Recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie. Delicious!! They can be gluten-free / dairy-free / sugar-free / egg-free / grain-free / soy-free / and oil-free
(Makes 12-16 bars)
- 1/4 cup applesauce
- 1 cup peanut butter OR allergy-friendly alternative (nut-free recipe here)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp flour – you can use spelt, white, sorghum, oat, almond, even or buckwheat (50g)
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar of choice or xylitol
- 1/4 cup chocolate chips (can be omitted)
- up to 2 tbsp milk of choice, only if needed
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8-inch baking pan and set aside. In a
mixing bowl, gently heat your nut butter if it is not already
stir-able, then stir in the applesauce and vanilla extract, and set
aside. In a separate mixing bowl, stir together the baking soda, salt,
flour, sugar, and chocolate chips. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet
and keep stirring—it will seem very dry at first, so you’ll need to
break up the nut butter and stop occasionally to scrape it off your
spoon. Only if needed, slowly add up to 2 tbsp milk of choice as you
stir. Don’t add more milk; it will eventually get gooey like cookie
dough. Transfer the batter into the prepared pan, and smooth down evenly
with a spatula or spoon. Press some chocolate chips into the top if
desired. Bake 10 minutes. When you take the peanut butter bars out, the
top will look set but they will still be very undercooked underneath.
This is okay! Leave them to cool for
at least 20 minutes, during which time they will firm up. (They also firm up even more overnight.)
