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.
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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).
Goji Power Bars
Ingredients
- 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 ¼ cup boiling water to plump
- ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- 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°F 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.