Celiac Chicks Gluten Free Dairy Free Peanut Butter Love Bars
61Piggies! It is DAY 5 of "Gluten Free Baking With KitchenAid" Month to celebrate our 7-QT Stand Mixer Giveaway. Today's featured blogger is the fabulous Kelly Courson, from one of the very first gluten free blogs, Celiac Chicks. I was absolutely thrilled when Kelly agreed to participate in this event, as she is so wonderfully sassy! LOVE the name of the blog to start off with. But there is also so much valuable information about gluten free health, lifestyle and nutrition presented in a hip way that makes gluten free living FUN! On this light-hearted blog, Kelly guides you through everything gluten free: gluten free beauty and lifestyule products, the best gluten free restaurants and bakeries, gluten-free-friendly travel destinations, and delicious easy gluten free recipes. No "gluten-free stone" will be left unturned! This lady is on a mission. :)
Kelly and I had never connected before I reached out to her a couple of weeks ago, but we had a connection from the first few emails! A few emails turned into another few emails, and before we knew it we were giggling like long lost high school friends on the phone, where Kelly entertained me with tales of travelling the world visiting world-class restaurants and spas reviewing gluten free menus, and other exciting adventures in her work as a gluten free consultant. Since being diagnosed with Celiac disease, and starting Celiac Chicks almost 10 years ago, Kelly has built up quite a business for herself as a full-time blogger, consultant, speaker and writer. Celiac Chicks has been featured in some of the top media outlets in the country, such as The New York Times, Newsweek, and The Washington Post.
Kelly has generously shared the most popular recipe on her site, her Gluten Free Dairy Free Peanut Butter Love Bars. Now, if you like peanut butter, or have contemplated "death by peanut butter" like I have, you are going to LOVE LOVE LOVE these super easy peanut butter love bars, for it truly IS "LOVE at first bite!" Now, I will be honest and say that I rarely eat peanut butter; I typically eat raw almonds instead. However, I am willing to coat-check my nutty principles for just one bite of what I can only describe as PIGGY HEAVEN!
These "peanut butter love bars" (yes, the name bears repeating) are SOOO easy. You just need four basic ingredients and about twenty minutes of your time, and you have a quick easy gluten free treat the whole family can enjoy. It just doesn't get any easier than this little idea. It is like diving into a VAT of peanut butter! OH! My DREAM! I actually used some FABULOUS homemade peanut butter I made in seconds in my Vitamix with just roasted peanuts! Oh, belive me, it was tough not to eat the entire tray in one sitting!
As Kelly says in her original post, you can keep these love bars simple, or jazz them up with some chocolate or jam. I actually thought it would be wonderful to do all sorts of variations with different nut butters, fruits and sweeteners! Perhaps a version with almond butter, chocolate, cherries and agave? YUMMO!
**Or try Be Free Bakers version that she shared in the comments for those allergic to peanuts and eggs: She used 2T chocolate flavored flax meal + 5T boiling water (set for 5 mins), almond butter instead of peanut butter, and 3/4 cup honey instead of a whole cup. Then “deflate” it 1/2 way as it rises quite high, and then add 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips.
Thank you Kelly!!!!!!! Tess, this is a super fun month - thank you so so so much!
Trust me, grab yourself a jar of peanut butter and get yourself some LUUUV with these little treats. A simple little stunner! Thanks Kelly - you ROCK!
Learn more about Kelly Courson by visiting Celiac Chicks.
Follow Kelly on Twitter and Facebook.
Celiac Chicks Gluten Free Dairy Free Peanut Butter Love Bars
- 1 16oz. jar organic natural peanut butter (the kind with peanuts listed as the only ingredient)
- 2 organic eggs
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup organic honey
- Preheat your oven to 180 / 350 degrees.
- Combine all of the ingredients in your stand mixer bowl and mix until combined.
- Grease a shallow rectangular pan or line with parchment / baking paper (Kelly uses an ungreased Pampered Chef stone bar)
- Bake for about 15-20 minutes.
- The bar should be a beautiful golden brown colour when done.
- These are wonderful plain! But you could dress them up by spreading chocolate and peanut butter chips on the top before baking.
- Another idea is to swirl jam onto the top before baking.
-
Cut into pieces and devour. YUMMO!
- **For peanut and egg free version: try Be Free Bakers version that she shared in the comments for those allergic to peanuts and eggs: She used 2T chocolate flavored flax meal + 5T boiling water (set for 5 mins), almond butter instead of peanut butter, and 3/4 cup honey instead of a whole cup. Then “deflate” it 1/2 way as it rises quite high, and then add 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips.
Recipe published here courtesy of Kelly Courson and Celiac Chicks.
Check out Kelly's original blog post for further information about this recipe.
