Chocolate Chip Oat Bars

I had bought some cacao nibs and found this recipe on the product website.  Here is the link.

These bars are delicious!  I've made this recipe a few times now - definitely a keeper!

A few notes:

• I used medjool dates.  But, instead of the dates, I've also made these bars using 1 cup raisins (soaked in water for about 30 min).  The resulting flavour is slightly different but still good.  But, if given the choice, I would use the dates!
• Cacao nibs are a little bitter tasting, so this ingredient could definitely be optional
• I added 1/4 tsp cinnamon to the dry ingredients
• Canola oil works nicely (instead of coconut oil) and you can half the amount you use
• I replaced the 'chia seed sprouted powder' with protein powder
• I used unsweetened almond milk
• It takes a while to incorporate the wet and dry ingredients.  It seems like there is just not enough wet stuff but trust me, there is!

The dry ingredients

The wet ingredients

Shaping the mixture into a rectangle

Cutting into bars

Just out of the oven, golden brown!

Peanut Butter & Banana Muffins with Chocolate Frosting

I always seem to have bananas in my freezer waiting to be used.  This recipe is from 

Gluten Free Vegan Girl.  One thing that drew me to this recipe was that there was no added sugar!

A few notes:

• I didn't read the recipe properly and made 12 muffins instead of 6.  I baked my muffins at 375F for about 20 min.
• I didn't use muffin cups but rather sprayed my muffin tin with vegetable spray
• I added about 5 chocolate chips to the centre of the muffins instead of the chocolate square
• I used natural peanut butter
• When I was preparing the icing, I almost forgot to remove the pits from the dates, glad I checked!

I liked these muffins.  The peanut butter flavour was very subtle. They certainly were not sweet so I added the icing to all of them. I really liked the icing using the dates. The date flavour was definitely there but wasn't overpowering.  I would definitely use this icing again.