“These are the best things you’ve ever made” said my cousin as he demolished a pan of these bars post-workout.

Truly, they are pretty good. All my family and friends love them, and they’ve become one of those recipes I make when I want something sweet in the freezer that still feels like a solid dessert.

They have three layers: a soft, protein base, a thick peanut butter, date caramel middle, and a homemade chocolate topping with flaky sea salt. Basically, they taste like a chocolate caramel candy bar, but they’re made with ingredients like oats, almond flour, dates, peanut butter, coconut oil, honey and cacao powder.

A Better Homemade Sweet Treat

I love a good dessert, and I love figuring out how to make the foods I’m craving with simpler, whole-food ingredients. Like Ingredients you can actually pronounce and know what it is!

Instead of a traditional caramel made with refined sugar and heavy cream, the middle of these bars gets its sweetness and caramel-like texture from Medjool dates. Blend them with peanut butter, vanilla, maple syrup and a splash of milk and somehow it turns into this ridiculously creamy caramel layer.

Then there’s the chocolate topping. No melting chocolate bars required. It’s simply cacao powder, honey and coconut oil, which hardens beautifully once the bars go into the freezer.

Ohhh, There’s Protein…

I wouldn’t exactly call these a protein bar in the same category as something you’d buy packaged at the gym, but adding protein powder to the base gives them a little extra protein and makes them a great post-workout sweet treat.

You also get some protein and healthy fats naturally from the peanut butter, which makes these way more satisfying than eating something that’s basically just sugar.

The Freezer Is Important…

Please eat these cold.

Technically you can eat them once they’ve softened, but straight from the freezer is where they are elite. The chocolate topping gets firm, the date caramel stays chewy and the base holds everything together.

I usually cut the entire pan into bars once frozen and keep them in a container in the freezer so I can grab one whenever I want something sweet.

A Few Ingredient Notes

Medjool dates: Use the soft, sticky Medjool kind if you can. They’re naturally sweeter and give you that thick caramel texture once blended.

Peanut butter: I prefer an organic peanut butter with peanuts as the ONLY ingredient. A runnier natural peanut butter also blends really nicely into the date caramel. Make sure to stir your peanut butter well before measuring so it’s not mainly oil, or super dried.

Protein powder: Use one you actually like the taste of because you will notice it slightly in the base. I use THIS Vanilla Protein Powder.

Oat flour: You can buy oat flour or simply blend rolled oats until they turn into a fine flour.

Cacao powder: I use unsweetened cocoa powder, but a dark chocolate bar can replace this.

Flaky salt: Do. Not. Skip. It. The little bit of salt on top with the chocolate and sweet date caramel might genuinely be the best part.