Almond Butter and Jelly Bars
What does one do with a free evening after all of the day’s obligations have been met? Definitely not go to sleep at a reasonable hour. But a blogging marathon? NOW we’re speaking the same language.
I made these almond butter and jelly bars a few weeks back as an experiment and liked how they turned out, so I served them to all the guests at my teacher’s studio recital. I was going to tweak the crust (it’s a bit chewy and I was going for crumbly) but I got pretty good feedback from the crowd, so I decided to post the recipe now. If I edit it, as always, I will update the changes! Because these bars do not contain any refined sugar or sugar substitutes, they are not overwhelmingly sweet, but with all of the flavors they have going on, you won’t miss the sugar.
Ingredients:
Crust
- 2 cups oat flour
- 1/2 cup almond milk (unsweetened vanilla works best)
- 1/8 cup almond butter
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 egg
- 1/4 tsp almond extract
“Jelly”
- 1/2 cup dates, boiled and mashed
- 2 cups whole strawberries, fresh or frozen, tops removed
- 6 oz. raspberries, fresh or frozen
- 6 oz. blueberries, fresh or frozen
- 1 tbs. honey
- 1/4 cup chia seeds
- 3-4 tablespoons almond butter, melted
Method:
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Combine wet ingredients and dry ingredients separately for the crust. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and knead until combined. Pat dough evenly into a 13’x9′ or similarly sized baking pan (nonstick or greased – I like coconut oil spray for baking) and bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until crust is set. Remove from oven and set aside. While the crust is baking, bring dates covered with about 1 1/2 inches of water to boil in a deep skillet. Boil for about 5 minutes, or until dates are soft. Remove the dates from the water, and mash them into a paste. Heat all the berries together in a pan and cover, until they begin to pop/release juice. Thoroughly mash the berries together with the date paste, and then mix in the honey and chia seeds. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes so that the chia seeds can soak, and then spoon the “jelly” onto your baked crust. Melt the remaining few tablespoons of almond butter in the microwave, and drizzle evenly over the top. Return pan to the oven for another 5-10 minutes, then remove and let cool. For best results, refrigerate before cutting and serving so that the “jelly” has more time to thicken.
Enjoy!
