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Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Grain-Free Blueberry Banana Bars ~ A Recipe


We continue to move towards the Gaps diet, finishing off foods that aren't Gaps compliant, introducing recipes that are.  Before the crazy-hot weather hits us, I'm enjoying using my oven and waking the family with yummy, comforting smells.  This "bready," grain-free treat is sweetened only with bananas.  I like the tang the blueberries give, but there are a couple puritans in my family that enjoy their banana bread without them.  This recipe was inspired from banana blueberry muffins found in the Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook.

Grain-Free Banana Blueberry Bars
Makes 16 bars
3 cups blanched almond flour** (recipe for almond flour below)
1/4 teaspoon celtic sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 Tablespoons olive oil or melted coconut oil
3 eggs
4-5 ripe bananas, mashed
2 cups frozen blueberries

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease the bottom and sides of a 9x13-inch glass pan.
  2. Combine almond flour, salt, and baking soda.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil and eggs.  Beat wet and dry mixes along with the bananas very throughly to give the eggs good beating (it sounds harsh, I know, but the key to fluffy, grain-free baked goods is thoroughly beating the eggs).
  3. Place batter in prepared pan and sprinkle blueberries on top.
  4. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the edges are brown and a toothpick stuck into the center of the dish comes out clean.  Let bars cool for about 30 minutes, then serve.

Enjoy!

** I made my own almond flour for this recipe by putting (soaked, then dehydrated) almonds through a food processor until right before the almonds turn to butter.  It worked fine in my opinion, but the kids enjoy the finer, blanched almond flour.


I'm sharing this as Monday Mania, Real Food Wednesday, Fresh Bites Friday, Fight Back Friday, Seasonal Roundup.

16 comments:

  1. These look lovely, and they'd great for my excess bananas. Now I just have to get some more eggs.

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  2. I stopped over from Monday Mania and these look great. We eat a lot of nuts for protein and I was glas to see that these are "NT" crispy nuts. I also have a GF father-in-law who adores blueberries. Thanks for the recipe.

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  3. These look fantastic, I'm going to try and make them this weekend for a party :) Thanks for sharing!

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  4. I just made this recipe and it tastes wonderful! Since I'm cooking for one, have you ever tried dividing it into two batches and freezing one or maybe even halving the recipe altogether? Either way, definitely a keeper!

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  5. I'm so glad you like it! I haven't experimented freezing it, but I have a feeling it will freeze well, and you could definitely cut the recipe in half and bake it in an 8x8-inch pan.

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  6. is there a way to make them with out eggs?

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  7. Hmmm... I've never tried it without eggs. You would need to use another ingredient that could hold the bars together...

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  8. Pretty sure I need to make this right now. Looks amazing!

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  9. Is there something else I could use in place of the almond flour? My kids can't do nuts ... :(

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  10. Hm... I haven't tried any other flour with this recipe, I'm afraid.

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  11. Just tried this and it turned out LOVELY! I used 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp almond extract which worked nicely. So good to have a yummy gf cake that is moist and doesnt fall apart! Thanks for the recipes Katie, I love them!

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  12. Wonderful! And those changes sound yummy!

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  13. Try using flax meal egg subtitute googworkhorse recipe that should work

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  14. Do you think coconut flour would work?

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  15. I've never tried it with coconut flour. If you want to give it a go, I suggest using 1/2 the amount of flour and ad about 4 eggs. Let me know how it turns out if you try it. :)

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