Chewy Bars

My granola bar stash needed a major restocking. I had 30 minutes to spare so I decided to whip up my homemade chewy bars. These freeze well and are so easy to make. My favorite ingredients to use: Kroger natural creamy peanut butter, Flying Mouse Farms Grade B Maple Syrup, Lindt 85% chocolate, and GF oats. 

-1 cup natural creamy peanut butter

- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce

-1/3 cup maple syrup

-1 tsp vanilla extract

-1 tsp salt

- 2 1/2 Cups rolled oats

-1/3 cup ground flaxseed

-2 Tbs Chia seeds

-1/2 cup raisins

-1/2 bar dark chocolate (I used 85%) chopped

Mix all ingredients together and press into a sprayed 9x13 pan. You can use whatever size pan you prefer, it will just determine the thickness. Cut and wrap in parchment and freeze each slice for individual servings!

Gingerbread Cut-out Cookies

Cookies are definitely my favorite dessert. Specifically chocolate chip cookies, but I'm forcing myself to think outside the box and go away from my norm for Christmas. Holiday cut out cookies it is! To give it a twist I wanted to stick with a spicy rendition. Gingerbread is perfect. Gluten Free cut outs are a struggle for me. I've rarely succeeded at coming up with a recipe that holds a nice tight shape. My solution--> spend an exorbitant amount of time on  101 Cookbooks website drooling over her amazing photography and recipes.  Her website is beautiful, as are her recipes. Everything about 101 is a constant inspiration to me. Click on the link to check out the original recipe I used!. Notes: I did not put mine on sticks; I used 2 cups brown rice flour, 1 cup almond flour, and 1 cup of tapioca starch; I rolled these out on silpats and cut the cookies out right on there; I sprinkled cornstarch liberally to help with sticking!

Holiday Bark

CHOCOLATE BARK! Who doesn't love it? It's a great last minute gift to give to co-workers and neighbors! It comes together in 5 minutes, and can be tweaked depending on what flavors you love:) To keep it very Christmas like I keep the colors red and green with cranberries and pistachios. This year I added a nice crunch with chia seeds. Dried cranberries always have a boat load of sugar added to them to help combat their natural tartness. I found a brand called Paradise Meadow, that uses 50% less sugar in their dried cranberries. They are awesome. Kindove tart, a little sweet, Yum. I was skeptical thinking they must have added something else to them when removing the sugar but nope nothing else added! To make the bark:

- Melt 1 or 2 packages dark chocolate chips (60 % or higher cacao). To make this vegan be sure to read the label. The higher the percentage of cacao the more likely the chocolate is vegan. Be sure to check though!

-Spread on a Silpat or non stick surface

-Sprinkle with cranberries, pistachios, and chia seeds

-Let set for 1-2 hours

-Break into small pieces and enjoy!