As I mentioned before, I made some butter-loaded, sugar-full pecan
bars over the holidays. My husband took me to lunch at The Corner Bakery and
said that their Pecan Bars were delicious so we naturally had to order one.
There WERE good! But I thought I could surely make some just
as good. I googled a recipe and low and behold, yep, nailed it. (it wasn’t hard).
They had a nice shortbread crust, the pecans laid in an ooey
gooey layer of maple goodness. So yeah, I craved them. For weeks! I knew there
had to be a better, healthier recipe out there. I thought about how to make the
ooey gooeyness of it. I figured dates would probably do the trick but I had
never baked with dates (aside from making some Indian-inspired desserts when I
worked as a pastry cook in a NYC restaurant).
So I turned to google again and hey! There was a recipe that
had dates just like I had thought! It was meant to be!
Seriously, how did anyone survive without google?
Enter the following recipe. Def not the same as the sugar coma
ones but satisfies the sweet tooth without any refined sugar. It feels decadent
and almost sinful.
If you are just starting your health journey, you may not have
these ingredients on hand. But I can assure you that if you decide to pursue a
healthier lifestyle, these are common ingredients that you will want to have in
your pantry.
All the ingredients can be found at your local Smiths
(Kroger), Harmon’s (a local Utah grocery store), any health food store, and Amazon
(of course). Walmart has many of these ingredients too! I get my dates at
Costco and secretly snack on 1-2 a day (shhh, don’t tell).
Healthified Pecan Bars
Ingredients
Crust
¼ cup coconut flour
1 cup blanched almond flour
4 tablespoons grassfed butter
2 eggs
2 tablespoons coconut sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Filling
6 dates, pitted and chopped
2 eggs
⅓ cup pure maple syrup
4 tablespoons grassfed butter, melted
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coconut flour
1 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add the dry ingredients for the
crust in a food processor and pulse briefly to blend. Add wet ingredients and
pulse until well blended. The mixture will begin to form a ball.
Press dough into an 8x8 pan. Use a spatula to smooth and
distribute the dough evenly.
Bake crust for 20 minutes or until lightly browned around the
edges.
Meanwhile, add the dates to the food processor and pulse until
it begins to form a paste or a ball of processed dates. Add eggs, maple syrup,
vanilla and coconut flour and pulse until blended. Slowly pour in grassfed
butter or coconut oil and pulse until well blended. Stir in chopped pecans.
When the crust is ready, remove from the oven and pour the
filling on top and spread evenly. Return to oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or
until the filling is set.
Makes 9 large or 16 small squares.
Notes
Coconut oil can be substituted for the grassfed butter for a
completely dairy-free recipe.
Original Recipe can be found HERE
http://www.forthejoyofrealfood.com/2014/11/paleo-pecan-pie-squares/