Chocolate and Coconut + 6 = Easy~Quick~Yummy

These delicious Pistachio Oat Cookie Bar Squares can easily be made vegan and gluten-free and are so pretty!  Plus super quick and easy to make with only 8 ingredients including chocolate and coconut.  They’re quite different from your typical holiday cookie, and yes they do stand out in a cookie crowd!  Extra bonus they’re much healthier than your typical holiday cookie, but believe me no one will taste them and be disappointed.  Let’s talk about that…

Pistachios are among the highest protein and lowest-calorie nut

These squares are adapted from a recipe in Jessica Murname’s wonderful book titled “One Part Plant”.  Raw pistachios and oats are the main ingredients.  Did you know pistachios are one of the most Vitamin B-6 rich foods around?  Vitamin B-6 is helpful for blood sugar regulation and formation of hemoglobin.  They’re also a good source of potassium and antioxidants, are among the highest protein and lowest-calorie nut, and their essential amino acid content is higher than any other nut–one of them being L-arginine which converts to nitric oxide in our body.  Nitric oxide helps our vessels dilate improving blood flow. Oats have a number of health benefits but the one we hear about most is fiber.  Oats are a whole grain food high in soluble fiber that can help reduce LDL and total cholesterol levels.

Put some out for the big jolly guy in the red suit!

These remind me a little of the Magic Cookie Bars I made with my sisters as a kid.  When I first made these Pistachio Oat Cookie Bar Squares I didn’t use the chocolate drizzle, but with the first bite my mouth said, “Where’s the chocolate?”

To store I cut parchment paper and lay between the layers.  Whip up a batch for the big jolly guy in the red suit and you just might get something extra under the tree!