Almond bars
Almond-cranberry Bars
This is izmirian's recipe. He developed it with the intent to have a less-sugar and low Omega-6 snack bar. These qualities do not exist in either commercial granola or snack bars, nor in most of the granola bar recipes out there. They're not actually low-calorie or low fat, but they're pretty tasty. They're also filling, vegan and gluten-free if you care about that kind of thing.
Ingredients
Directions
Split the flax seed evenly into two small bowls and add 1/4 cup water to each. Let sit at least 10 minutes.
In a food processor, pulse the almond meal, salt, dried cranberries, oatmeal, and dates until chopped into coarse sand (less is fine too). You want the dates to be all mushed up and distributed so it helps hold the bars together. The oatmeal should be in small pieces too since the flakes tend to break up the bars.
Take half of the mixture (by weight) out and store in a medium bowl. To the remaining dry ingredients in the food processor, add one of the small bowls of flax seed and water. Add 100g of the almond butter. Blend until everything is well mixed. Dump the dough onto a sheet of parchment paper.
Add the reserved dry ingredients back to the food processor and add the remaining flax seed and water mixture and the remaining 100g almond butter. Blend until everything is well mixed. Dump onto another sheet of parchment.
Roll each blob of dough out to about a 10"x10" square (about 1 cm thick or 3/8" thick).
Bake on a shallow baking sheet at 350 degF for 15 min. You can bake both at the same time, in top and bottom 3rd of oven.
Let cool a little then cut each tray into 22-24 pieces.
Nutrition
(Info calculated from caloriecount.about.com)
serving size = 46 g (about 2 bars)
189 calories
10.3 g fat
19.4 g carbohydrates
9.0 g sugar
4.1 g fiber
5.5 g protein
bigger serving size = 53 g (about 2 larger bars)
218 calories
11.9 g fat
22.5 g carbohydrates
10.4 g sugar
4.8 g fiber
6.4 g protein
mercuts: 21.6g each bar, measured average of 8 bars ==> 43.2g per 2 bar serving.
izcuts: 26.9g each bar, measured average of 14 ==> 53.9g per 2 bar serving.
This is izmirian's recipe. He developed it with the intent to have a less-sugar and low Omega-6 snack bar. These qualities do not exist in either commercial granola or snack bars, nor in most of the granola bar recipes out there. They're not actually low-calorie or low fat, but they're pretty tasty. They're also filling, vegan and gluten-free if you care about that kind of thing.
Ingredients
- 200g almond meal (we use Trader Joe's brand which includes the almond skins for more fiber!)
- 1/4 tsp salt (skip if your almond butter is salted)
- 227g dried cranberries (or 300g) (or orange flavored dried cranberries) (not the unsweetened kind, if that even exists)
- 200g rolled oatmeal (we use old fashioned, but quick cooking would probably work too)
- 100g pitted dates
- 1/2 cup flax seed meal (golden flaxseed if that's an option)
- 1/2 cup water
- 200g almond butter
Directions
Split the flax seed evenly into two small bowls and add 1/4 cup water to each. Let sit at least 10 minutes.
In a food processor, pulse the almond meal, salt, dried cranberries, oatmeal, and dates until chopped into coarse sand (less is fine too). You want the dates to be all mushed up and distributed so it helps hold the bars together. The oatmeal should be in small pieces too since the flakes tend to break up the bars.
Take half of the mixture (by weight) out and store in a medium bowl. To the remaining dry ingredients in the food processor, add one of the small bowls of flax seed and water. Add 100g of the almond butter. Blend until everything is well mixed. Dump the dough onto a sheet of parchment paper.
Add the reserved dry ingredients back to the food processor and add the remaining flax seed and water mixture and the remaining 100g almond butter. Blend until everything is well mixed. Dump onto another sheet of parchment.
Roll each blob of dough out to about a 10"x10" square (about 1 cm thick or 3/8" thick).
Bake on a shallow baking sheet at 350 degF for 15 min. You can bake both at the same time, in top and bottom 3rd of oven.
Let cool a little then cut each tray into 22-24 pieces.
Nutrition
(Info calculated from caloriecount.about.com)
serving size = 46 g (about 2 bars)
189 calories
10.3 g fat
19.4 g carbohydrates
9.0 g sugar
4.1 g fiber
5.5 g protein
bigger serving size = 53 g (about 2 larger bars)
218 calories
11.9 g fat
22.5 g carbohydrates
10.4 g sugar
4.8 g fiber
6.4 g protein
mercuts: 21.6g each bar, measured average of 8 bars ==> 43.2g per 2 bar serving.
izcuts: 26.9g each bar, measured average of 14 ==> 53.9g per 2 bar serving.