I am happy to be snowed in with an entire week off from teaching school - as long as the groceries last, I'm happy to have time to spend on creative recipe development. Look what happens! These bars happen. They are gluten-free, no-bake, vegan, practically raw, easy, and delicious. You notice I didn't say paleo - they have a few chocolate chips melted on the top. Oh, well. They are really nice without the top layer, but I think they make it the Best Nut Butter Bars.
I put the following ingredients into a small sauce pan:
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup almond butter
1/2 cup peanut butter (or one cup of either nut butter)
1/2 cup maple syrup ( or honey)
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp sea salt
I stirred this mixture up on low until smooth and then stirred in:
1/2 cup pecans
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut (the big chunky stuff)
1/3 cup cranberries
1/2 cup almond flour
I put parchment paper into an 8 x 8 glass baking dish, pushing it into the corners. Then I poured the mixture into the dish and placed it in the freezer for 45 minutes.
You could eat it just like this but I like to have a little chocolate layer on the top so in ia small sauce pan I melted:
1 cup Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips
1 TBSP coconut oil
I stirred this over low heat until it was warm and smooth and then poured it over the bars from the freezer. I put them back into the freezer for another 45 minutes.
I took them out and cut them into 9 big pieces but 16 small pieces would work, too.
Heaven. They are the Best Nut Butter Bars!