Piggy Cooking Tips
Neatly cutting brownies and slices
Cutting the perfect square pieces of brownies and slices and getting them to look perfect without breaks and crumbs can be challenging. A quick easy way to “slice slices” is to use a plastic knife that glides through and doesn’t collect the crumbs.
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Piggy Grunts!
Add Your GruntI’m always in favor of bars versus cookies because it’s so much quicker, but I never thought of using that basic flourless pb cookie recipe in bar form. Great idea! And I love that you use honey instead of sugar. I’m sure it tastes great with the peanut butter besides the fact that it’s healthier.
I know! Isn’t this a FANTASTIC idea?!
LOVE it. SO easy and SOOOO yummy! OINK!
Any chance of getting the recipe for the homemade peanut butter you used? I live in Brazil, and one jar of peanut butter is about the equivalent of $20…. and that’s the non-organic, highly processed stuff :( Not too cost effective, especially if this slice is eaten as fast as you say it will be!
Hey Natasha!
I just put 2 cups of organic roasted peanuts into my Vitamix and processed them on high for about 1 minute until smooth and creamy.
If you don’t have a Vitamix or a high-speed blender, you can make fantastic peanut butter in your food processor with a little bit of organic cold pressed peanut oil.
I hope this helps :)
I love this recipe and can’t wait to try it. Thank you Blender Girl for all your time and effort to bring us such incredible things! You are a wealth of knowledge and a treasure!!!
Aw…thanks Stacey!
I really appreciate your support.
I can’t take credit for this idea and this recipe.
It is ALL Kelly!
Natasha…do you have a Vitamix blender? It’s pretty easy to make nut butters in them…I’m sure Tess can share more deets on how-to. If you don’t have a super powerful blender then you could just use a food processor. Usually there is enough natural oil in the nuts for it to just turn into nut butter once you keep blending it. It’s like magic! Then you can add anything else you want to it…salt, sweetener, chocolate! :)
OMG! How easy and delicious were these? VERY!!! I used raw almond butter and stevia. I am on a no-sugar diet for 30 days and they came out GREAT! I make my own chocolate/carob chips (coconut oil, cacao or carob powder + stevia ) and sprinkled on top. I am piggy dancing and happy with these!! Another winner, TESS! XOXO
Oh YUMMO Kibby!
I KNEW you would be the FIRST piggy to try these! Kelly - Kibby is my Pig Of The Month and she tries more of my recipes than any other reader. She is an AMAZING whole foods cook!
Thanks for supporting Kelly Kibby!!!
I love you xxx
Kibby! Can’t believe you made these already! Wow! Fast to implement! Love that! And soooo happy you liked my recipe! Oink!!!
Oh my! Hubby’s back in town tomorrow. He’d love these! Will have to make them - definitely with some dairy-free chocolate chips. I have some of Enjoy Life’s Mega Chunks in the pantry. That would be heaven in a bar. Very well done Kelly, and Tess for finding Kelly’s blog!
Carla - LOVE those dairy free chocolate chips!
Report back and let us know what hubby thinks
My kids will Luv these! What a perfect quick & easy treat! I love anything that puts smiles on faces with only a few ingredients :)
I know! Isn’t this SUPER easy and FUN for kids!
Thanks Kelly :)
Simple stunner is right. Who’d thunk ... just a jar of PB, eggs, honey and baking soda. Beautyummylicious. xoLexie
wow easy breezy and a new blog to follow to boot. wee wee wee all the way home.
LOL! LOVE that Karen!
Can’t wait to hear what you think of this recipe!
YUMMO! PB is a HUGE favorite in this house, I have to make this one for my kids (well, for me, but I might share). ;)
I love it. I was looking for something different to make for Easter and I think I just found it!
[squeal] I can’t believe it! I went out for a couple of hours and now there are 27 comments! I’m in hog heaven that you are all in hog heaven with my PBL bars!!!
Hmm…I just realized it would have made for a fun story in my blog post…but I was forgetful at the time…that this PBL recipe actually burnt out my cheap hand mixer I had at the time. SO….a KitchenAid mixer is PERFECT for the job!
LOL! LOVE the use of the piggy language!
We ARE all in HOG HEAVEN over these!
HA! I CAN believe you burnt out your mixer making these! KitchenAid saves the day again!
Snort, snort, snort! <—That’s the sound of my ENTIRE FAMILY snarfing up these beauties.
I made them after school today in less than 30 minutes, with raw almond butter (peanut allergic child), local honey and 1/2 cup organic dairy-free chocolate chips on top!
Super easy, super fast, super delicious, full of protein and totally satiating. WINNER!
A Perfect Snack for big AND little piggies alike!
