My fellow gym rats were delighted when I brought these Paleo friendly, high protein, gluten free snacks to the gym last week. The consensus? These gluten free power bars hit the spot.
Made with healthy, high protein almond flour and nutritious goji berries, the gang wolfed these down, then asked for more. I promised them I would post this recipe for gluten free power bars and so here it is.
First though, a bit about goji berries. Goji berries (also known as wolfberries) are a superfood, slowly gaining attention and popularity in this country.
Research shows that berries are superfoods and that eating berries such as goji berries, blueberries, cranberries, and strawberries can be beneficial for your health. Berries contain powerful antioxidants and other compounds that can boost the immune system and lower cholesterol; further, it is thought that the nutrient properties in berries can prevent cancer, heart disease and other illnesses.
Goji berries in particular have compounds rich in vitamin A, beta-carotene and B vitamins. These compounds are thought to have anti-aging benefits and boost immune function. Incidentally, goji berries have been used for centuries in Traditonal Chinese Medicine (TCM).
Dried goji berries tend to be a bit…dry. So I like to plump mine up before I use them by placing them in a bowl and pouring a bit of boiling water over them. This brings out their juicy goodness, makes them easier to digest and simply prevents them from being too hard.
When you plump your gojis, let them sit in the hot water for 10-15 minutes until the water is mostly absorbed, then discard any remaining water (there won’t be a lot).
- 1 cup blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
- 1 tablespoon coconut flour
- 2 tablespoons golden flaxmeal
- ¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tablespoons coconut sugar
- ¼ teaspoon stevia
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup goji berries, soaked in ¼boiling water to plump
- ½ cup chocolate chips
- In a large bowl, combine almond flour, coconut flour, flax meal, salt and baking soda
- Blend in coconut sugar, stevia and eggs with a hand blender
- Mix in gojis and chocolate chips with a large spoon
- Spread mixture into an 8 x 8 inch baking dish, it will be about an inch thick
- Bake at 350° for 15 minutes
- Cut into squares and serve
Here are some more Paleo friendly bars that you may also like:
–Spicy Power Bars
–Cherry Vanilla Power Bars
–Apricot Power Bars
ewa says
Thank you, that is very helpful.
ewa says
Hi Elana, thank you for your response. I used WellBee brand. I liked the flavour, just the texture was wrong. I experimented since and I found that adding water helped a lot. The dough was just too dry. They are still soft but I like them anyway. Ps. Is there any limit beyond which almond flour becomes unhealthy? I make a lot of your recipes and probably eat a pound of almomd flour a week. Just curious- I am also nursing a baby so i am really careful about my food.
Elana says
Hi Ewa, WellBee is a fantastic brand of almond flour. Glad you were able to get the recipe to work for you. We eat quite a bit of almond flour around here. It’s my favorite :-) Of course, any food eaten repeatedly can have the potential to trigger an allergy, but amounts and frequency are completely based on your tolerance which ranges from person to person.
Ewa A says
I had such highh expectations after reading other reviews. My bars came crumbly at the top, runny in the middle and the dough didnt even spread out in the oven, it looked like a crumble. I did spread it with spatula beforre baking as much as I could. I followed recipe to a “t” minus stevia as its high oxalate and I dont use it. Could a drop of stevia make such a difference?
Elana says
Hi Ewa, great question. No, stevia does not impact the composition of a recipe like the one above, only the flavor. More important, what brand of almond flour did you use? Happy to help you trouble shoot this :-)
dindy says
Hello Elana,
I am so inspired by your work! Thank you.
In reading your “Almond Pulp Crackers” recipe, I noticed it says: Bake at 135 degrees for at least 20 hours, or until crunchy. This is likely a typo, is it? (Or is there, perhaps a reason, to cook them so slow and long?)
Regards,
Dindy (Lakewood)
Monica Smith says
Sometimes substituting bananas in place of egg works in some recipes. These bars contain flaxseed, so that plus addition of banana should hold them together ok I would think.
Annemiek says
Hi Elana,
Thanks for posting these. Ever since starting paleo, I’ve had my eye on them. Made them today, using maple syrup to sweeten (3tbl spoons), and substituting the chocolate (unfortunately) with half a cup of mostly walnuts and a tablespoon or so or raisins (soaking the raisins with the berries). As I imagined chocolate drops to have some binding qualities, and because I have medium sized eggs, I used 3 eggs.
They turned out great, though more like yummie cakes. I will just go for two eggs next time, and possibly a little less maple syrup, the rest of it is just fine. We will be thoroughly enjoying them!
Nat says
Thank you for a great recipe. I modified it a little by adding chopped walnuts and 1/4 tsp of nutmeg.
Thea says
Ooops. I must have done something wrong- Mine are not holding together at all. Very loose and impossible to eat. Thoughts?
cleaneatsinthezoo says
This looks delicious. I’m on my way to try the recipe!
http://www.facebook.comcleaneatsinthezoo
Lee says
I’m wondering why there is stevia and coconut sugar? Great recipe, can’t wait to try it.
Heather says
I’ve made your orange cake a couple of times, and find it is always very very moist. I’d like to reduce the moisture, so I was wondering: does most of the moisture come from boiling the oranges? If so, is boiling the oranges really necessary? Could I only boil 1 of the oranges?
Any guidance would be appreciated.
Heather
Ottawa, Canada
Gloria Ferri says
Yum…..ever look good! Thanks for sharing!
Megan Elberty says
Always looking for a good snack recipe that is low on the glycemic index. May I could try this without the stevia. Thanks.
