Eric says I make my best recipes when I’m pmsing.
Wait, is that a back-handed compliment?
Errr…
And how did he know I was pmsing?
“Well,…remember the other night when you started to cry watching that wedding dress show…?”
“When the Dad cries, everyone cries.”
“…and the other day, I caught you with chocolate all over your face talking about some chocolate river…”
“….and how is that different from any other day?”
“Good point. Or yesterday, when you were yelling on the phone with the phone company…”
“She was a phone robot, that doesn’t count! Robots have no feelings, pulse,…or comprehension of the English language, evidently.”
“Or this morning when…”
Ooooooook, no need to live in the past. I’m sure we all get the point. ;)
After some careful thought, his statement did make sense.
PMS –> increase in calorie expenditure (yay, eat more) –> increase in hunger –> empty stomach feeling 24/7 –> chocolate river dreams –> cooking/baking success.
Now, let’s look for concrete proof of his claims over the past week:
- Quick & easy Tortilla Pizza
- Chocolate Cake Batter Smoothie
- Stuffed Phyllo Rolls
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Glazed Doughnuts
- Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Spiced Doughnuts
- 5 Ingredient Cheeze Sauce
Guilty as charged.
If that is hard evidence, these Chocolate Chunk Toffee Bars are the final nail in my coffin. Eric declared the recipe ‘in the vault’ and mumbled something about chocolate while his eyes glazed over. Typical. The stash quickly disappeared in the span of 3 days. Not surprisingly, more by him than me!
I guess he’s suffering from Male Menstrual Syndrome. I better keep my distance…there’s nothing worse than MAN-MS, right ladies?
And don’t worry, I pointed and laughed at the chocolate smudges on the side of his mouth.
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Chocolate Chunk Toffee Bars
Everything I love in a granola bar- a crisp, toffee-like exterior with a chunky and chewy middle. Be sure to allow the bars to cool completely before slicing. If you adapt the recipe, please leave a comment with the changes you made and how it turned out! I’m curious if other flours and nut butters might work.
Ingredients:
- 1.5 cup oats
- 1/4 cup whole grain spelt flour
- 2 tbsp chia seeds
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup walnuts, chopped
- 1/2 cup brown rice syrup
- 2 tbsp Earth Balance (or other non-dairy spread)
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup all natural peanut butter (my PB is very ‘drippy’- if yours is dry add another tbsp Earth Balance)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup chocolate chunks or chips
1. Preheat oven to 350F and line an 8-inch pan with 2 pieces of parchment paper (one going each way), so the bars do not stick to pan.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients (oats, flour, chia seeds, cinnamon, salt, walnuts).
3. In a microwavable bowl, stir together the brown rice syrup, Earth Balance, brown sugar, and peanut butter. Microwave on high for 45 seconds. Alternatively you can heat this on the stovetop.
4. Pour wet mixture onto dry and stir well. The mixture will be very tough to stir (it’s a thick dough!) so don’t be alarmed. Allow the dough to cool a bit before mixing in the chocolate (otherwise, if you add in the chocolate too soon, it will melt, and it’s best chunky).
5. Scoop into prepared pan and with a wet spoon spread out the mixture. The dough will be very thick and sticky. I dipped a pastry roller into water and rolled it out. Try to get it as even as possible!
6. Bake for 30-32 minutes at 350F. Allow to cool in the pan, on a cooling rack, for at least 15 minutes. Remove carefully from pan and allow to cool on the rack for another 20-30 minutes. If you cut the bars before completely cooling, they will crack, so it’s a good idea to wait as they will firm up.
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These granola bars took me a few tries, but I finally got the outcome I was looking for- a crispy, toffee-like exterior with a chewy, chocolaty middle. They have a slight toffee flavour and are like a less sweet, more natural candy bar!
The bars will firm up a bit once cooled which is exactly how I prefer to eat them. Their flavour and chewy texture gets better with age. :)
Ok, I just Googled ‘male PMS’ for fun and there’s an actual term for it called Irritable Male Syndrome (IMS).
I can’t wait to tell Eric I found his diagnosis!
I don’t know whether to consider these a candy bar or a healthy granola bar… but it’s made with whole grains, so I’m going to say it’s healthy, right? ;) Don’t correct me if I’m wrong because I plan on baking these and eating the whole batch. :P
These look amazing! And I can justify eating more since they are “healthy”, love that.
