Salted chocolate oat fudge

Made with chocolate, nut butter, and oat flour you could easily convince yourself you need this as a healthy go-to snack.

This right here is #1 reason I’m loving life at the moment. I mean, there are a million wonderful things to love (great weather, great friends, fun outings, upcoming trips, etc.) However: This salted chocolate oat fudge (with pecans!) is hands down the most addictive thing I’ve made in recent history. And I swear to you it is healthy(ish)! There’s a little butter, and some chocolate chips, but other than that all we have is: honey, almond butter, pecans, oats, salt, and cinnamon!

HELLOOO CHOCOLATE SALAD!

Can we talk about the texture? OATY. That’s a 100% good adjective in my brain. OATY! Next: MELTY! Everything starts melting in your mouth and that’s when you get the chocolate/almond/salty/pecan WONDER that is these bars. You cannot go wrong. Also, feel free to use any nut butter. I just went with almond because I had it/love it.

After two weeks of eating these compulsively (I keep them in small chunks in my freezer and eat them straight from there!), it finally occurred to me: these are basically like refrigerator cookies. You know the ones — oats, peanut butter, chocolate, etc. Plop them in a lump on a sheet of wax paper and after they cool: refrigerator cookies! I used to make those a lot as a kid. These are absolutely similar, except I ground up the oats and pressed everything into a pan — and swapped some ingredients. Refrigerator cookies for adults? You could *maybe* even pass these off as granola-ish bars. Maybe. Don’t hold me to that.

These really are my go-to snack now! Last week I went to the park near my house to lounge in the sun one afternoon, so I brought myself and my friend each a little snacky bag of these! It took some crazy self-control to not eat them in the first ten minutes of basking.

Salted chocolate oat fudge
Slightly adapted from Cookie and Kate

Serves 12-16

3/4 cup creamy unsalted almond butter (or other nut butter)
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup honey
4 tablespoons butter, sliced
3/4 teaspoon salt (reduce if your nut butter is salted)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-3/4 cups uncooked oats ground into flour
1 cup whole pecans
Optional: Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling on top

1. First, prepare an 8"x8" pan by lining it with parchment or wax paper.

2. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the almond butter, chocolate, honey, butter, salt, and cinnamon. Cook, stirring with a spatula, until everything is melted, combined, and smooth.

3. Remove from heat, and stir in the vanilla, then the ground oats. Once the oat flour is nearly incorporated, stir in the nuts (they may not look fully "stirred in" but you can get them in when you press the mixture into the pan).

4. Press the entire mixture into the prepared pan, as tightly as you can. You can use a jar or glass to smooth the top. Sprinkle lightly with salt on top.

5. Refrigerate for about 90 minutes, or freeze for 30. The fudge should be hard and not shiny when it's ready. Cut into small squares, and eat!

Related post on The Kitchen Paper: Easy chocolate pudding