These Paleo Congo Bars are a throwback to when I first started really getting into baking in high school (RIP to when I had no food issues). Back then, I started making scrapbooks of recipe clippings from magazines that I would tear out, paste on neon paper, and stick them in a binder. It was like my own little cookbook. I had a desserts one, and a ‘regular’ one – aka everything from appetizers to breakfast to extravagant turkey dinners. I was really into it. I would spend hours at a time, tearing through magazines and ripping out recipes I wanted to make…usually while watching Harry Potter. Obviously.
Unfortunately I can’t eat most of those recipes anymore, especially the dessert ones – because they’re full of gluten and other things that make me feel like poop from the inside out. Which stinks, because some of those recipes I had made countless times and family and friends LOVED them. So I decided to start digging in there and playing around with re-making a few of my old favorites, cutting out the necessary offenders so I don’t die when I eat them (bye, Felicia gluten)
First one that came up: these Congo Bars. Hard stop: where the heck did the name Congo Bars come from anyway, and why are they called Congo bars? What they are: delicious blondies made with a couple extra ingredients thrown in – like pecans, coconut, and white chocolate chips. for my version, I toasted walnuts and coconut, used dark chocolate chips instead of semisweet, and omitted the white ones…for no reason in particular except that I didn’t have them on hand. Oops. But I bet they’d be really delicious in there too!
I’ve gotta be honest though. You guys know my struggles with baking. The first attempt at adapting this recipe from the regular all-purpose flour version in my old scrapbook was a little disastrous. I tried using cassava flour and they came out SO dry that they crumbled straight out of the oven. Not a good sign. Thankfully it only took me until the second batch with almond flour to not only get them passable, but for them to be “oh my god why didn’t I make these sooner I’ve had the recipe for OVER TEN YEARS!”
You know what these paleo congo bars are thinking. “I DID MY WAITING! 10+ YEARS OF IT! IN DANA’S SCRAPBOOK!” And if you didn’t get that reference (how are we friends? jk.), it’s Sirius Black from the third Harry Potter movie. Ya welcome.
- 2 cups almond flour
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ¼ cup maple cashew butter
- ¼ cup ghee
- ⅓ cup coconut sugar
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 2 Tbsp almond milk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
- ½ cup unsweetened, shredded coconut
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8x8 baking pan with a little extra ghee or avocado oil and set aside.
- Spread the walnuts and coconut on a baking sheet. When the oven is hot, put the baking sheet in the oven and toast the walnut and coconut for about 5 minutes, until lightly browned but not burned. Keep an eye on the coconut as it can go from lightly browned to burned very quickly! Set aside to cool.
- Combine the dry ingredients (the almond flour, salt, and baking soda) in a small bowl.
- Melt the ghee and cashew butter together in the microwave or on the stovetop.
- In a large bowl, combine the melted cashew butter, ghee, and coconut sugar, and whisk vigorously until creamed and there are no lumps of sugar or cashew butter. Stir in the honey, vanilla extract, and almond milk.
- Fold in the dry ingredients. If the batter is too dry, add 1-2 Tbsp almond milk. Then, add in the chocolate chips, walnuts and coconut and stir to combine.
- Spread the batter into the prepared 8x8 baking pan so it forms an even layer. Pop it in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow to cool completely before slicing. PS - these are insanely delicious with some vanilla ice cream on top.
*You can substitute regular cashew butter for the maple cashew butter here.
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