Gluten Free Congo Bars
Congo Bars – a delicious dessert bar with a rich, butterscotch taste and more than a little chocolate! This recipe has been in our family since my now adult children were quite young. It was a recipe I saw in a magazine a long time ago that had the classic rolled oats, wheat flour, brown sugar, butter and eggs that are key ingredients in most traditional desserts in our country. At that point I thought I was pretty clever to use a combination of almond flour and quinoa flour as a substitute for the gluten containing wheat flour and the result was a dessert my kids loved. Today I stick with gluten-free flours, of course, but also avoid the classic potato, rice and tapioca flours so often used in gluten-free baking. They are very refined and tend to elevate blood sugar and cause you to crave sugar and gain weight. Since then my standards have risen quite a bit, and as a whole food plant-based consumer who avoids sugar I needed to replace several other ingredients. My family is happy with the current iteration which is a good sign since they “grew up” on the sugar, egg and dairy version. I would be happy to acknowledge the source of the original recipe but too much time has passed and I’m sorry to say the only thing that has remained intact is the name, and the fact that it’s a darn good dessert.Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 cup organic gluten-free quinoa flakes or organic gluten-free rolled oats if you tolerate oats
- ¾ cup organic almond flour
- ¾ cup organic coconut flour or organic quinoa flour you can use the latter if using rolled oats
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp xanthan gum
- 1/8 tsp Himalayan sea salt
- ¾ cup organic butter flavor olive oil or vegan margarine unsalted, melted. Any light flavored oil such as avocado oil would work too.
- 2 cups packed organic date sugar or organic coconut sugar
- 3 egg equivalent with EnerG egg replacement powder
- 1 ½ tsp organic vanilla extract
- 2 cups dark dairy-free chocolate chips (1 bag) or simply chop a dark, dairy-free chocolate bar into pieces. You can also make your own sugar free chocolate. Lily’s chocolate chips is sweetened with stevia.
- ½ cup organic walnuts lightly toasted and chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 degrees with convection). Lightly grease a 10x10x15 inch pan. Use a square, 9X9 pan for thicker bars.
- Mix together flours, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt.
- In separate bowl, mix together melted butter and sugar. Add eggs replacement liquid a little at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla.
- Gently mix dry ingredients into liquids. Last, fold in chocolate chips and walnuts.
- Spoon batter into prepared pan, spreading evenly; the batter will be thick. Bake in preheated oven until the top is golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes (20 minutes in convection). These bars taste better if they’re slightly under-baked.
- Transfer pan to wire rack and let cool.
Notes
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DC, CCN
IFM Certified Practitioner
Founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic
Author of the books:
“The Gluten Effect”
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and of the e-book “Gluten Intolerance – What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You!”
Notes
Makes up to 36 bars. Congo bars have a rich, butterscotch taste. They freeze well too.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
