Chocolate Covered Almond Butter Puffed Millet Bars (Gluten Free + Vegan)

These easy no-bake Chocolate Covered Almond Butter Puffed Millet Bars are the perfect breakfast treat or snack! This gluten free, refined sugar free, and vegan recipe has only seven ingredients.

Have you ever heard of puffed millet? I hadn’t up until a few weeks ago, when this post from The Kitchen McCabe landed in my inbox and I spent the rest of the day marveling not only over the gorgeous styling and photos of the bars from Kayley, but also over how darn cute and little the millet puffs were!

I couldn’t get Kayley’s recipe for White Chocolate Dipped Puffed Millet Bars with Strawberries + Pistachios out of my head, so I went on a search through my local grocery stores for puffed millet (found it at a local health food store, but you can order it here) so I could reinterpret her recipe with my own twist. Puffed millet bars were definitely happening. And…ta-da! Here they are :D

But first, let’s talk a little bit about what millet is, because you may be totally clueless about millet like I was. Millet is a small, round gluten-free cereal grain with lots of fiber, calcium, magnesium, and a bunch of other good-for-you nutrients. The tiny grains are often used in bird seed…but they can also be puffed up, like rice, and used in delicious treats like these bars! Which, trust me, are nothing like bird seed.

These bars are sort of reminiscent of Chewy Bars – you know, the chocolate covered kind you would always beg to have in your lunchbox because it was pretty much like having a candy bar, except “healthy,” because it was a granola bar. Except…those bars really aren’t healthy at all and they pretty much are a candy bar with all the sugar and preservatives packed into them.

Luckily, these Chocolate Covered Almond Butter Puffed Millet Bars are an actually-healthy cereal bar that can be devoured as a quick breakfast, popped in a lunchbox as a snack, or even enjoyed for dessert. The bars are made from some of my favorite healthy-but-delicious ingredients: almond butter and coconut butter!

The almond and coconut butters, along with some coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract, are tossed with the puffed millet and some toasted sliced almonds to make the bars. After setting up, the bars are cut and dipped in homemade chocolate. This homemade chocolate recipe is my favorite and is seriously so easy: equal parts coconut oil and cocoa powder with maple syrup to taste. You can memorize it!

To dip the bars in the chocolate, I stabbed two toothpicks into the top of the bar and held onto those as I dunked the bar, shook off the excess (carefully), and then placed the bar on the baking sheet, removed the toothpicks, and repeat. It worked incredibly efficiently! A quick sprinkle of toasted sliced almonds before the chocolate was set and voila: we have Chocolate Covered Almond Butter Puffed Millet Bars. 

These little treats are naturally gluten-free, refined sugar free, dairy free, AND vegan…so yeah, way healthier than your typical cereal bar, even if they are dipped in chocolate ;) and no baking necessary! You’ll be super happy to have these in the fridge when a mid-day chocolate craving hits or for those mornings when you’re rushing off to work. Enjoy!

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Remember to #bakerita if you try the recipe!

Chocolate Covered Almond Butter Puffed Millet Bars   Save Print Prep time 1 hour 20 mins Total time 1 hour 20 mins   Author: Rachel Conners Serves: 12 bars Ingredients

• 2 cups puffed millet
• ½ cup sliced almonds, toasted
• ¼ cup coconut butter, melted
• ¼ cup almond butter
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

For the chocolate coating

• ½ cup coconut oil, melted
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• Toasted almond slivers, to garnish (optional)

Directions

1. Line an 8x8" baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Add the puffed millet and sliced almonds to a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the melted coconut butter, almond butter, melted coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Pour the mixture over the puffed millet and stir until the puffed millet is fully coated.
3. Pour the coated millet mixture into the prepared pan and press down firmly until level. Place the pan in the freezer for at least one hour, until firmed up and solid.
4. Once the mixture is firm, slice into 12 bars - I cut the 8x8" square in half, and then made 6 cuts across the bars to make long, narrow bars. Place the bars back into the freezer while you prepare the chocolate coating so the bars don't soften.
5. In a container large enough to dip and coat the bars, whisk together the coconut oil, cocoa powder, and maple syrup.
6. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove the bars from the freezer and dip them in the chocolate one at a time, coating on both sides, and then scrape off the excess and place on the parchment paper. I stuck two toothpicks into the top of each bar and used those to hold the bars while I dunked them.
7. Sprinkle with toasted almond slivers before the chocolate sets.
8. Once the chocolate has set, store the bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They will keep for a few weeks.

Notes Puffed millet can be replaced with puffed rice.
This recipe is inspired by The Kitchen McCabe's White Chocolate Dipped Puffed Millet Bars with Strawberries + Pistachios 3.5.3208

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