Paleo Hello Dollies Cookie Bars are a healthier take on a classic favorite cookie bar without sacrificing flavor!
For most of us, holiday time means baking, and we usually have a few specific cookie recipes that get made several times each season. Surprisingly, I don’t do a ton of holiday baking, but my mom’s favorites to make on rotation (when she has the time for holiday baking!) are frosted and decorated Christmas Cutouts, Butterballs (also called Russian Tea Cakes, Mexican Wedding Cakes, and Snowball Cookies), and Schnecken (which are similar to Rugelach, but are made with sour cream instead of cream cheese). And then every year around Christmas Eve she makes a big pan of Hello Dollies (also known as Magic Cookie Bars and Seven-Layer Cookie Bars).
In our house growing up, people would go crazy for my mom’s Hello Dollies and she’d usually end up making another batch (or two) in the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. But honestly, I never could quite get 100% on board with them; I love all the flavors going on (with nuts, chocolate, and coconut, what’s not to love?), but they were always way too sweet for me. As in, just three bites would hit me hard with a sugar coma.
I realized that there was absolutely no reason to abstain from this classic favorite; they don’t have to be sickeningly sweet in order to be delicious! As it turns out, this was actually a pretty easy recipe to paleo-fy, and in the process, convert to a much less sweet treat. Because sweetened condensed milk is a classic ingredient in regular Hello Dollies, my vegan sweetened condensed coconut milk immediately came to mind to use here, and I decided to keep the whole recipe vegan.
I made these bars on a Sunday afternoon when I had a chicken roasting in the oven at a different temperature than what I needed to bake these at, so I used my pretty Wolf Gourmet Countertop Oven to make them. It’s so convenient to have another great option to use for baking, especially around the holidays when the oven is usually monopolized for hours by things like roasts! (Scroll down below the recipe for info on how to enter my giveaway and win this oven.)
These bars ended up being the perfect healthier version of Hello Dollies and were a hit with everyone who tried them. Add them to your holiday baking repertoire!
- 2 tablespoons flaxseed meal
- 4 tablespoons hot water
- 1½ cups (168 g) hazelnut flour
- 2 tablespoons arrowroot starch
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 4 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
- 1 cup (175 g) chopped dark chocolate (see Note)
- 1 cup (112 g) chopped walnuts or pecans
- ¾ cup (60 g) unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 cup vegan sweetened condensed coconut milk
- ⅛ teaspoon sea salt, for the top
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line an 8 by 8-inch baking dish with 2 pieces of parchment paper so it hangs over all 4 sides.
- For the crust, whisk together the flaxseed meal and hot water in a medium bowl and let sit 3 minutes.
- Add the hazelnut flour, arrowroot starch, cinnamon, and salt to a large bowl and whisk to combine. Cut in the vanilla, coconut oil, and flaxseed mixture with a fork or pastry cutter. Press the mixture into the bottom and about ¾ to 1-inch up the sides of the prepared pan. Bake the crust 10 minutes.
- Toss together the dark chocolate, walnuts, and flaked coconut in a large bowl and spread it out in the par-baked crust. Pour the sweetened condensed milk evenly over the top.
- Bake until bubbling in the center, about 25 to 30 minutes; remove from the oven and sprinkle the sea salt on top.
- Let the cookie bars cool completely (I let them sit overnight) before slicing.
: : GIVEAWAY : :
If you’ve been wanting a beautiful high-performance countertop oven, you’ll be as excited about this giveaway as I am! Huge thank you to Wolf Gourmet because they’re giving away one countertop oven to one lucky winner.
This countertop oven over on Sur la Table is currently priced as a special offer at $549.95 with a suggested price of $700, and I can say firsthand how well it bakes. It can also be used for things like roasting, broiling, toasting, and proofing!
To participate in this giveaway, just leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite kind of cookie.
For extra entries, you can do any of the following (please leave a separate comment for each so they can be counted as additional entries):
- Tell me about your funniest holiday food story.
- Like An Edible Mosaic on Facebook.
- Like Sub-Zero and Wolf on Facebook.
- Share this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest using the hashtag #WolfGourmet and @AnEdibleMosaic.
