Healthy Almond Joy Bars

When two of your favorite interests are conflicting, it can be a heck of a struggle sometimes. These yin/yang interests of course being baking and healthy living.... I also love to cook, which opens the door for much healthier fare, but with baking it can be a challenge. I love to bake all the time, but unless I have a person or persons who are willing to consume said baked goods ( which is not that hard to find!), they end up in my mouth, and attached to my ass, which I do not want. Healthier ingredients, like using cane sugar, whole wheat flour, organic eggs and butter are all awesome, but still not good to consume several times a week, much to my dismay. So I have poured over healthy options for years through healthy baking cookbooks and raw un-baking, and am finally starting to get a knack down for some techniques. 

Traditional baking is pure chemistry, a relief for those who like to control things and be exact. I love chemistry, but have a very fly-by-night approach to baking, that did not work until I practiced for a long time to know how much would go with what and when, and what I could get away with. Following and understanding traditional rules for baking is a must, until you figure out how to monkey around without fudging stuff up and exploding everything all over your oven. With un-baking, I'm finding all kinds of interesting techniques, the most important being adhesion, which can be found in all kinds of strange ways I'm finding out...

 I went to the grocery store last night, and almost everyone was buying pizza and pop for the weekend. My basket contained coconut oil,  kiwis, frozen cherries and a 3# bag of kale, so I was feeling pretty smug and healthy for my wise (and EXPENSIVE!) choices. I found a fun recipe on this superb blog http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/chocolate-covered-recipes/ for a healthy Mounds bar, and it was really good! My candy bar tastes always ran more along the lines of an Almond Joy, however, so I decided to try out my hand at making some up.

Healthy Almond Joy Bars

-1/2 cup plain almonds ( plus extras for garnish)

- 1 cup coconut

-4 T. maple syrup

-pinch salt

-3 T. coconut oil

-1/2 t. vanilla

-1/2 t. almond extract

- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate

Directions:

 Combine coconut, almonds, coconut oil, vanilla,almond extract and salt in a food processor and pulse until thoroughly combined. Place in ice cube trays and press in to mold. Freeze 1 hour. Melt chocolate and 1 T. coconut oil together, and when cooled slightly dip fillings in and coat. Place almonds on top and set bars  on wax paper and store in freezer. Makes 10 bars.

*Adapted from blog Chocolate Covered Katie: CopyCat Mounds Bars  http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/10/30/healthy-mounds-bars/

These are fabulous. The only thing missing is the waxy chemical taste of the original candy bar, and I can do without that, thank you very much.  Storing these in the freezer is key, and they stay pretty soft.

I tried to get the almonds under the coating but it was a losing battle. They are a cute garnish on top though.  And they're actually, truly pretty dang healthy. You should all check out her blog, because it has a ton of great ideas for healthy baked goods. It doesn't get much better than that! Now if they could just make beer healthy..... Enjoy!