Monday, March 11, 2013

Almond-pistachio breakfast nutri-bars. Grain-free, gluten-free, guilt-free





A while ago I shared my delicious healthy version of Homemade whole grain Nutri-bars for breakfast.  Since then, I've learned about some lovely gluten-free, grain-free options for making these bars that also make them lower glycemic, no sugar added and completely delicious. I don't miss the sugar.  I will admit, I do miss my sanity sometimes. 

 To my dear sister Auntie Em...these are for you! I could just picture her in her little car driving past the wind and waves of the Great Salt Lake while munching one of these in the morning...and it made me smile. It also made me terribly happy. Love you girlie. Love you.

Chef Tess' Almond-Pistachio Breakfast Nut-ri Bars 
 Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups Blanched Almond Flour
1/2 cup natural pistachio butter or almond butter

1/2 cup  granular erythritol
2 Eggs (vegan omit egg and use 1/2 cup water plus 1/2 tsp xanthan gum)
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp xanthan gum 
1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cup naturally sweetened 100% fruit jam 


Directions:
Preheat Oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together wet ingredients. Stir wet ingredients into dry mixture until thoroughly combined. 


I make my own fruit jam but you can easily use any low calorie sugar-free fruit jam, as long as it is really fruity.  
 Oh. Special shout-out to Superior Nut Company for the divine happiness of pistachio butter . Holy cow. I'm in love.  
 Take dough and roll out on a baker's mat or an oiled baking sheet. This is a half-sheet pan. 
 Roll into a rectangle, 16 inches by 20 inches.  Cut into 4 sections, 5 inches by 16 inches each. 
 Very gently ease a long cake-spatula under the edge of the cookie and roll it over the filling, just overlapping the two sides by about half an inch. This always makes me break into singing "Roll-roll-roll your boat"...and I'm really weird. Merrily...Merrily...scarilly...scarilly...Chef Tess is insane...
Pinch them closed. cut in half. 
 Gently roll over so the logs are seam-side down. 
Bake 350 degrees 17-20 minutes. Allow to cool on the pan. 
Remove from pan and wrap for breakfast...or eat them all in one sitting. Whatever you want. 

There you go! Some awesome breakfast grabs for the very coolest ever! YOU! Onward and upward my darlings!!


Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

2 comments:

emmers said...

oh my YUM! If I use regular sugar instead of the 'granular erithritol' (not sure what that is actually) will it mess up the texture of these darlings? and if I don't have vanilla bean paste can I use regular vanilla extract? Pistachio butter sounds like a little piece of divinity...that I'm not sure that they sell in my part of the world. Almond butter is an acceptable subsitute? Looking forward to these breakfast bars - they would also make an amazing exercise recovery bar! All that protein!

Chef Tess said...

Emmers, the erythritol is a 100% natural sugar alcohol...Erythritol is a sugar alcohol, the carbohydrates cannot be assimilated by the body in any way. http://www.sugar.org/other-sweeteners/sugar-alcohols.html#erythritol it has zero affect on blood sugar levels. Zero calories. It is the only sugar alcohol that doesn't cause a "dumping" effect on those who have had gastric bypass surgery (that's the tell-tale if it has accessible carbs). Sugar alcohols are incompletely absorbed into the blood stream from the small intestines which generally results in a smaller change in blood glucose than "regular" sugar (sucrose). This property makes them popular sweeteners among diabetics and people on low-carbohydrate diets. You can of course use regular sugar, but the calorie count will go up. Yes you can use almond butter.