Today I decided to throw random things in a bowl, mix them together, pour the batter into an eight by eight pan, bake it at 350, and see if the results were any good. I wanted to do something original; I was not in the mood for Adaptation Afternoon. Of course, as you probably guessed, I wasn't going to throw completely random things together. There was a skeleton of a plan: enough structure to give me some direction, but not so much that if things took an unexpected turn I wouldn't be able to at least attempt to adapt. In other words, I didn't get my hopes up and I didn't get stuck on having things come out a certain way. Good thing. Might be a good idea for more than just baking, now that I think of it. Hmmm.
Anyway, I wanted to make some kind of energy bar or bar-like cookie with some serious substance to it. I have wanted to experiment with that type of recipe for years now and have never done it. Several times I have gotten as far as spreading all the potential ingredients on the counter and preheating the oven, only to re-read whatever recipe I had and deem it not quite the right recipe and not quite the right time to throw random nuts and fruits and egg white into a bowl and see what came out. Today was the day.
I read the ingredients on the Lara Bar package even though I already knew them: dates, almonds, cashews. I knew many of the nut/fruit bars use honey as a binder; I have seen recipes that use egg white as a binder. Some bars are baked, some sit at room temperature to firm up, some require refrigeration (not sure what the point of that is - I want these things to be portable!). I did not feel like pitting Medjool dates, delicious as they are. I also did not feel like getting out the food processor and making a puree out of six different dried fruits. Well, mostly it was the clean up I wasn't up for. I just wanted to mix stuff together, spread it out in a pan, bake it, and have it be delicious. I also wanted something with a little bit of softness to it, but not quite cakey softness.
It occurred to me to use a nut butter cookie dough as a base to bind everything together since I know it works. Then I figured I could just throw in a bunch of different nuts and fruits until there were just about equal parts soft dough and hard/chewy pieces, unlike a typical bar cookie which has much more dough than pieces of stuff. I also figured I would add an extra egg white to my nut butter dough as additional binder, use a bit less sweetener and a bit more salt to make the flavor less like dessert and more like Serious Substantial Snacking Tidbit.
So I went to work. The batter tasted way too salty, but I hoped that as the nuts all baked and browned, that saltiness would be balanced by nuttiness and the depth of flavor imparted by using honey instead of sugar. And it actually worked out that way. Next time I might toast the nuts beforehand or at least let them come to room temperature (I got them out of the freezer and dumped them right in), but all in all, I'd say the bars are pretty tasty, not too sweet, not too crunchy, not too dessert-like. Let me know how yours come out. Oh, and if you happen to feel like pitting Medjool dates, or if you have other dates in your fridge, feel free to substitute those for all or part of the coconut and dried berries. They'll add extra deliciousness, and you can never have too much of that, in baking, or in life.
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Philly Breakfast Cookie Bars
Ingredients
1/2 c. Gluten Free Flour blend (I put into a 1/2 c. measuring cup 1 TBSP potato starch, 1 TBSP arrowroot, and topped it off with sorghum, but you can use what you like. I don't recommend using 100% of any one flour though - mix it up)
1 TSP guar gum (or xanthan)
1/2 TSP cinnamon
1/2 TSP salt
1 TSP baking powder
1/2 c. cashew/almond/sunflower butter or a blend of those
1/2 c. honey
1 TBSP brown sugar
1/4 c. shortening at room temperature (or you can use butter - yum)
1 egg
1 egg white
1/3 - 1/2 c. flaked sweetened coconut (you can use unsweetened if you want)
1/3 c. chopped pecans
1/3 c. chopped walnuts
1/3 - 1/2 c. slivered/sliced/chopped almonds
1/3-1/2 c. dried cranberries (or dates or cherries or chopped apricots)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350.
Generously grease the bottom and sides of an eight by eight or nine by nine inch pan. I used palm shortening.
In one bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and guar gum.
In another bowl, using an electric mixer, blend together your nut butter, shortening, honey, sugar, and eggs until smooth.
Add the flour and beat on low speed until smooth.
Add the nuts and dried fruits one element at a time, folding each one in before adding the next. Once you reach the 50-50 batter-nut saturation point, stop adding.
Spread your firm but sticky batter in the greased pan and pop it in the oven.