You do not need to have a blog to enter this giveaway. To enter, you must be at least 18 years old. For shipping purposes, this giveaway is only open to U.S. residents and we are not able to ship to P.O. boxes. This giveaway ends on December 15, 2016 at 11:59 PM EST. Once the giveaway ends, the winner will be randomly chosen and notified via email. The winner will have three business days to respond with his or her mailing information, otherwise a new winner will be randomly chosen. Good luck to all!
Disclosure: Wolf Gourmet provided me with a countertop oven for review, and they are providing the countertop oven for this giveaway; as always, opinions stated are my own.
I’m Faith Gorsky, the writer, cook, and photographer behind An Edible Mosaic. My goal is to inspire you to get in the kitchen and try something new! Feel free to 
When I was just a wee bit back in the late ’70’s – early ’80’s my mother would make a bunch of chocolate chip cookies. Like, hundreds of them. Plain Jane Toll House package recipe.
We would have a few for the holidays and she would gift a tin or two, but dozens and dozens of them would be carefully wrapped, put into repurposed giant plastic sherbert tubs, and frozen in our chest freezer. We would have “fresh” chocolate chip cookies until at least June.
My favorite way to eat them was still frozen with a swig of ice cold whole milk. Glorious.
These look amazing! My favorite cookies have always been peppermint crinkle cookies, but I’m quickly coming around to bars like these this season!
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I love sugar cookies.
I’m with you… I don’t like cookies that are too sweet. But a nice biscotti or even shortbread that can be enjoyed with tea…. or a good ma’moul… ❤️
I already like you on FB. ? I need to try this recipe.
Oh my gosh these cookie bars are AMAZING!! And I can’t believe they’re paleo AND vegan!! :D
I’ve never heard of Hello Dollies – where have they been all my life? Especially this healthier paleo version – absolutely love the flavor and texture combination.
I have yet to meet a cookie I didn’t like, but I think the classic chocolate chip cookie is at the top of my list!
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I love these bars. I know just what you mean about too-sweet cookies that put you in a sugar coma. I don’t usually use flaxseed meal and hazelnut flour, but I’m intrigued. Could be my next cookie/bar experiment.
I always loved making ranger cookies with my mom and brothers and adding in dark chocolate chips. I wish I could have one more of those days baking with my mom.
I’d sure love to put this stunning machine through its paces with mint chocolate thumbprint cookies, for starters. I simply can’t resist that flavor combination!
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Camper Cookies, My own invention, a little bit of a lot of good things from nuts to seeds and dried fruit and chocolate….
satisfying!
Gooey chocolate chip cookies
I enjoy ANY of the cookies my grandkids attempt to make for me. Those are my fav. But this NayNay’s heart has always loved A YUMMY Peanut Butter Cookie! <3
Merry Christmas!
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I follow Sub Zero too!!!
My favorite cookie is definitely chocolate chip. I like them have a gooey center and crisp edge. They’re best with nuts, preferably pecans, and have to be served with a tall glass of cold milk. Lately, I’ve been dunking them in chocolate milk and found it to please my taste buds more than white.
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A funny holiday food story, that’s a tough one! When I was younger, probably 8 or 10, there wasn’t many foods that would be allowed to adorn my plate no matter what time of year it was. Our family, my parents, brother and I, went to see a relative of ours (I believe it was my great aunt). My best recollection was the meal was either roast duck or pheasant, probably really tasty. I refused to eat it so my aunt made me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! Yeah, I passed up a great meal for prison food!
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My favorite cookie is Snickerdoodles. I love the cinnamon sugar on this cookie.
I once was making apple pie and read the wrong line of the recipe and put in 1/2 c of corn starch instead of sugar–that pie bounced off the floor! I was 16 though and no idea what I had done until I went to slice it. It looked pretty but was completely inedible!
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Being Italian, Christmas isn’t complete unless there are pignoli cookies on the table
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My large Italian family always gathered at our home on Christmas eve. This was the time of year when exotica found its way to the table. My parents served brains, pickled pig’s feet, chocolate covered ants…..to the children with the threat that Santa would not come unless they ate everything.
Every year I see my cousins over the holidays and we still talk about those meals. Their children are horrified but we remember those days fondly
Chocolate chip are my favorite.
Funny story: the cat got in and sipped on the chicken broth for the dressing. Had to resort to canned broth for dressing and gravy.
