Gluten Free Peanut Butter Bites...and Tiny, Thieving Hands

There are times when the world seems to be battling against us, when the weather does not cooperate, when money is exceedingly scarce, when health seems elusive...and when these things happen, when life seems hell-bent on battling us on all fronts, we have no choice but to stand tall and fight back with all we've got.  Frequently, this involves chocolate and, if things are looking particularly grim, there might be peanut butter involved as well.

Such was the case for me this weekend.  Income flitted away too fast, the death cough held on with a vengeance, and the laundry (although now clean) is still in piles in the basket.  So clearly, it was time for bake-therapy.  (Hell yeah!)

In order to ward off the evil spirits that seem to be haunting me, I opted for some heavy-duty Baking Mojo, the trifecta of ingredients:  chocolate, oatmeal, and peanut butter.  I figured if something concocted with these ingredients failed to boost my mood, I was doomed.  Luckily, they saved my day.  Come to think of it, they perked the kiddos right up, too!

Under the guise of hawking them as a "tasty morsel," a "mere treat," I cut them into small bite-sized portions.  However, in reality, I ate four or five each time I was reaching for "just one," so consider yourself warned. 

In the interest of full disclosure, the tiny hands that seem to invade the photos are, in fact, not my hands.  (I actually have rather large hands.)  (They're not my hands either, regardless of what you may have heard about their smallness...)  The two hands shown herein are actually attached to two of my children.  My children have also declared their respective hands to now be "famous" since they are featured in this blog.  If you wish to further their delusion, feel free to tell them how famous they are in the comments section below...they would be delighted to hear from you.  (Oh, please do this.  Her kids are rock stars.  I can attest to this personally, as being one of the privileged few to have met these mysterious hand model/taste testers.)  Actually, I would be delighted as well.  Comments remind me that I am not just talking to myself...although I do a fair amount of that, too. (This comment has been removed by Angela in an effort to restrain herself.)

Peanut Butter Bites

1/2 c. sweet sorghum flour

1/2 c. sweet rice flour

1 c. gluten free oats

1 tsp. xanthan gum

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. butter

1/2 c. granulated sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar, packed

1 egg

1/2 c. chunky peanut butter

1/4 c. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

35 Hershey's Kisses, unwrapped (please DO unwrap them, however, before you place them on the squares.  Otherwise the tin foil gets in your teeth.)

1.  Preheat over to 350 degrees.  Grease a 13 x 9 x 2 baking pan.

2.  Cream butter and sugars, add egg and vanilla.

3.  Add peanut butter and milk.

4.  Add flours, xanthan gum, baking soda.

5.  Stir in oats.

6.  Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown and set in the middle.  
7.  Let cool in pan, and top with evenly spaced Hershey's Kisses while pan is still warm.  
8.  Cut into 35 squares once fully cooled.

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I do promise to post some healthier options soon, once the healthier fare is a bit more abundant.  In fact, I had intended to post my recipe for gluten-free Strawberry Shortcakes but, honestly, I needed chocolate and peanut butter to get through this past week, and sometimes you just gotta roll with it.

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Granola Bars and Mom Guilt

Ok, so the kids are all out of the house, and my husband is sleeping, and it seems creepily quiet.  This is definitely foreign to me!  So, I thought I would take my mind off the eerie silence by writing about what I have been baking.  Lately, I have been wanting to use up some of the dried fruit I have on hand, and Whole Foods had a great deal on Bob’s Redmill Gluten Free Oats lately, so Gluten Free Granola Bars seemed like a pretty good choice…tasty, not too much effort, and really big flavor.

My first batch was a rich and fruity bar, extra thick and cut into big hunks (is that an actual food term?).  I had used a smaller than normal pan because I wanted pretty thick bars; even so, they were all gone within about an hour (well, except for the one bar that I tucked away for Angela to try, since she contributed the pumpkin seeds to the recipe.  Thanks, Angela!).

Rich and Fruity Granola Bars

Ingredients:

1 2/3 Gluten Free Oats

½ c. granulated sugar

1/3 c. gluten free oats, whirled around in the food processor (or oat flour)

½ tsp salt

½ tsp. cinnamon

1 c. dried cranberries

1 c. dried prunes (rough chopped)

½ c. pumpkin seeds

1/3 c. almond butter (or other nut butter of your choice)

6 tbsp. melted butter

¼ c. honey

2 tbs. agave nectar

1 tbsp. water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°.  Line an 8” x 8” pan with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick spray or coat lightly with butter. 

Stir together all the ingredients.  Spread the mixture in the prepared pan.  Using wet hands will help make it spread easier.  (I am not responsible if you end up licking it off your fingers.  I have…known…people…who might have done this.)

Bake the bars for about 40 minutes.  The will be beginning to get brown around the edges, but they will still seem a bit undercooked in the center.  That is exactly what you want.  Quick, time to take them out!

Now for the hard part…let them cool.  No, really.  Don’t cut them yet.  Let them cook for several hours.  Then lift the foil out and let them cool on the counter a bit longer out of the pan (but still in the foil). 

Once they are finally cool, you can cut them with a serrated knife (if you use a nice sawing motion and don’t force the knife tip into the bar, they will cut much nicer).  If you don’t have a serrated knife, or don’t want to wait the extra cooling time, eh, don’t worry…they will still taste awesome, they will just be less photogenic. 

I really did have every intention of wrapping some of these up and putting them aside for school snacks but, as I said, they were wolfed down in record time.  And, honestly, I liked them so much, I wanted more…you know…for the kids.  So I have another pan cooling as I type.

These were so easy to whip up, and the oven was all preheated and all, so I decided to make another batch of my Chocolate Oatmeal Granola Bars.  (You may recall that my mother in law bought me a huge bag of chips from Sam’s…see what good use I am making of them?!)  I actually made them Saturday, and they were devoured Saturday, so clearly I needed to make another batch and do it properly this time, so today I made a double batch.  Mostly I am making them again because my middle child cried when they were gone.  Yes, cried.  Really.  Actual tears.  

Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

Ingredients:

1 c. brown sugar

2/3 c. nut butter of your choice

¼ c. honey

¼ c. agave nectar

½ melted butter

2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 c. gluten free oats

¼ c. dried coconut (unsweetened)

¼ c. sunflower seeds

2 tsp. gluten free oat flour

1 c. chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°.  Line an 8” x 12” pan with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick spray or coat lightly with butter. 

Stir together all the ingredients.  Spread the mixture in the prepared pan.  Using wet hands will help make it spread easier. 

Bake for approximately 30-35 minutes.  The edges of the bars should be lightly brown.  Again, you have to let these sit up for several hours.  I will warn you, this will be more difficult to let cool than the fruit bars…because these, my friends, have the irresistible, warm invitation of melted chocolate wafting from them. 

I am not going too pretend that these are all kinds of nutritious, but they are gluten free, and they are homemade, and they are an awesome treat…and they are still better than a lot of the prepackaged crap at the store…that has to be worth something, right?  Plus, the “you’re the best ‘cooker’ in the world” comments from my happy kids…definitely, worth it. 

Just so you know, I also made an amazing, impromptu Polenta Tamale Skillet, which I will post the recipe for in the next day or two.  In case you are curious, here is a picture to tide you over until I can get the recipe up.

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