Healthy Almond Joy Bars (Sugar-Free & Keto)
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These Healthy Almond Joy bars are a chocolate and coconut lover’s dream. They’re an easy no-bake treat with a rich chocolate layer, coconut topping, and crunchy almonds. They’re naturally dairy-free and can easily be made sugar-free, keto, paleo, and vegan.
Since they’re made as bars, you can skip the dipping of many homemade candy bars, but still have an amazing treat to enjoy any time of day.
Why You’ll Love These Sugar-Free Almond Joy Bars
This recipe for Healthy Almond Joy Bars has got to be one of our all time favorites.
It’s one of the first healthy desserts that I made after starting on my sugar-free diet. I’ve shared these with sugar-free and non sugar-free folks alike and everyone has loved them.
I shared my original recipe for these right after I started blogging, and it was pretty good as it was. But thanks to some changes, it’s now truly amazing.
These bars are made with healthier ingredients than the traditional candy bar and since they are a bar variety, they’re easier to whip up than coated candies.
If you love the combination of chocolate, coconut, and almonds but want something easier than individually coated homemade candy bars, this recipe is for you.
Directions
Here are step by step photos of how to make these Almond Joy Bars. See the recipe card below for more details.
Combine almond butter and coconut oil and sweetener in pan. Melt. (steps 1 and 2)
Add cocoa powder and combine. (steps 3 and 4)
Spread chocolate base in pan. (step 5) Combine coconut topping ingredients in pan. Stir over heat. (step 6)
Spread coconut topping over chocolate base. (steps 7 and 8)
Recipe Notes and Substitutions
- Substituting Sweeteners: This recipe is quite forgiving. Granulated low-carb sweeteners such as xylitol or allulose can be used, and you can use a little less of the bulk sweetener and add stevia extract to reach your preferred sweetness.
- Using Stevia: Pure stevia extracts vary considerably in strength, so start with a very small amount and adjust to taste. Stevia works especially well here combined with another sweetener rather than supplying all of the sweetness by itself.
- Using Liquid Sweeteners: Liquid sweeteners can work, but adding too much may make the bars softer. Start with less and add stevia if additional sweetness is needed.
- Oil Options: You can substitute palm shortening, as well as butter, for the coconut oil.
- Nut or Seed Butter: If you’re allergic or needing to avoid nuts, you can substitute really any nut or seed butter, but almond is especially nice. See Homemade Nut/ Seed Butter for a make-your-own option. I’ve used homemade almond butter, homemade sunflower seed butter, as well as homemade pumpkin seed butter and they all worked out great.
- We love serving these chilled from the fridge or freezer but they don’t travel well in warm weather. You could make them with cocoa butter instead of coconut oil so they’ll hold up better in warmer temps.
- Keto/Low-carb: This recipe as written fits these diets.
- AIP: Use coconut butter instead of the seed/nut butter for AIP. Here’s how to make your own. I haven’t tried this, and the bars will for sure be more firm, but I think it can work.
More Healthy No Bake Treats
If you like this recipe, you’ll love
- Keto Mounds Bars – quite possibly the best Sugar-free Mounds Bar recipe out there.
- Bean Fudge – yes, I said “beans.” So easy and so good.
- Healthy Gummies – fun to make and funner to eat
- Healthy Snickers Bars – vegan, keto / low-carb, and refined sugar-free, and they’re peanut-free too!
Healthy Almond Joy Bars (Sugar-Free & Keto)
Ingredients
Chocolate / Carob Base
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup almond butter (or other nut or seed butter)
- 1/2 cup low carb sweetener (or preferred sweetener. See Recipe Notes)
- 6 tablespoons cocoa powder (or carob powder)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Coconut Topping
- 1 2/3 cups unsweetened coconut
- 7 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1/3 cup low carb sweetener (or preferred sweetener)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon additional flavoring (optional)
- 2 teaspoons arrowroot powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- almond halves or slices (optional)
- melted low carb chocolate chips for drizzle (optional)
Instructions
Chocolate Base
- Melt the coconut oil and almond butter in a small saucepan over low heat.
- Add the cocoa powder or carob powder and sweeteners. Stir until thoroughly combined.
- Add the salt and continue stirring over low heat until the mixture thickens slightly. Remove from the heat.
- Stir in the vanilla.
- Pour the mixture into an 8-inch square pan. Place in the freezer while you prepare the coconut topping. The refrigerator will also work, but the base will take longer to firm up.
Coconut Topping
- Melt the coconut oil in a small saucepan over low heat. Add the coconut and stir to combine.
- Add the remaining topping ingredients and cook, stirring, until the mixture thickens slightly.
- Once the chocolate base is firm, gently spread the coconut mixture evenly over the top.
- Top with almond halves or slices, if desired. Return the bars to the freezer until firm.
- Let the bars soften slightly before slicing if they are too firm to cut straight from the freezer. Alternatively, you can use a knife dipped in hot water. Cut into 16 squares.
