These oatmeal dark chocolate chunks are my copycat recipe for heavenly hunks! Chewy and flavorful, these no-bake bites are made from oats, maple syrup, shredded coconut, nut butter, and dark chocolate chips.
I worked on this recipe for over a year and have tested it again and again. I wanted to make it with ingredients found in most kitchens, and it became a healthier version of heavenly hunks (a popular snack from Costco!).
- Easy to make: Simply blend the ingredients in a food processor, press into a pan and cut into squares! Think oatmeal cookie dough bar. Follow the step-by-step photos below.
- Real ingredients: These bites are made with whole-food ingredients you can easily find at the grocery store. This recipe contains fewer sweeteners than the original recipe.
- Oatmeal: Using oatmeal as a base makes these naturally gluten-free, and another great way to increase fibre in your everyday diet. Just like my recipes for chewy honey flapjacks (an oat bar), and cinnamon oatmeal granola bars, try them too!
Ingredients needed for homemade heavenly hunks
- Quick oats: The base of these bars is quick oats. I don't recommend using rolled oats, as when I have tried it, the bars are quite dry. If you want to make this gluten-free, be sure to use gluten-free quick oats.
- Shredded unsweetened coconut: Use unsweetened coconut instead of sweetened coconut, as it is quite sweet for this recipe!
- Coconut oil: This oil helps hold the bars together. In the original recipe, they used palm oil; however, coconut works great as it hardens when it cools.
- Maple syrup: We will use maple syrup to sweeten these bars. The original store-bought recipe uses brown rice syrup.
- Vanilla: Adding vanilla boosts the flavor of these bites!
- Seed or nut butter: I use almond butter. But cashew butter, peanut butter, or sunflower seed butter works too. Here's my recipe for homemade almond butter.
- Sea salt: Boost the flavor of these hunks with some sea salt.
- Coconut sugar OR brown sugar: These sugars give a deep, rich flavour, which we are using instead of the cane sugar in the store-bought heavenly hunks.
- Chocolate chips: They are needed to complete this recipe! I like to use dark chocolate chips. To make this recipe dairy-free, use Enjoy Life chocolate chips.
How to make your own heavenly hunks
Here are photos from my kitchen, sharing how to make your very own heavenly hunks.
In a small saucepan, place the coconut oil, almond butter, and maple syrup. Stir over low heat until everything is melted and well combined. Set aside to cool.
Place oats in a food processor or blender and pulse 15-30 seconds on low until it resembles thick crumbs; there will still be some unblended oats. That's fine (see photo). Remove half of the oats, about 1.5 cups, and pour them into a medium bowl; set aside.
Pulse the rest of the oats until it becomes flour (it may look like thick sand), about 1 minute. Then add this oat flour to the bowl too.
To the oats in a bowl, add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix.
Pour the mixture of maple syrup, coconut oil, and nut butter on the oats and mix together well.
Dump the oat chocolate mixture into an 8x8 greased pan and press into place. Cut into squares. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes. Enjoy!
Top tip
After testing this recipe many times, I discovered 2 important tricks:
- Let the maple syrup and coconut oil mixture cool down before adding to the oats. If not, it will melt your chocolate chips!
- Cut the oat bars into squares before refrigerating!
FAQ
Heavenly hunks are commonly sold at grocery stores such as Costco and Walmart, or you can buy them from Amazon.
Here is a list of ingredients for the original heavenly hunks. Gluten-free whole rolled oats, chocolate chips (sugar, cocoa butter, palm kernel oil, cocoa powder, sunflower lecithin, salt), brown rice syrup, palm oil, coconut shreds (coconut, sugar, salt), sorghum flour, tapioca flour, potato starch, cane sugar, sea salt.
I created an eCookbook for prepping snacks! This was designed to set aside a block of time weekly or monthly to batch prep wholesome snacks. They are freezer-friendly recipes, with a clear plan (grocery list too!) to make the most of a two-hour time block!
My favourite no-bake snacks
This blog is fully dedicated to healthy snacks I make for my family with nutrient-dense ingredients whenever possible! If you liked these heavenly hunks, I recommend trying my chocolate chip cookie dough bars.
🌼Did you make this heavenly hunks copycat recipe? Please make sure to leave a star rating and comment to help others find and make this recipe, and it totally makes my day to hear from you!
Heavenly Hunks Recipe (Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Chunks)
Equipment
- 1 food processor (or blender)
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients:
- ⅓ cup coconut oil
- ½ cup nut or seed butter I used almond butter
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Dry Ingredients:
- 3 cups quick oats
- ½ cup shredded coconut
- 2 tablespoon coconut sugar or brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¾ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, place the coconut oil, nut or seed butter, and maple syrup. Stir over low heat until everything is melted and well combined. Set aside to cool.
- Place quick oats in a food processor or blender, pulse 15-30 seconds on low until it resembles thick crumbs. There will still be some unblended oats; that is fine. Remove half of the oats (1.5 cups) and put them into a medium bowl, set aside. Continue to pulse the rest of the oats in the food processor or blender until it becomes flour (it may look like thick sand) about 1-2 minutes. Then add this oat flour to the bowl too.
- To the oats in a bowl add: shredded coconut, coconut sugar or brown sugar, sea salt, and chocolate chips, stir until well mixed. Pour the coconut oil mixture and vanilla onto the dry oatmeal mix. Stir until everything is evenly covered with the wet ingredients.
- In a greased or parchment lined 8x8 pan, dump the oat chocolate dough and press into place. Cut into 36 squares (6 by 6) then refrigerate for at least 15 minutes. Store in the fridge or the freezer. Enjoy!
Notes
Ingredient swaps and additions
- Maple syrup: You can use brown rice syrup or honey instead of maple syrup.
- Oats: I don't recommend making these with rolled oats, they become dry and crumbly.
- Almond Butter: Use peanut butter instead of almond butter, but it will taste more like peanut butter. Cashew butter would work as a great alternative to almond butter.
- Nut Free: Use sunflower seed butter instead of almond butter to make heavenly hunks nut-free.
Nutrition
Danika Vanderpyl, C.H.N
I create snack recipes with healthy ingredients that are mostly already in your kitchen. I'm certified in Holistic Nutrition and I care about giving my kids real food. Let me share my nutrient-dense easy snacks with you.
Rachel Vanderpyl says
Absolutely love these heavenly hunk bars! I substituted the brown sugar for white sugar with a tbsp. of molasses. Worked perfectly ✨
Danika Vanderpyl says
Great to hear Rachel!
Anonymous says
Better than the original and SO much cheaper!
Aaliyah says
SO easy and preferable to the Costco ones. They keep really well and can adjust the flavour to your liking! These are a fun go-to.
Danika Vanderpyl says
Brilliant! So glad you like these heavenly hunks Aaliyah.
Meghan Oosterho says
Even better then the store bought ones!
Jane B says
Very very good. Made with peanut butter, brown sugar, semisweet chocolate chips, sweetened coconut (bcuz that’s what I had) and quick oats. Followed the recipe exactly. They hold together perfectly. Not sure if they should be stored in the fridge…but I am.
Danika Vanderpyl says
Great to hear Jane! They will last longer stored in the fridge.