Grain-Free Chocolate Chip Cake Bars

Stephanie’s note: In a week, our family will be embarking on yet another “free” diet. You know the kind – free from gluten and grain, free from dairy, free from sugar, free from our usual favorites and convenience and ease.

And I know that so many of you have also turned to diets like this, be they GAPS or SCD or a version of WAPF or paleo or whatever it is, because you’re dealing with gut problems, Candida, auto-immune issues, dental decay, etc. It’s so hard. It’s hard because you feel limited in what you can eat, and doubly hard because you don’t know where to turn to find recipes that actually taste good.

That’s why I’m so excited to introduce to you Megan of Eat Beautiful. She and her family have experienced the same struggles, and had to work hard to find delicious alternatives to eat. She writes about it on her blog, but more recently has launched a fabulous cookbook full of grain free, sugar free recipes with options for almost any restricted diet. You’ll find waffles and pancakes, muffins and loaves, cakes and cookies, and all sorts of other delectable foods to satisfy your sweet tooth without getting in the way of your healing.

So please give her a warm welcome and then go check out her book!

Guest Post by Megan Stevens of Eat Beautiful

My family loves Chocolate Chip Cake Bars for so many reasons. They’re yummy! They satisfy a longing in each of us to eat cake. The bar shape makes them welcoming, easy to grab at a 4th of July picnic or for a quick pick-me-up treat. And, well, chocolate chips are forever friends. Who doesn’t like them?

This recipe is really special, too, because it utilizes a new grain-free baking method that makes grain-free baking not only really easy and fast, but also easier to digest. So while baking with almond butter, almond meal and coconut flour are good options, I think you’ll enjoy this option even more. Why? The technique also yields an awesome texture in baked goods. And that’s why it was developed, because baked goods that use this method are healthier, just as easy and delicious.

I’m excited to share my cookbook with you as well: EAT BEAUTIFUL: Grain-free, Sugar-free and Loving It. The Kindle version is available today or you can wait until July 6 to get the eBook + free bonus videos (or the softcover version). You can purchase the book here to receive these bonus videos: one, of me sharing this new grain-free baking technique, including how it originated, as well as four videos with bonus recipes not included in the cookbook!

Grain-free baked goods that taste like old favorites are better than baked goods that taste “healthy,” right? You’ll feel proud to share this recipe at any potluck or family gathering, even among friends who don’t eat a grain-free diet.

(If you’re new to grain-free, sugar-free baking, it’s a great dietary choice for healing many health conditions, especially for putting autoimmune diseases into remission; and grain-free baking also tends to be a wink easier, as recipes often are assembled in a blender.)

These Chocolate Chip Cake Bars are a perfect place to start. If you love them, you’re sure to love the 100+ additional grain-free, sugar-free recipes that this cookbook offers. With beautiful photographs, enjoy recipes for waffles, pancakes, scones, cakes, pies, cookies, smoothies, savory casseroles, loaf bread and rolls, as well as a whole chapter of fun treats, with quick prep times, to make for kids. (Many recipes are also nut-free, dairy-free, egg-free etc., to help various food intolerances.)

A New Grain-free Baking Technique

So what is this new grain-free baking technique?

Basically, it’s popular to use nuts in grain-free baking. They can be in the form of butter, meal or flour, and sometimes they are sprouted to aid in digestion and the assimilation of nutrients. So where’s the trouble?

• Nut butters, meals and flours are usually rancid. And they are usually not sprouted. So even though we think of them as healthy, they really can be improved upon.
• Sprouted nuts (soaked overnight and then dehydrated and ground into flour) are expensive to buy or time-consuming to create at home.

This new method, while using nuts, solves both of these shortcomings. The method uses nuts soaked in saltwater; but they are neither dehydrated nor ground into flour.

It looks like this: the cook puts raw nuts, salt and water into a bowl in the evening. In the morning she rinses them off in a colander; and they are now ready to use! That’s it. We call this, “soaked and wet.” There is almost no labor, less than 5 minutes. And the nuts are much healthier than store-bought butters or flours.

As I mentioned above, this method also yields a great texture in baked goods. That’s because the batter is moist, and it stays moist after being baked. In EAT BEAUTIFUL: Grain-free, Sugar-free and Loving It I share recipes for every kind of baked good utilizing this technique. Moist muffins are made quickly: just pop the wet nuts in the blender with eggs, butter or coconut oil, honey and a few other ingredients and you have a wonderfully easy, delicious baked goods!

Here’s the chocolate chip cake bar recipe I hope you love. I hope it comes in handy for all those summer events when you want a homemade treat but you don’t want to hang out in the kitchen for hours to get it.

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Chocolate Chip Cake Bars

Course: Desserts and Sweets

Servings: 0

Author: Ann Timm

Ingredients

• 2 cups cashews soaked and wet*
• 1/2 cup coconut oil melted and cooled
• 1/3 cup honey or other sweetener of choice
• 2 eggs preferably grass-fed
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda sifted
• 2 ounces preferred chocolate chips

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Grease a 9-inch square pan with coconut oil or sustainably sourced lard.
• In a food processor or high-powered blender, combine the first 5 ingredients: cashews, coconut oil, sweetener, eggs and sea salt.
• Puree until smooth, stopping the motor once or twice to scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl.
• In a separate small bowl, sift together the coconut flour and baking soda.
• Sprinkle the sifted mixture and the shaved chocolate over the top of the wet ingredients, and process briefly but thoroughly once more, being careful not to over-mix.
• Pour the batter into the greased pan and bake until the center is puffed, the edges are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with tiny small crumbs adhering.
• Allow it to cool on a drying rack before slicing into squares and removing with an offset spatula.

Notes

*Soaking and Sprouting NutsFor every 4 cups raw seeds or nuts, cover by two inches with room-temperature filtered water and 2 teaspoons sea salt. Stir well to dissolve the salt. Leave uncovered at room temperature overnight, then drain and rinse well in the morning. They are now ready to be used in their wet form.

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