Sunday, June 26, 2011

Coconut Raspberry Bars....the bomb!

These are so delicious and the ingredients are most all healthy, except there is some added light brown sugar.  3/4 cups.....everything in moderation.  These are much healthier than eating a bar with butter, white sugar, white flour, and so on....I've modified all the ingredients and these are a great little dessert.  You can even heat them up.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup Oat Flour (can also get Gluten Free Oat Flour)
1 1/2 cups Oatmeal (can also get Gluten Free Oats)
1 1/2 cups Unsweetened Coconut Flakes (I can't get enough of coconut!)
3/4 cup Light Brown Sugar (can use Splenda, artificial sweetener, same amount of nutrients)
1/2 tsp. Sea Salt
3/4 cup Unsweetened Applesauce
1/2 cup Coconut Milk (this has some fat content in it, but it's better than butter and I'm omitting 1.5 sticks)
1 jar of your choice of raspberry jelly or jam! (this was hard for me because I do not believe in sugar free anymore, as I have read many studies that show your brain reacts to artificial sugars similarly to regulars sugars, in most cases.  Plus, I do not know how much I like unnatural, chemicals in my body.  Now, some may argue that sugar is chemically harming your body, true, but in moderation, and if you have "A" bar, I see this as life and a reward for your hard work throughout the week.  So, I chose organic Raspberry Jam.
Unsweetened Coconut Flakes for topping...you'll end up using about 3/4 cup more.
Parchment Paper
You will need an 8x8 non stick pan.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

 Cut parchment paper on the bottom of the pan leaving an inch around each side of the 8x8 bottom, put in pan and cut at corners so you can fold and press down in pan.  Spray with EVOO spray. 
 Take 3/4 Cup of Unsweetened Coconut Flakes and spread on baking sheet and bake for about 6 minutes, keeping an eye on them until slightly golden brown.  Take a spoon or ladle and mix up every 2 minutes. 
 Mix all your dry ingredients together.  Then add in applesauce and coconut milk.

 This part was tricky.  You'll also note I'm using a larger pan, 9x13, which didn't work, which is why I'm calling for an 8x8:)   So take the dough, it's sticky....take coconut flakes and dust them on top of your dough, in the pan, and use them to pat the dough down evenly on bottom of pan, for crust. 
 Smear jelly all over crust and then dust with your coconut you baked earlier on top. 

 Cut into bars and enjoy!
 A couple of ideas.....I put them in fridge, because I like cold bars.  You can heat them up, they'd be really good that way too!
a closeup.

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