Almond Power Bars

I found a photo, description, and link to this recipe on my new favorite blog/website, The Nourishing Gourmet. She posts recipes and tips for making delicious foods made with traditional, natural ingredients. Her philosophy is based on the Nourishing Traditions book, and she's really living it and spreading the word. I'm grateful for the help, as I want to live into this philosophy as much as I can, but the book is a bit daunting.

She found the recipe itself on the website Elena's Pantry, and Elena, in turn, modified it from Melissa Diane Smith’s recipe for Amaretto Protein Bars in her book Going Against the Grain.

So! Without further ado, here is my own version:

2 cups almonds (raw)
½ cup flax meal (flax seeds ground in a blender)
½ cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)
½ cup unsalted almond butter (roasted tastes better)
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
½ cup coconut oil
2 to 4 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Place almonds, flax meal, shredded coconut, almond butter and salt in a food processor and pulse briefly, about 10 seconds.
In a small sauce pan, melt coconut oil over very low heat. [I actually just put the jar into hot water until I could pour out what I needed] Remove coconut oil from stove, stir honey and vanilla into oil. Add coconut oil mixture to food processor and pulse until ingredients form a coarse paste.
Press mixture into an 8 x 8 glass baking dish.
Chill in refrigerator for 1 hour, until mixture hardens.
In a small saucepan, melt chocolate chips over very low heat, stirring continuously.
Spread melted chocolate over bars; return to refrigerator for 30 minutes, until chocolate hardens.
Remove from refrigerator, cut into bars and serve.
Makes 20 bars

[Tuesday Update: We each had one or two of these today midday, and did not need to eat lunch. They are DELICIOUS, not too sweet, and very satisfying. Awesome!! Next time I will add dried cherries to the bars... yum! John had the idea to put pistachios in, that would be good, too. The post at Elena's Pantry has a macadamia version too... So yummy and fun! Easy too, once you have the ingredients on hand. I've been eating flaxmeal with my yogurt, so I had to buy roasted almond butter, coconut, and coconut oil. Now that I have them on hand, super easy to make more!]

One more Update: I did make it with the dried cherries, and added a bit of almond extract too. I also found the agave nectar called for in the original recipe and used 2 Tablespoons of that in place of the honey. These additions made these a bit sweeter than the last batch, but also tasty! I'm not sure about the agave nectar, things I've read say it's "low-glycemic", and it's a more neutral sweet than the flavor of honey or maple syrup. I may try maple syrup next time. Oh, one thing I noticed about the agave nectar, I tasted a drop of it by itself, and I think it tastes of marshmallows. Weird!

IMPORTANT FURTHER UPDATE: (2/13/10) Use the honey, or maybe maple syrup, but not the agave nectar. I have since found out that agave nectar has more of the processed sort of fructose (versus the good stuff in fresh fruit) than the evil High Fructose Corn Syrup. Stay FAR FAR AWAY from it.