Grain-Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars Recipe

Sigh. Nothing can pull a girl's heartstrings like a good recipe for chocolate peanut butter bars. As a lifelong fan of Reese's peanut butter cups, I've always wanted to find a way to indulge my chocolatey peanut buttery cravings at home without having to succumb to mass market candy with all its not-so-lovely additives.

Enter this too-good-to-be-true chocolate peanut butter bar recipe by my fellow blogger Carol at Ditch the Wheat. She obviously understands the magical spell Reese's can hold over you, as well as the age-old struggle between trying to indulge in a decadent dessert and trying to eat better for your health.

I was delighted to discover her latest recipe book Indulge: 70 Grain Free Recipes included a recipe for chocolate peanut butter bars. Not only do these hit the spot perfectly, but the recipe is very friendly to those with allergies or anyone following a grain-free, dairy-free or paleo-style diet.

If you're trying to avoid peanut butter (for allergies or other reasons), or if you just want to give these a creative flair, you can also try making them with almond butter or cashew butter--I imagine homemade macadamia nut butter would be pretty finger-lickin' good, too!

 

How to Make Grain-Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars 

(Soooo Yummy like Reese's!)

 

Crust:

• 1 cup almond flour/meal, (250 mL)
• 2 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil, (30 mL)
• 2 tbsp raw honey, (30 mL)
• 1/8 tsp salt, (0.5 mL) 

Filling:

• 1 cup almond butter or cashew butter (or peanut butter, of course!), (240 mL)
• 3 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil, (45 mL)
• 3 tbsp raw honey, (15 mL)
• 1 1/2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, (22.5 mL)
• 1/2 tbsp raw honey or more, (7.5 mL) 

• (Check out the marketplace page to find real food ingredients online!)

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line the bottom of a 4x8 inch rectangular loaf pan with parchment paper. 

• In a large bowl combine the ingredients for the crust.

• Evenly press the dough into the bottom of the prepared baking pan.

• Bake for 10-15 minutes. The crust is done when it is lightly brown and firm to the touch. Let the crust cool before spreading the filling.

• In a bowl, combine the nut butter, coconut oil, raw honey. Mix and reserve about ¼ of the mixture for the chocolate topping. 

• Spread the almond butter filling onto the cooled crust. 

• Place the bars in the freezer to firm up before spreading the chocolate mixture on top of the almond filling.

• To make the chocolate topping add unsweetened cocoa powder to the reserved almond butter filling and sweeten to taste.

• Spread on top of the semi-frozen bars. Place in the fridge to firm. Store the bars in the refrigerator. 

• Makes 8 servings

Easy peasy, aren't they? If you're ready to try more grain-free, primal-friendly dessert recipes, then you'll want to check out Indulge: 70 Grain Free Desserts. You'll get:

• Over 70 + recipes that include nut free & egg free recipes
• 162 pages of content
• All recipes are dairy free and adhere to Paleo principles
• Hyperlinked table of contents makes navigating easy
• Beautiful photographs
• Trouble shooting tips
• Bonus! A printer friendly copy

Save 20% today! Order Indulge: 70 Grain Free Desserts by Jan. 31, 2013 and pay $24.97 $19.98 with coupon code HOLIDAYDTW. 

Click here to order now!

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Polyunsaturated Oils Lead to Higher Cancer Risk

For years we've been told to avoid butter and instead use vegetable oils as our primary fat source. Mainstream science claims this will save our hearts. But industrial oils like soybean, corn and canola oil are hiding a dirty little secret: consuming them could very well increase your risk of cancer.

What Are Polyunsaturated Fats?

Saturated fats have no double bonds (like those in coconut oil) and monounsaturated fats (like those in olive oil) have one double bond. However, polyunsaturated fats (also known as PUFAs for short) are linked by multiple double bonds. This is what makes polyunsaturated oils highly unstable and fare more vulnerable to oxidation than other fats. Bruce Fife offers an excellent explanation of the different kinds of fats and how they affect our health is his book The Coconut Oil Miracle.

The Cancer Connection

Many experts now acknowledge that refined polyunsaturated oils are damaged fats and should be avoided. This leads to the assumption that cold-pressed organic oils are inherently acceptable because they are less refined. However, even gently processed polyunsaturated oils are unstable, and oxidation can still occur once these fats are in the body. And oxidation is linked to cancer and other degenerative diseases.

In addition to the dangers of oxidation, there are also bonafide concerns about the omega-6 content of polyunsaturated oils. A recent San Francisco study demonstrated that under laboratory conditions, omega-6 fatty acids could accelerate the growth of prostate tumor cells.

Other studies show that improving the omega-3 to omega-6 ratio can lower the risk of certain cancers. Experts vary in their specific ratio recommendations, but most suggest a ratio of between 1:1 and 1:4 at most. The average modern diet has an omega-3 to omega-6 ratio of 1:20 (or more!).

The blame for this imbalance can be squarely placed on the rapid increase of vegetable oils in our diets during the past century: 

While some vegetable oils do contain small amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, for the most part they consist of omega-6. Eating more vegetable oils does nothing to correct the imbalance of omega 3 to omega 6 fatty acids in our diet.

To combat this effect, the typical recommendation is to increase omega-3 consumption. That's kind like bailing water out of a sinking ship with a baseball cap. This problem is far more effectively resolved by reducing omega-6 intake. Eliminating or drastically decreasing polyunsaturated oil consumption is the best way to do this.

How to Decrease Your Polyunsaturated Fat Intake

Here's how you can cut excess PUFAs from your diet:

1. Avoid commercial fried foods. With very few exceptions, these are cooked in polyunsaturated oils and contain highly damaged fats.

2. Avoid commercial salad dressings, mayonnaise and other fatty condiments. Unless otherwise noted, these are generally made with refined vegetable oils.