ANGELA! I only just now realized how much I missed you & your blog after 5 weeks in Mexico… I was so distracted by learning Spanish, eating Mexican food, and taking beautiful pictures that I lost touch with all my fav blogs, but I’m so happy to have your daily words back in my life! anyway, glad to be back :)
I’m moving in with you.
Made these last night! They are really good! Unfortunatelly mine were pretty brown/black on the bottoms after 25ish minutes in the oven and are pretty crunchy.. So improvisation struck me… I cut off the bottom/sides and then crumbled it into granola when it was cooled…. had it over greek yogurt and fresh blueberries this morning and OOHH MYY it is ever delicious. Thanks for the amazing recipe! :)
Really? hmm I wonder why that happened to you. Did you make any changes to the recipe?
Wow – these look phenomenal! I am so impressed!
Would crunchy PB work well with these? Or do you think that they are better without the extra crunch?
ROFL, hilarious! Male Irritable Syndrome….mine totally does not get this. He is the calmest person ever! You are too funny! I am making these for sure!!! Thanks for the recipe. By the way you inspired my recipe yesterday, thanks! http://www.singerskitchen.com/2011/08/mango-spelt-pancakes-with-mango.html
These will have to be my snack bars. I have been getting hungry every 3 hrs with this baby! :D
I did not have brown rice syrup so I used half local honey and half Grade B Maple Syrup. These were delicious!!!! I am making them for my daughters cross country team as I write this. What a great snack for after their run! Love, Love, Love your blog. Thanks for all the great tasting recipes that are also good for me!! :-)
yay!
Angela – these look great – and I would love to make them tonight to take to a friend’s tomorrow – However, my boyz not like nuts in their treats – do you think they would work without the walnuts (or if I processed them so they no longer resenble walnuts – they can detect a nut if I am not good about
this ;-)
Made these with coconut flour & date syrup and they came out very cakey, not chewy or toffee-like, but still yummy and healthy!
It must sooo good!
xox
These look great- perfect for when you need a little treat. Love that IMS actually exists, I think I know a few men who totally suffer from this!
I made these with the following subs… regular whole wheat flour, almonds, coconut oil, almond butter… to avoid buying new supplies. I also only baked them for 20 min. They are delicious!!! I almost don’t want to switch back to the original recipe! Thanks for the inspiration and the base recipe! Yum!
oh thank goodness for this comment! I just ran out of butter today, but I have a lot of coconut oil! You’ve given me the strength to experiment!
I lol-ed at the last two lines! XD
This looks yummy :3 I must try -puts on raaa–wait…bake face :D-
Hi Angela
I’m the husband of one of your loyal readers. My wife just finished baking this. One word: outstanding. Thank you for this recipe. Thank you.
Sincerely,
James Pencharz
Hi James, Thanks so much for your feedback! :)
Hey Angela! Looks yummy :)
I was wondering if you could recommend a blog that specializes in vegan and gluten-free cooking. I can adapt lots of recioes, but it seems like lots of gluten-free blogs use a lot of dairy in their baking-and the recipes don’t translate well into earth balance and chia eggs!
Thanks!
Try xGFx (http://recipes.xgfx.org/) as a starting point. Its a community recipe site dedicated to gluten free vegan recipes. If you click around you’ll find links to a lot of the main contributors’ food blogs and more resources that will help you branch out a little. If you find blogs that are either gluten free or vegan that you like, try clicking through their blogrolls. I know I found a lot of great ones that way, but can’t remember which ones are both gf & vegan off the top of my head. Good luck!
Made these today with crunchy PB and added a bit of extra chopped peanuts into the mixture.
30 minutes was far too long in my oven – it must be a bit on the hot side.
They are rock hard, but also too sweet for my liking! I think that this is also because I don’t eat sweets too often… I’m sure everyone else will gobble them up (hard or not!).
These are my favorite dessert now! I can’t stop eating them! I couldn’t wait the 30 mins – cut and ate them and they fell apart…you were right! When I let the rest sit the RIGHT amount of time – they were firm and perfect – which is why I can’t stop eating them.
I made these yesterday and was tempted to eat the whole bowl-ful raw! It smelled and tasted so good. I did bake it, however, and they turned out awesome. I used maple syrup and a little honey instead of brown rice syrup and I used sliced almonds as I did not have any walnuts on hand. I love the chewy, crunchy texture. I am looking forward to making them with walnuts (the almonds were fine, but I think walnuts would be even better!) Thanks for the recipe.
