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:
- 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
Yield
9 large bars
Prep time
Rest time
45 minutes
Cook time
Total time
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
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line an 8-inch pan with 2 pieces of parchment paper (one going each way), so the bars do not stick to pan.
- In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients (oats, flour, chia seeds, cinnamon, salt, walnuts).
- 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.
- 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).
- 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!
- Bake for 30-32 minutes at 350°F. 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.
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.