We’ve got chai spiced bars with festive goji berries, pepitas and coconut toppings as recipe #6 in our Healthy Holiday Treat Series. These babies are perfect for holiday gatherings and they only take 10 minutes max to whip them up. Doesn’t get much better than that!
While the ingredient list might be intimidating, this recipe just require a couple of rounds in the food processor. Process all base ingredients and press it into a pan. Process glaze ingredients and pour over the base. Finally, top with green, red and white. There you have it!
Serving the bars chilled is the way to go. Store in an air-tight container in the freezer and get them out when ready to serve. When they warm up they get more gooey and less firm but are equally delicious!
You can also make these bars into balls instead. Rather than pressing into a pan, use a tablespoon or cookie scope to portion out the dough and then roll them in your hands to form the balls. Chop up the pepitas, goji berries and coconut and roll the balls in the toppings.
Here’s the food processor used for this dish: Food Processor
. *Note this is an affiliate link.
Check out some of our other healthy holiday treats: Festive Peppermint Brownies, Apple Cranberry Crumble, Salted Caramel Nut Clusters, Gingerbread Loaf with a Pumpkin Spice Glaze.
Plant-Based Holiday Chai Bars
Ingredients
Chai Bars
- 1/2 cup raw cashews
- 20 Deglet dates pitted
- 1/3 cup raisins
- 3/4 cup raw almonds
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
Pumpkin Spice Glaze
- 5 Deglet dates pitted
- 1/3 cup almond milk, unflavored or other non-dairy milk
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp ground ginger
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
Toppings
- 1 Tbsp goji berries roughly chopped
- 1 Tbsp pepitas roughly chopped
- 1 Tbsp unsweetened coconut roughly chopped
Instructions
Chai Bars
- Line an 8 x 8" pan with parchment paper.
- Place the cashews, dates, and raisins in a food processor and process until a crumbly dough forms. Add in all remaining chai bar ingredients and continue to process until all ingredients are combined and a sticky dough forms, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed.
- Transfer the dough to the prepared 8 x 8" pan and press it firmly and evenly into the pan.
Pumpkin Spice Glaze
- Combine all the pumpkin spice glaze ingredients in a food processor and process until a smooth glaze forms, stopping to scrape down sides as needed. Pour the glaze over the dough in the pan and smooth out evenly.
Toppings
- Sprinkle the topping ingredients over the glaze. Refrigerate for at least an hour. Cut into bars.
Notes
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These are excellent served cold. However, when taken to a party as they sit out they get gooey. Everyone loves the taste so I wanted to share them again but make them less gooey. Instead of pressing them in a pan I rolled them into balls – rolled in chopped goji berries and pepitas and omitted the glaze altogether. They are still a hit and much easier to handle after sitting out.
Really unusual and very tasty. I do like the suggestion of the other reviewer of making into balls, cause yes, served warm they are quite gooey. Regarding that gooey-ness I wasn’t convinced they’d set into bars well so I mixed in some almond flour to the base, it worked out very well.