Ok, so I was good. Waited for them to completely cool. YUM!! Thank you for this fantastic recipe. Next time, I think I will add coconut and some cashews.
no PMSing but received a layoff notice today…looking for something yummy to make…just for me!
Hi Cindy,
This comment warrants a response. I hope you made these bars and your otherwise lousy day found some sweetness!
Sorry to hear about your news Cindy. I hope the bars bring some joy your way. All the best,
Angela
The bars turned out great (mood greatly improved). Thanks for the good vibes.
Ok…made these this morning and was slapping away small and big hands from the batch! I substituted white rice flour and cashew butter and made half the batch with white chocolate chips for the little ones. I also used coconut oil to grease the pan and the bars popped right out-sans parchment paper. Put these in my toaster oven at 350 for 25 minutes. Perfect, thank you!
nice! :) Thanks for letting me know
Made these last night and they are delicious! I used whole wheat flour, skipped the chia seeds (I didn’t have any) and used Sunspire peanut butter chips instead of chocolate. Soooo good Angela!
Nice! :)
These look so good and I will probably make them tonight! I discovered your blog via interest a couple wks ago and you have revolutionized the way I eat already! I had all the right elements there but partially lacked the motivation. Your recipes have made it easier for me to go dairy free as well! Thank you so so so much! My husband thanks you as well for the delicious healthy recipes:)
Thank you for your kind words Katie!
Really good recipe!!! I’ve added some puffed rice in it too, it was nice! :)
I made these yesterday and the only sub I made was using buckwheat flour instead of spelt flour to make them GF. I didn’t have a 8″ pan so I used 2 loaf pans. I decreased the cooking time to 28 minutes but should have decreased it more since they were a bit over cooked. Still very tasty though :) They crumbled a bit when I cut them so I put all the crumbs in a bowl and added a little almond milk. It tasted like a dessert granola, yum! I definitely plan to make these again, great recipe. Oh, and I also made your rustic banana oat cake yesterday for my sisters birthday. I’ll be serving it tonight provided hurricane Irene doesn’t cancel our dinner get together. Can’t wait to try it!!
These were extremely tasty!!! The only thing for me was that I had trouble lifting them out of the pan and then getting them off of the parchment paper without cracking (though I let them first cool in the pan and then cool on the paper)…maybe I should have let them cool even longer. Regardless of the funny shapes they ended up being cut into, they were delish!!!!
Great recipe! I played with it a little bit and used whole wheat flour, almond butter, coconut butter and pumpkin spice to replace some of the ingredients. I used raw acai flavored chocolate instead which was nice but looking back on it I should have just bought dark choc. morsels bc its kind of a waste to put raw chocolate in the toaster lol. I also don’t have a proper over, just a mini toaster oven so I just baked them at 250 for like 10-15 mins and that was enough for them to be warm and hold together. Great though, loved the flavor and the nuttyness of it all:)
Keep posting, I look forward to these everyday!
Elisa (from Hong Kong)
What could you substitute for spelt flour? whole wheat pasty flour?
I can’t believe how easy these are to make!!! you are amazing by helping all us ‘women’ beat this evil PMS!!! haha
Hi Angela,
I made your bars the other day and they turned out great. I did change up the recipe a bit because it was what I had on hand. I replace the chia seeds with hemp seeds, the brown rice syrup with honey and the chocolate chips with raw cacao nibs. I also doubled up the batch to give some to a girl friend. I’m loving your recipes and your blog. Keep up the good work! Mini doughnuts are coming out of the oven now!!
I made these using regular old Jif PB and instead of spelt flour I used wheat. I also halved the chocolate chips but used mini ones so that way they were still all throughout the bars. They still turned out great and chewy. I’m thinking of taking the bars and making them into granola crumble for oat and yogurt topping!
Oh and I used molasses in place of the brown rice!
I made these today and I used honey in place of brown rice syrup, butter in place of Earth Balance, and chopped almonds in place of walnuts. Fantastic!!! These bars are addicting!!
Angela – I made these exactly as you wrote the recipe (minus the walnuts) and I’m afraid they didn’t turn out. I baked them for 30 minutes, but the edges burned and then as the bars cooled, they turned out hard as rocks. But – the bar I ate when it was still warm and soft out of the oven was delicious! Maybe I need to try again and bake them for a shorter time.
