Paleo Chocolate Strawberry Party Bars

My vision: a chocolate-covered strawberry inspired dessert. Reality: the most delicious layered bars, cut into small party-sized bites! YES PUHLEASE.

A Grain-Free Healthier Dessert!

Seriously though, the layers on these bars are insane. I’m still swooning over the sliver of sweet homemade paleo strawberry jam between the sweet, buttery shortbread crust and almond butter topping. Add on the dark chocolate drizzle, lights out.

I whipped up this recipe again this year for a sweet New Years Eve snack for my family, but these would honestly be just as delicious in July. I feel like the classic chocolate/strawberry flavor combo doesn’t even really have a season!

These bars are especially delicious served cold to keep the layers in place! I even made the crust two days ahead of time and just stored it in the freezer until I was ready to make the strawberry jam and bake the dessert. Even if you don’t bake the crust days before, this recipe is still extremely easy to whip up. Trust me, if I can do it anyone can!

What You’ll Need to Bake Paleo Party Bars:

• Almond flour: a true staple ingredient in my life for paleo baking! I always buy blanched, super-fine almond flour to most closely mimic the “real deal”. If I’m honest, I almost prefer it to normal flour in terms of the structure and slight nutty flavor it adds to recipes.

• Coconut oil: Butter works as well, but I honestly prefer the flavor of coconut oil with the strawberry and chocolate flavors! However, it’s important to note that butter is not typically considered paleo. So if you are on a strict paleo-based diet, definitely stick to coconut oil! Because butter is allowed on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, which I follow closely to manage my IBD symptoms, I often tend to interchange them in many of my recipes!

• Frozen Strawberries: I find it easier to make jam with frozen berries… I’m convinced that the ice/water on the outside of the berries make it easier for the berries to cook and mash. In addition, I also like to buy frozen berries since they usually contain more nutrients, since they were frozen closer to their harvest date.

• Honey: One of the only sweeteners allowed on the SCD! This ingredient is my secret weapon to making SCD-legal sweets, this link has a whole list of legal/illegal foods on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. If you are unfamiliar with it, it’s very similar to a paleo diet- its just slightly stricter to limit inflammatory carbohydrates.

• Creamy Almond Butter: Nut butters are another Pantry Staple of mine! Creamy almond butter makes a fantastic binder to make the sweet, crumbly topping for this dessert.

• 100% Dark Chocolate: It’s pretty intense dark chocolate (aka totally unsweetened), but I’ve come to absolutely adore the flavor! Plus, the health benefits are off the charts if you make sure the bar you buy only has one ingredient (cacoa).

Everything you need to bake these paleo party bars are ingredients that I typically like to always have on hand in my house! In my opinion, these are all things I highly recommend if you’re looking to get into healthier baking.

How to Make Chocolate Strawberry Bars

Step 1: Combine all of the crust ingredients- almond flour, coconut flour, melted coconut oil, honey, and salt in a mixing bowl. Stir until well-combined. Press into a 9″x9″ pan, bake, and let it cool completely.

Step 2: Make the strawberry filling. Combine the frozen strawberries, water, and salt in to a medium-sized stovetop pot over medium heat. Cook for about 7-10 minutes, until the berries are very soft. Add in the tapioca flour and monk fruit. Pulse in a food processor for 30 seconds and let cool to room temperature.

Step 3: Make the crumb topping. Combine the almond flour, coconut flour, monkfruit, melted coconut oil, almond butter, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl. Stir well until a crumbly mixture forms.

Step 4: Assemble the dessert. Pour the strawberry filling over the cooled baked crust in the pan. Then evenly sprinkle the almond butter topping over the filling layer. Bake until the topping is slightly golden-brown.

Step 5: Drizzle the melted chocolate, sea salt, and crushed almonds over the top of the baked dessert. Chill before slicing and serving!

More of My Favorite Paleo/SCD Desserts:

Link: “SCD: The What’s and Why’s”

• SCD Cherry Pecan Crumb Bars
• SCD Blueberry Rhubarb Bars
• Paleo Cookie Dough Bites
• Paleo/SCD Zucchini Crumb Cake
• Paleo Salted Caramel Cookie Cake

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