Alicia says
stevia is low glycemic… it is naturally this way. stevia comes from an herb you could plant in your garden
jo says
Hi Elana,
Unfortunately I am egg intolerant. Do you think I can make this recipe without egg?
Thanks so much,
Jo
Rennie says
Great recipe, used dried blueberries instead of goji berries and left out the 1/4 tsp stevia. My family couldn’t stop eating them, they didn’t last long!
bakeries Knoxville TN says
What a wonderful and creative recipe using Goji Berries! I admire individuals like you advocating healthy options in their diet and best of all sharing them to the world. In our sweet world of baked goodies and all things sweet, nothing beats satisfying cravings with a healthy power bar or two!
April G says
These bars disappeared in a day, and started a 4 hr baking spree where I made about 4 “Elana” recipes in a row! My chiropractor keeps asking me to bring him samples of all this healthy cooking I’ve been doing, but I can’t seem to make them last long enough to share. :)
Riki Shore says
These power bars look awesome – I can’t wait to try them! Berries are powerful anti-oxidants and boast so many nutritional benefits that including them in our diets just makes sense. For those wanting to follow an anti-inflammatory diet, you may want to sub dried blueberries. Goji berries are a nightshade (along with tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant and peppers) – a group of plants known to increase inflammation in the body. I know these will be just as tasty with blueberries. I’m planning to make them this weekend. Thank you!
Rob @ How to Cook Hero says
You know, I have no real need to follow gluten free recipes, but when you have something that looks this delicious laid out, there’s really no reason to make any sort of modifications.
@catherine, the substitution for dark chocolate is probably the one I will try out.
I’m going to have to subscribe to check out for more of this. Once again, great post!
catherine says
Can’t stop eating these. I find it interesting how the mix of flaxmeal, coconut and almond flour ends up somewhat mimicking the texture of whole wheat flour. Also, for the choco chips, I used a dark chocolate bar with chocolate nibs in it, and the crunch is amazing!
ps. Your clean and well organized website is a real inspiration for me. I believe your role in steering people towards better nutrition might be even greater than you think. All of the recipes I’ve ever done from either your website or your cookbook have all worked out perfectly. You’re really doing an amazing job.
Jenny says
Hi, I was wondering if you or anyone else has heard when the almond flour suppliers will be getting nuts from the new almond harvest. By about this time last years almonds are starting to taste rancid so I have been waiting until the new harvest is available before I buy more almond flour. Thanks for all your great recipes!!!
Carol says
What a fun way to eat something as healthy as Goji. Thanks for the recipe, I can’t wait to try it!
Lili says
They look to good not to make over the weekend!
Tres Delicious says
That goji bars look great. I wanna try it.
Emily says
These bars sound incredible! I am working on getting my hands on some almond flour, but what is the deal with coconut flour? I see it in a lot of GF cooking and don’t know the purpose.
Erin says
Coconut flour is just another alternative non-grain flour. It’s high fiber (in fact, it’s mostly fiber and protein and less calorie dense than nut flours) and produces a fluffy texture if used properly.
It absorbs quite a lot of liquid, so it’s used in smaller amounts than almond flour (usually measured by the TB).
Nydia S. says
I am new to your blog and am so happy to have found it!!! I am excited to try this recipe, but was wondering if it is necessary to use the stevia or can I just use a little more coconut palm sugar/crystals?
Kim D says
Has anyone tried these using blueberries?
Gina C. says
Looks delish! I’ve been looking for a way to use my goji berries in something other than my oatmeal!
herbalchef says
a batch of these just came out of the oven! thanks for the introduction to Goji berries. I have never used them before. The bars are very tasty. A nice wholesome treat and afterwork out pick me up.
Helen - Kjernesunn Nordkvinne says
Wow – another great recipe! Thank you for sharing! :)
Janell Garwood says
Oh goodness! Thank you Thank you Thank you for this recipe! I love goji berries. I learned about them from Kelly aka The Spunky Coconut and I put them in my smoothies everyday. Its awesome to have a new recipe for them. Can’t wait to try these!!
GrainFreeGroupie says
So glad you posted a goji recipe, i always see them at WF and wonder what i’d do with them. on another note- i heard that Thomas Keller has just created his own line of gluten free flours for sale at william sonoma, so that might be another option for people with nut allergies?
Beth says
These look and sound great. Perfect recipe for my dwindling supply of Goji Berries.
Cindy says
You use alot of almond flour in your recipes, is there another gluten free flour or blend that can be subsituted for those with nut allergies?
Jessica Wayman says
My favorite lunch as a child was Campbell’s tomato soup with either a grilled cheese or an american cheese with mayo, iceberg lettuce on white bread sandwich. I sometimes recreate this now but gluten free and a Vitamix raw version of the soup.
It’s raining here today and a bit chilly. I think that’s what will be for lunch!
Susan Jane says
TERRIFIC recipe for toddlers Elana. I can’t get coconut sugar, but will try iron-rich molasses for the little one instead. Will let you know if it works.
Many thanks. Very creative.
Sarah says
I don’t see stevia on the ingredients, but it’s in the recipe.* What form of stevia did you use?
Thank you!
* is the stevia the nunaturals line?
Cari says
Could I use sucanat? Would I use the same amount?
Linda says
I am not fond of Stevia. Assume I can use Agave or Xylitol?
Shirley @ gfe says
Trying to think of you as a gym “rat” … just doesn’t sound right. LOL I bet you are super popular at the gym bringing in healthy goodies like these bars though. ;-)
xo,
Shirley