- Store in the refrigerator or freezer. Drizzle with melted low-carb chocolate before serving, if desired.
Notes
- Oil Options: Butter or palm shortening can be substituted for the coconut oil.
- Nut or Seed Butter: Almond butter is especially good in this recipe, but other nut and seed butters work too. Sunflower seed butter and pumpkin seed butter have both worked well.
- Sweetener Options: This recipe is quite forgiving when it comes to sweeteners. Granulated low-carb sweeteners such as xylitol, erythritol, or allulose can be used. Another option is to use a little less of the bulk sweetener and add a small amount of stevia extract to reach your preferred sweetness.
- Using Stevia: Pure stevia extracts vary greatly in strength. If using one, start with a very small amount and adjust to taste. Stevia works especially well here in combination with another sweetener.
- Liquid Sweeteners: Liquid sweeteners, including allulose syrup, can work, but using a large amount may make the bars softer. Start with less and add stevia if more sweetness is needed.
- Xylitol Safety: Xylitol is extremely toxic to dogs, so keep foods containing xylitol safely away from pets.
- Warm Weather: These bars are best stored chilled. They soften in warm temperatures because of the coconut oil. Cocoa butter can be used for a firmer bar.
- AIP Option: If making an AIP version, use carob instead of cocoa and coconut butter instead of nut or seed butter. This variation has not been tested and will likely produce a firmer bar.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It may vary depending on ingredient brands, substitutions, and preparation methods. Optional ingredients are not included. Net carbs are typically calculated by subtracting fiber and sugar alcohols (such as erythritol) from total carbohydrates. This information should not be relied upon for medical or nutritional purposes.
I’d love to hear what you think of these once you try them!
Hi, Adrienne,
Can you tell me how much one scoop of stevia powder would equal? Thanks! Really enjoying your blog!
1/32 tsp is typically what it equals. 🙂
I can’t wait to make these, but have a question. I’m not sure if I’m just having a blond moment or not. In the method for the base, it says to mix in the remaining ingredients, and later it says to mix in the liquid sweetener and vanilla. The only remaining ingredients were those two. Do i let it thicken before or after i add the sweetener and vanilla?
Wow, Leah. I have no idea why I wrote that. I just fixed it. You were the first person to catch that. Wish I had a prize to offer you :-). Thanks!
Adrienne,
Guess I thought your blogs were about whole natural foods. Xylitol, erythritol, vegetable glycerine, stevia, sucanat, maltodextin to name a few, are derivatives and not good on the body. They do all kinds of bad things to our system. All these give me and many other people migraines among other things. I have to stay with the natural and unprocessed sugars. Our bodies process whole & natural foods much easier. You do have some good recipes. I didn’t have time to read all the posts but did see some people having problems with concentrated sugars etc. Pure local low temp processed honey is the best way to go, helps with allergies too. I also use raw sugar. I’ll keep looking in. Thanks for all your hard work and time you put into this.
Hello Linda. I understand your concerns about sweeteners, but really that is something I hope to post about more. You see, I would LOVE to eat honey, and used to, but I have candida now and it is really bad so I suspect that I will never be able to eat is again. I can’t eat sucanat either. I have never recommended that anyone eat maltodextrin but I am not horribly concerned about it.
Just like those who have issues with “concentrated sugars” (though I am not sure what you mean by that), I cannot have anything that feeds candida and there are a lot of others out there w/ similar issues since candida is rampant these days.
Pure stevia extract is, from all of my research, actually quite safe. I just did a ton of research on it yesterday and will most likely be posting an interview regarding it soon. As for xylitol and erythritol, they are the best of the sugar alcohols and I don’t have a problem w/ glycerine either. I am a member of a candida blog and the holistic health counselor there is super particular about the sweeteners she thinks are good and she thinks that it is totally fine.
I am doing the best I can with the hand that I have been dealt and hope to be a help to others. I should also mention that my current health practitioner thinks that the devastation on our health from “natural sugars” is far worse than anything from xylitol, erythritol, and stevia. She sees tons of diabetic cases and I am sure that you are aware of how epidemic that is in our world today. So….I hope that helps you understand where I am coming from. Overall, we should trim our use of sweets – but I hope you can see that I am trying to help those who would like to curb their use of sugars do so in as healthy of a manner as possible. Thanks for commenting and I hope to see you around again.
I came here to look at the comments because i had the same problem as Amy. The coconut i used is very finely shredded and very dry and immediately absorbed all the coconut oil. I added 2 extra tablespoons of oil but the mixture never became a liquid. I went ahead and pressed it on top of the chocolate and it’s in the freezer, so we’ll see. I guess next time i will look for another brand of coconut that’s maybe not so fine and dry. I am sure it will still taste delicious, can’t wait to eat it! 🙂
Mine never becomes liquid, but it still sticks. Keep me posted!
