew bar dough. Mix very well to combine everything evenly.
5. Line a baking dish with parchment paper and spread the coconut cashew bar dough in an even layer. You can add some more shredded coconut and cinnamon over top for a prettier presentation.
6. Place them in the refrigerator and chill for at least 2 hours, but preferably over night. Once they’re chilled, slice into bars.
7. Serve up and enjoy!
This makes a total of 8 servings of No-Bake Coconut Cashew Bars. Each serving comes out to be 199 calories, 18.5g fats, 4.1g net carbs, and 4.5g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 1/4 cup butter | 407 | 46 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 |
| 1 cup almond flour | 648 | 56 | 24.6 | 14.6 | 10.1 | 23.5 |
| 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon | 6 | 0 | 2.1 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.1 |
| — salt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1/4 cup low-carb maple syrup | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut | 140 | 13.8 | 5.1 | 3.4 | 1.7 | 1.5 |
| 1/2 cup cashews | 393 | 31.8 | 22.4 | 2.1 | 20.3 | 10.5 |
| Totals | 1595 | 147.6 | 54.3 | 21.4 | 32.9 | 36.1 |
| Per Serving (/8) | 199 | 18.5 | 6.8 | 2.7 | 4.1 | 4.5 |
No-Bake Coconut Cashew Bars
Ingredients
- ¼ cup butter melted
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- salt to taste
- ¼ cup low-carb maple syrup
- ¼ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- ½ cup cashews raw or roasted
Instructions
- Combine the melted butter and almond flour in a large bowl and mix well.
- Add the cinnamon, salt, and sugar-free maple syrup. Mix well.
- Next, add the shredded coconut and mix again.
- Roughly chop the cashews and add them to the dough. Mix very well to combine everything evenly.
- Line a baking dish with parchment paper and spread the dough out in an even layer. Add some extra shredded coconut and cinnamon on top for a prettier presentation.
- Place in the refrigerator and chill for at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight. Once chilled, slice into bars.
- Serve and enjoy!
Can you use other nuts interchangeably? And what size dish do you use–whatever would give you 1/2 thick bars?
Can we replace butter with coconut oil?
Def gonna try these …just some fyi, to save some money …Vitacost (just Google it) has most of what you need at sig. lower prices than Amazon …thanks for the recipe!
Definitely Lori – thanks for pointing that out. Depending on where you live, Vitacost can be a great option. Sometimes Amazon beats it, sometimes it doesn’t. I guess I’m a sucker for Prime shipping 😉
I tried these with walnuts and didn’t have sugar free maple syrup so used torani sugar free syrup. These are delicious!!! I MUST be careful and watch the calories, I can eat the whole pan. Do you think coconut flour would work the same?
I love Walnuts – that sounds like an amazing addition! As for the coconut flour, it wouldn’t turn out the same. Coconut flour is MUCH more absorptive than almond flour, so you’d have to cut it back tremendously (think about the 3-4 tbsp. range). That would ultimately leave you needing even smaller servings.
I really want to try these right now but I don’t have maple syrup (substitute) can I just skip this ingredient? I have tahini and cashew butter I could use to make it a bit more liquidy I suppose?
You could definitely give it a shot. If need be you could add tahini + a bit of heavy cream to help it all come together. Just keep in mind this will change the nutrition information a little bit.
Craig, I am in LOVE with these bars! I’m on my second batch for the week! In the past, I’ve had trouble hitting my fat macros….but these are perfect for doing just that. My first batch I made by the recipe. Tonight I subbed in sugar-free salted caramel syrup and a combination of cashews and peanuts. They are amazing. Thank you!
Those sound amazing as well! Really happy to you love them!
These look incredibly delicious! As soon as my sugar free maple syrup arrives I’m totally making these!
Hope you love them!
I’m a noob to keto and this was my first attempt at a keto recipe. Turned out great! Thank you
Glad to hear it Jon!
This is excellent with ground cardamom substituted for the cinnamon.
That sounds super yummy too – great idea!
I’m always so excited when I see recipes like this, until I get to reading them. I DESPISE coconut. I can barely tolerate VCO, and it has to be with something else. I know the shredded coconut is there to help the bars hold together, as well as with texture and taste. Do you know of any alternative AT ALL that would work? I’d love to be able to make something like this, and have been searching for over a year, but have yet to find anything that makes sense… Looking forward to your answer!
Hey Carly – as far as holding the bars together, it’s going to be tough. A blend of flaxseed meal and almond flour with some walden farm maple syrup would most likely hold together. But if you want something to hold together well without using coconut, you will probably have to bake it with an egg as a binder.
I absolutely have no issue making a baked bar, but everyone out there “swears by” using shredded coconut, even in a baked bar. Do you have a baked bar recipe I could work with? (P.S. In my SAD life, I was a decent baker, but even homemade granola bars came out crumbly and didn’t keep form for me before… My tastes keep evolving, but coconut still isn’t on the tolerable list yet…)
I don’t have a recipe for baked bars, but I imagine a good lump of fat with almond flour + flaxseed meal (and chia seed meal) with some egg and sweetener/spices would make for a good baked bar. Something like this: //www.ruled.me/almond-butter-chia-squares/ but use the flaxseed meal to replace the coconut items.
I don’t have a recipe for baked bars, but I imagine a good lump of fat with almond flour + flaxseed meal (and chia seed meal) with some egg and sweetener/spices would make for a good baked bar. Something like this: http://www.ruled.me/almond-… but use the flaxseed meal to replace the coconut items.
I will definitely give that a try! Thank you.
I make these a lot. They are my go to midnight snack.
Awesome to hear – thanks for the feedback!