3. Avoid commercial baked goods. Riddled with bleached flour, refined sugar and chemical additives, these items should be avoided in general for obvious reasons. But their high PUFA content gives you yet another good reason for leaving these items on the shelf where they belong.

4. Cook and bake with butter, coconut oil, olive oil and other heat stable fats. Frankly, these taste a whole lot better than veggie oils anyway, so making this trade should be easy. Find quality sources of healthy oils here.

5. Go easy on the nuts. While these may be hailed as a health food by many experts, in excess nuts can easily skew your omega-3 to omega-6 ratio and push your polyunsaturated fat intake over the limit. A few servings a week is more than enough, though I personally choose to eat them even more sparingly than that. Hazelnuts and macadamia nuts are the most forgiving since these contain the lowest PUFA content (and they also taste pretty darn good!).

A Historical Perspective on Vegetable Oils

Traditional cultures simply did not liberally use polyunsaturated oils in their diets. Keep in mind that these cultures often exhibited excellent health and did not suffer from modern diseases such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease. Weston A. Price noted in his book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration that industrial vegetable oils were one of the modern foods that brought health problems to traditional people when they started using these oils in their diets. We should take a hint from our ancestors and ditch the industrial fats.

Need help finding high quality, healthy oils? Check out my Resources page.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.


 

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Nutrition in a Nutshell: How to Soak and Dehydrate Nuts

Grains aren't the other food that needs soaking. One of the quick and easy fallback real food snacks are soaked nuts. And here’s why you should love them:

- Nuts are seriously nutrient-dense for a plant food.

- They are rich in minerals like copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, selenium and zinc.

- Nuts are a good source of protein and include plenty of important amino acids like tryptophan and arginine.

- They’re also an excellent source of B vitamins, which are sadly lacking in the modern diet.

- Antioxidants like the vitamin E in nuts are important for protecting our bodies from oxidation.

- They’re quick and easy to take along anywhere if you need nourishing food in a jiffy!

But to get the most out of your nuts, you’re going to have to do a little work. I’m talking about soaking and dehydrating nuts - the lost art of preparing these little goodies. Our ancestors knew all about soaking nuts, and now we know why this is so important:

Nuts contain a lot of anti-nutrients like phytates and enzyme-inhibitors that block nutrient absorption and disrupt digestion. If you’ve ever suffered from digestive troubles after eating a bunch of raw nuts, this is why. Nuts are much more tolerable and healthy when they’ve been soaked, because soaking allows enzymes to do their work and neutralize the bad stuff. (Of course, it’s important to start with raw nuts to ensure their enzymes and nutrients are still intact.)

Instructions for Soaking and Dehydrating:

Raw Almonds*, Macadamia Nuts, Peanuts, or Pecans

- Mix 4 cups of nuts in a bowl with 2-3 teaspoons of unrefined sea salt and enough water to cover the nuts. Soak for 7-12 hours.

- Strain the nuts, then spread them out on a large pan and dry in a warm oven for 12-24 hours.

* Many of the almonds in stores come from California, where laws dictate that almonds sold as food must be pasteurized or otherwise sterilized before sale. Because of this, finding truly raw almonds is getting difficult. You can read more about this here. If you’re not sure if your almonds are truly raw, you might get better results by following the instructions below for cashews.

Cashews

Cashews are a little different because soaking them too long will distort their texture and taste. Generally cashews are not truly raw because they are exposed to heat during typical processing, so drying them at 200-250 degrees is fine.

- Soak for up to 6 hours, but not any longer.

- Strain and dry in a 200-250 degree oven for 12-24 hours.

Is 150 degrees too hot to preserve enzymes?

This is a common concern, but I’ve heard this addressed in a way that makes sense. The destruction of enzymes starts at a dry-heat temperature of 150 degrees (wet-heat is 118 degrees). However, even if your oven is set at 150 degrees, it’s unlikely your soaked nuts are going to reach that temperature. Trust me, I can stick my hand in my 150-degree oven and touch the pan (or the drying nuts) without it being too hot. The fact that’s it’s not too hot to touch is a great indicator that enzymes can still survive.

However, this is where there's a clear advantage to owning a food dehydrator: you can set it at 100 degrees and have absolutely no worries about destroying valuable enzymes. Using the oven you risk losing some enzymes, but it's the most practical method for most people.

But what if my oven doesn’t go below 200 degrees?

Well, you have a couple choices:

1. Roast the nuts at 200 degrees. You’ll lose the enzyme content, but because you soaked the nuts first you’ll still be neutralizing the bad stuff.

2. Set your oven at the lowest temperature and prop the oven door open with a utensil while you’re dehydrating the nuts. You can keep track of the real oven temp with a thermometer. I haven’t done this personally, but I imagine it’s safe if you keep an eye on it. If you have little toddlers with curious hands running around, however, this might not be the best idea.

3. Shell out the cash and buy a dehydrator. They’re not cheap, but they are super useful. Because not only is this the easiest way to dehydrate nuts, you can also make dried fruit, meat jerky and yogurt in a dehydrator. I am definitely drooling at the idea of getting one of these (then I can stop making yogurt in a cooler), but at the moment it’s not fitting in the budget so I’ll just have to be patient...

4. Dry your nuts in the sun. I don’t have any experience with this so I won’t try to tell you how to do it. But I imagine it requires two things: warmth and sunlight. If you can’t get those two things going for at least several hours I don’t see how this would work. I’d love to hear from anyone who has experience drying nuts in the sun, though.
 
Although I don't think nuts should be the focus of a healthy diet, they are definitely a healthy (and handy) side item. Having a handful of soaked nuts a few times a week is certainly a convenient way to keep your body nourished.

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