This will take about 20-28 minutes, so rotate the pan after 10 minutes, then check after another 10 and add time accordingly. The edges should be deep golden brown and the center should spring mostly back when you press on it. Because of the nut butter, the bar will firm up more as it cools, so if you want a chewier creation, take it out of the oven when the edges are golden brown and the center almost springs back but still seems a bit moist.
Enjoy! Suggestions? Tell me!
~GFG
Anyway, I wanted to make some kind of energy bar or bar-like cookie with some serious substance to it. I have wanted to experiment with that type of recipe for years now and have never done it. Several times I have gotten as far as spreading all the potential ingredients on the counter and preheating the oven, only to re-read whatever recipe I had and deem it not quite the right recipe and not quite the right time to throw random nuts and fruits and egg white into a bowl and see what came out. Today was the day.
I read the ingredients on the Lara Bar package even though I already knew them: dates, almonds, cashews. I knew many of the nut/fruit bars use honey as a binder; I have seen recipes that use egg white as a binder. Some bars are baked, some sit at room temperature to firm up, some require refrigeration (not sure what the point of that is - I want these things to be portable!). I did not feel like pitting Medjool dates, delicious as they are. I also did not feel like getting out the food processor and making a puree out of six different dried fruits. Well, mostly it was the clean up I wasn't up for. I just wanted to mix stuff together, spread it out in a pan, bake it, and have it be delicious. I also wanted something with a little bit of softness to it, but not quite cakey softness.
It occurred to me to use a nut butter cookie dough as a base to bind everything together since I know it works. Then I figured I could just throw in a bunch of different nuts and fruits until there were just about equal parts soft dough and hard/chewy pieces, unlike a typical bar cookie which has much more dough than pieces of stuff. I also figured I would add an extra egg white to my nut butter dough as additional binder, use a bit less sweetener and a bit more salt to make the flavor less like dessert and more like Serious Substantial Snacking Tidbit.
So I went to work. The batter tasted way too salty, but I hoped that as the nuts all baked and browned, that saltiness would be balanced by nuttiness and the depth of flavor imparted by using honey instead of sugar. And it actually worked out that way. Next time I might toast the nuts beforehand or at least let them come to room temperature (I got them out of the freezer and dumped them right in), but all in all, I'd say the bars are pretty tasty, not too sweet, not too crunchy, not too dessert-like. Let me know how yours come out. Oh, and if you happen to feel like pitting Medjool dates, or if you have other dates in your fridge, feel free to substitute those for all or part of the coconut and dried berries. They'll add extra deliciousness, and you can never have too much of that, in baking, or in life.
========
Philly Breakfast Cookie Bars
Ingredients
1/2 c. Gluten Free Flour blend (I put into a 1/2 c. measuring cup 1 TBSP potato starch, 1 TBSP arrowroot, and topped it off with sorghum, but you can use what you like. I don't recommend using 100% of any one flour though - mix it up)
1 TSP guar gum (or xanthan)
1/2 TSP cinnamon
1/2 TSP salt
1 TSP baking powder
1/2 c. cashew/almond/sunflower butter or a blend of those
1/2 c. honey
1 TBSP brown sugar
1/4 c. shortening at room temperature (or you can use butter - yum)
1 egg
1 egg white
1/3 - 1/2 c. flaked sweetened coconut (you can use unsweetened if you want)
1/3 c. chopped pecans
1/3 c. chopped walnuts
1/3 - 1/2 c. slivered/sliced/chopped almonds
1/3-1/2 c. dried cranberries (or dates or cherries or chopped apricots)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350.
Generously grease the bottom and sides of an eight by eight or nine by nine inch pan. I used palm shortening.
In one bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and guar gum.
In another bowl, using an electric mixer, blend together your nut butter, shortening, honey, sugar, and eggs until smooth.
Add the flour and beat on low speed until smooth.
Add the nuts and dried fruits one element at a time, folding each one in before adding the next. Once you reach the 50-50 batter-nut saturation point, stop adding.
Spread your firm but sticky batter in the greased pan and pop it in the oven.
This will take about 20-28 minutes, so rotate the pan after 10 minutes, then check after another 10 and add time accordingly. The edges should be deep golden brown and the center should spring mostly back when you press on it. Because of the nut butter, the bar will firm up more as it cools, so if you want a chewier creation, take it out of the oven when the edges are golden brown and the center almost springs back but still seems a bit moist.
Enjoy! Suggestions? Tell me!
~GFG
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