I had the same problem. It didn’t stick together. I’m still waiting for the first layer to harden up before spreading the coconut mixture on top. But after that, I’m planning to melt some more chocolate to spread on top and I’m hoping that will help it all stick together. I guess we’ll see. Otherwise, I’m really excited to try the finished product!
Kristi – did you use all the same ingredients? I’m really puzzled by this. Thanks! I’m sure it’ll taste good but I’d like to sort this out. Thanks!
Yes, I used all the exact ingredients that are in the recipe (used honey granules/sucanat with honey for the sweetner), but when I added the coconut it soaked up all the oil. I ended up adding a little coconut milk (maybe a few tablespoons and then some more arrowroot powder. That seemed to do the trick – it stuck together after that. The melted chocolate chips on top were wonderful too, but almost too rich. Thanks for the great recipe and your help!
Hmmm..Well, I don’t know. I can fwd to another blogger friend to see what she thinks. But so glad you liked it! It never seems like it’s going to stick together for me, but it does. I’ve used xylitol and sucanat. Thanks and so glad you enjoyed it!
I had a question. I have made this recipe 3 times and the coconut topping looks nothing like yours and is very crumbly and doesn’t want to stick to the chocolate base. You mention to let it thicken but there is nothing to thicken when I make it. Am I missing something. I did use sucanat not stevia as I don’t have any. Any help would be great!
Amy, It doesn’t always stick that well for me – it depends. But it does thicken a little. It’s the arrowroot / cornstarch that helps w/ the thickening. I made it myself with sucanat awhile ago and it worked great so I am not sure what is happening. Maybe try adding 1-2 T of coconut oil additionally to see what happens? Let me know or maybe some other readers can chime in…
Would these be a suitable treat for diabetics? My husband was just diagnosed last week. I cook fairly healthy meals, but am feeling a little overwhelmed with everything I’m reading about what he can and cannot have. He has a major sweet tooth, so this is a tough transition for him, and me too, I know nothing about artificial sweeteners and which ones are the best for him, or for different recipes. There is so much conflicting information.
Hi Dee! Any of the sweeteners that I use would be suitable for a diabetic. I don’t typically tell readers what sweetener to use b/c I want them to use what they think is appropriate for them. But key to your husband’s health is staying off sugars and carbs (especially refined (white) ones). There is debate on the healthfulness of different sweeteners, but seeing as his blood sugar is such a high priority I would go for stevia (pure extract – not the grocery store kind w/ the fillers), vegetable glycerine, xylitol and erythritol. Yacon is a pretty good option but it’s really expensive. Then some people think pure sucralose is OK but I haven’t used it for making treats.
When I made these I used stevia and xylitol. Good luck and let me know if you have more questions. I hope to do a post on sweeteners soon so you can learn a little about interchanging in recipes. For now, xylitol can go 1:1 in recipes calling for sugar, but it may upset his stomach a bit if he eats too much and the kinds made w/ birch are preferable to those made w/ corn.
Take care.
Adrienne-
Made these tonight! I was so excited but I think I used too much stevia or something. I used stevia (nunaturals), veg. glycerin,and a xyliotol blend. Both the xylitol and stevia has maltodextrin in them so I don’t know if thats it or what? I’ve never had this problem before. I used cocoa too. They just came out funny. Almost bitterly too sweet and not satisfying. Anyway I can fix them so I don’t waste them? They seem too sweet but bitter at the same time!?
Hi Ariana – did you use the measurements as shared? I have never heard of xylitol w/ maltodextrin in it – and the stevia I recommended is the extract – not a blend. Did you use the same amount? How odd? If you used the same amount it wouldn’t have been as sweet I don’t think. Since I use NuNaturals I can’t imagine where the bitterness is coming from….Maybe if you try making another batch and this time just use the veg glycerine and mix the combination together – or just melt it all together to make a “blended” almond Joy bar (after adding another batch to the mix). That way you’ll know that the maltodextrin isn’t messing things up. By the way, maltodextrin isn’t the greatest thing if you are watching your sugar intake. It’s a starch sugar so I never eat it, especially as a filler for stevia since from what I understand the body will metabolize it as sugar.
Hope that helps and let me know!
OMG Almond Joys were my favorite candy bars when I used to indulge in that. When I saw the name of your post I was upset because I just went sugar free on New Years and started experimenting with xylitol! Thanks so much for this recipe…since upon reading it I was overjoyed to see that you are also sugar free and use xylitol as well as stevia. So happy to find your blog!
I am so glad that you stopped by! It is hard for me to share with others that all of my posts are almost completely special diet friendly. I guess I need to go back and make sure that I put “sugar free” in the title :-). I so hope that you like them! Hope to see you around!
These look wonderful. My husband loves almond joys!
Thanks for linking up for Friday Favorites! I’m featuring you this week. Come by and grab my featured button if you’d like one.
Jerri – Thanks! I am sure you’ll love them! Thanks for the feature!
These look great, I think my husband would love them.
Yea – let me know how they go!