Sorry to hear that Becky! Hmm I wonder if it was b/c of the walnuts? It calls for 1 cup so that is a large portion of the recipe to leave out. I hope you have better luck next time!!
toffee is the one of the best things ever. you should sell this as one of your glo-bars!
YUM! I just finished eating one of these (waiting for them to cool was the longest 40 minutes;) ). They were delicious. I just wanted to share a substitution that I made, in the event anyone else wants to make the same. I simply used maple syrup for the brown rice syrup, and chopped up some almonds to replace the walnuts, as I didn’t have those on hand. Fantastic- thanks again! :)
So glad they worked Tara!
I’m so glad you said that because I have nowhere near me that sells brown rice syrup and wondered if the recipe would still work if I used maple syrup instead. Can’t wait for the weekend, definitely going to bake up a batch!
Oh, great! I’m glad I could help :) I’ve made them 3 times since then- they work great both as granola bar squares, and crumbled into a bowl with almond milk on top :) Yum!
I’ve made these twice in the last 3 days and I’m ashamed to admit, I live alone. I have lofty plans to cut them up and freeze them and have them on hand to use as afternoon pick-me-ups after my return to school next week. But they are sooooo good, I instead eat a lot in a single sitting. Fingers crossed this batch lasts longer than 2 days.
our 12 year-old loved these, but i agree with someone above–only baked 30 minutes and they dried too hard. i’ll try 25 minutes next time. my substitutions: ww pastry for spelt, flax for chia and sucanat for brown sugar (i always use a whole sugar), and no microwave (keep the food whole so the body can recognize it). very yummy! thanks, katy
I just made these with Agave instead of the brown rice syrup, and they taste really good! However, I think the baking time is a little long, at least for my oven, as the edges and bottom got burned after 30min!
Made these again today and they’re still AMAZING! Thanks so much for sharing these delicious recipes I’ve been addicted to for the past two years!
I made these using sunflower seed butter and ground flax. They make a very tasty and satisfying snack. Thanks for another great recipe!
These are addicting! I triple the batch, keep them in the fridge, and they last about 10 days before we’ve eaten them all. I use honey instead of the brown rice syrup and almond butter instead of peanut butter.
I just used this recipe today with my Food and Nutrition 11/12 class (Home Ec). We subbed whole wheat flour, agave nectar, shortening, and almond butter for cost reasons, and because we’re not allowed to use peanuts in the classroom. They were a huge hit! The kids loved them! Thanks for making it easy to find vegan recipes that high school students will actually eat!
So glad they worked with those subs! Thanks for letting me know :)
To avoid a trip to the store, I made these yesterday with a number of substitutes. I replaced spelt flour with almond flour, replaced chia with flax, replaced 1/2 c. rice syrup with about 1/3 c. maple syrup, skipped brown sugar, replaced peanut butter with raw almond butter and replaced chocolate chips with cacao nibs. The bars held together fine after a night in the fridge and they are plenty sweet. This is a very versatile recipe. Thanks, Angela :).
Im so glad to hear that Amy!
I decided to try these out over the weekend, I had been comtemplating it for quite a few days, I made some additions to it that made them super tasty. I found some Bobs Red Mill dried apples at the store and I also picked up some dried cranberries and I used chunky peanut butter instead of smooth to go along with the walnuts. Yes, I still used the chocolate :) I got a very filling bar that can easily hold over between meals, its also still got the hard top and soft inside as well. which I love and can definitely see myself making these very often.
Angela – Just tried these today for the SuperBowl and they are DELICIOUS!
Few subs: 1/2 the chia seeds for ground flax, white whole wheat flour for spelt (could probably easily use brown rice as well to be GF), and pecans for walnuts. I also used Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips and they worked super-well!
Im so happy to hear that Meredith! I forgot all about those bars!
will whole wheat flour work ? i am intolerant to spelt
never mind i see someone else also used whole wheat, perfect . off to the kitchen i go :)
I just found this recipe, although I have been following your blog for a while now. I used teff flour instead of spelt because that is what I had and I omitted the brown sugar and added 2T maple syrup. They came out delicious! Love your website and recipes!
Could I use brown sugar instead of brown rice syrup? and how much?