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Almond Bars

Foodie Friday

Nov 25, 2011 by Bonnie Simon

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Almond bars were a big seller for Chickens in the Kitchen this past summer. This recipe is an adaptation of an Elana’s Pantry recipe. Her book, The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook, includes a delicious recipe for almond flour chocolate chip cookies.

I learned, by experimenting, that you can make lovely almond flour cookies in a home oven, but a commercial convection oven will turn the batter into one very thin layer of cookie on the baking sheet! Why? The heat rises too fast and the batter melts. Making bars solved that problem.

Another change involved the almonds. I don’t own a food processor and chop my almonds in the blender, resulting in a very coarse grind. If I blend too long, I get almond butter and then I get distracted by lunch.

The coarse almond meal is mixed with the other ingredients and pressed into an 8X8 pan. Be sure to cool them until they are solid before cutting. With no crystallized sugar or eggs, nothing holds this recipe together but non-enzymatic browning and it’s nearly a liquid until it cools.

Chickens in the Kitchen’s Almond Bars

(This product is guaranteed not to contain chicken)

Ingredients

3 c whole almonds

1/2 c honey

1/2 c gently melted coconut oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 c chocolate chips (use “Enjoy Life” gluten free chips if making for the gluten free crowd)

Directions

Heat the oven to 350 and line an 8X8 pan with parchment paper.

Grind the almonds in the blender or food processor until they are the consistency of small gravel. It’s powdery when ready, with big and small pieces of almonds. If you are using the blender, add no more than 1 c of almonds at a time, otherwise you get almond butter at the bottom before the top is ground.

Mix the dry ingredients together and then add the wet ingredients.

Add the chocolate chips and mix the chips in with your hands.

Press the mix into the pan and cook for 20 minutes. The batter will look loose, but the top will be brown when it’s done.

Cool on a wire rack in the pan for 20 minutes and then gently use the paper to lift the bars out of the pan onto the rack.

Cool until a finger pressed into the bar leaves a depression.

Cut into bars.

These don’t need refrigeration, but they do hold their shape better when cooled. I recommend freezing the extra, right away. They’ll keep in the refrigerator, but they have a way of calling out to passersby.

About the Author

Bonnie Simon Has Written 35 Articles For Us!

I am an urban homesteader in Colorado Springs, CO where I raise chickens, make my own yogurt and am learning to grow some food, all within sight of downtown in a 1950s era neighborhood. I am starting a small business designed to fill the gap between local farms and local dinner tables.

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