My favorite cookie is a simple peanut butter one — the kind with the criss-cross fork pattern. But for Christmas, it’s Swedish gingerbread cut-out cookies. They’re one of my most resilient childhood Christmas memories, and I love them to this day!
Chocolate crinkles :)
On a average I like Oatmeal Raisin except Christmas time and they are all my favorites!
My funniest would be over 35 years ago when I was first married and I attempted my first holiday dinner. I made a turkey and roasted all the innards with paper and all inside of it
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I absolutely love good old fashioned chocolate chip cookies. I know are are not suppose to but I still eat some of the dough raw before the first batch is finished baking.
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My funniest holiday food story happened last year. I make miniature pies and my husband and I have a pie eating contest with our grandchildren (no hands allowed). Pre-filled envelopes contain a cash prize for each place winner; but they always have the same amount so it is really just a bragging right to be the champ. Last year my husband put a black olive in my banana cream pie when I wasn’t looking. Imagine my surprise when I thought I got a banana slice and it was a black olive. Everyone else knew what he did and we all had a good laugh. I am sure I will come up with something to get him back.
Gingerbread cookies, no question :)
Shared on Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/pin/87749892720236443/ . Thanks for another great recipe. I am continuing to expand our gluten free choices for a family member and this one looks like one that everyone would love.
my favorite will always be chocolate chip oatmeal!
these used to be a family favorite, and i love that you’ve transformed them with real ingredients! stunning photos too, as always. i’m also really looking forward to making sweetened condensed coconut milk too.
My favorite kind of cookie — chocolate peppermint crinkles. :)
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Hi Faith. That countertop oven looks really nice. I am already a fan of An Edible Mosaic on Facebook
Hello Dolly! Those look delicious. I will be saving this recipe. A funny food story was when I was a new mom. We were asked to provide goodies to give to the swim team coaches. I thought I would bake them on my stone. But what I didn’t now was the husband cooked fish on the stone and the cookies ended up smelling like fish. Eew gross. LOL.
I love white chocolate macadamia nut cookies :)
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When I came home from my first year of college, feeling completely grown and in charge, I decided to “help out” and clean my parents’ oven the day before Christmas, not knowing how self-cleaning ovens truly work. Needless to say, my parents were not only ovenless for the big Christmas dinner we had the next night, it took months to finally get the oven working again! We had to outsource almost all of the planned dishes, and I’ve never lived it down!
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Crinkles are my favorite cookie,
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Can’t really think of a funny story but one year we did have a gift exchange. I had purchased a game and parks permit as my gift and when my Uncle ( the only one in the room who was from a different state) selected my gift I nudged my dad that he should “steal” it when it was his turn. Didn’t want my Uncle to get a gift he wouldn’t use!
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My daughters chocolate chip cookies are my favorite.
Snowball cookies are a favorite in our house around Christmas.
Anise sugar cookies
My favorite cookie is a gingersnap! Mmm, molasses!
My funniest holiday food story is more a tradition than a story. Every Christmas morning, my mother makes a batch of monkey bread, but every year she forgets at least one essential ingredient (always a different ingredient from the one she forgot last year). It’s kind of game now of Guess What’s Missing!
My favourite cookies are chewy ginger molasses!
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By far the best cookie is Dark Chocolate Chip cookies homemade, right out of the oven!!!
My favorite kind of cookie is a Snickerdoodle. I especially like to make them this time of year.
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These look so good! I’ve never heard them be called Hello Dollies before, what a cute name! Going to give this version a try! Thanks for making them vegan. Happy Holidays to you Faith!!
I love oatmeal raisin cookies.
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My favorite cookie is a warm ooey gooey chocolate chip cookie!
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A couple of years ago my daughter and I were making sugar cookies. Not thinking I cut the mixer on high right after I added the flour. Needless to say the flour was everywhere! My daughter and I laughed so hard. She said, Mommy you sure know how to make a mess! Now you get to clean it up!
To be perfectly honest I am sad to say I have never heard of these or them by any other name. Where have I been Faith? These have me drooling, definitely want to give them a go! That mini Wolf oven looks pretty killer, too. I think My favorite cookie would have to be a super chunky chocolate chip cookie, fresh from the oven all warm and gooey! A tried and true chocoholic! Cheers!