Thank you Kelly for a fantastic recipe and Tess for organizing such a fantastically fun recipe contest and blog. Woo-Hoo!
Yippee!
jennifer @ be free bakers
I am SO glad you made these Jen!
HOW easy and amazing are these?! OINK!
I am so thrilled that you are participating in this! Cannot wait to feature YOUR recipe :)
Happy Easter!!!!
I admit it, I am going to make these AGAIN this week. They’re fantastic for the kids lunches and snacks, a great source of protein, and by using raw local honey a win/win in the health department too.
As far as making them without eggs, why not try the flax meal trick or soaked chia seeds? Hmm.. I may have to give that a try too now!
One more idea: for Easter we could put Sunspire “M&M’s” on top for added color and still have them be dairy free! I just love playing in the kitchen… don’t you?
I LOVE these ideas!!!!!
Please let us know how you go with the experimenting :)
wow! after all of these comments about it taking “no more than 30 minutes to make these” I’m realizing I didn’t market this recipe the right way on my blog! :o) hmmmm…..
LOL! You can always go in and change it with those famous blogger scratch mark-throughs with a note?! HA!
Kelly, these bars are a hit! Thanks for making them so simple and easy to make. PIg-out time!
Blender Girl - Firstly, I love that you’ve appointed the word ‘hip’ in your statement here - Stop stealing my trendy 90’s vocab, girlfriend! However, you wear it well. Wait… Where was I? Peanuts, YES! Say yes to peanuts. Peanut butter has grown on me over the past year like a deliciously nutritive rash. This reciple looks AMAZING!!!!!! Tricky but is there any possible way at all to make this vegan as well?!
First of all, this is my first time on this site and I have to say its design is superb! Second, I have just tried out this recipe and it’s fantastic. I takes no more than 30 minutes. Thanks for sharing!
Fanni…
As a fellow fan of the 90’s I’m proud to say that the word “hip” is part of my blog’s tagline CeliacChicks: The guide to a hip & healthy gluten-free lifestyle. It’s OK though, I gave Tessy permission to use our 90’s lingo.
PS:I think I just did one of those snort laughs.
Whoops! Should have addressed that last comment to Monkeypig, but hey, Fanni, you’re a hip pig too!
Thanks for the lovely comments about the site and the recipe! Yes! How easy and yummy is Kelly’s recipe?!
Kim! You will DIE.
These are SO easy and SOOOOOO good!
Love the name Celiac Chick AND Blender Girl…grunt grunt! What a good simple idea this recipe is. So inspiring ...
Thank you for hosting the KA giveaway!
Thanks Deeba.
I LOVE the name Celiac Chick too :)
It is MY pleasure to host this KitchenAid Giveaway. I just LOVE giving things away to my readers. LOTS more AMAZING giveaways coming up this year. It just keeps getting better! Good Luck :)
The PB is hidden in our house from me (who can resist a scoop here or there when on the run?) Time to take it OUT of hiding and try this recipe!!! Then to hide my batch from myself before I eat too many…
A healthy easy treat with protein too. I can’t use peanut butter, but I could try almond or sunflower butter.
Oh my HEAVENS update:
The challenge was on to make this incredible recipe peanut and egg free (for my daughter). I used 2T chocolate flavored flax meal + 5T boiling water (set for 5 mins), almond butter instead of peanut butter, and 3/4 cup honey instead of a whole cup.
The only thing I did differently this time around (my third, tyvm) was to “deflate” it 1/2 way (it was rising quite high) - Holy Moley, these are the BOMB! They were completely amazing as directed, but for my daughter, who cannot eat peanuts and doesn’t do well with eggs - they are COMPLETELY PERFECT!!!
Thank you Kelly!!!!!!! Tess, this is a super fun month - thank you so so so much!
p.s. I did add 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips on top; oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! Just like Lay’s Potato Chips: Can’t Stop Eating ‘Em!
Jen!
THANKYOU for sharing your special blend.
This will be SO helpful for people with nut and egg allergies.
I am going to add this in the recipe and post so others can benefit from your experience.
You ROCK!
OMG! These are SO yummy. I put it on my jelly roll pan and thought they were going to be too thin. I swapped for a smaller pan (ended up going too small). They puff up, so definitely a bigger pan is better. They’re edible regardless, but I have puffy edges and a sunk middle. Thanks - we love this snack!
LOL! Thanks Alissabeth!
I would eat these ANY way they came out :)
YUMMO! Thanks again Kelly!
I am looking for a raw peanut brittle recipe - can’t find one anywhere! Any ideas? I am thinking of softening some coconut oil, adding raw sugar, vanilla, a bit of baking soda,peanuts and then freezing - think that would work?
Dianne,
I have never made raw peanut butter brittle before! I am very intrigued by this.
I would definitely give it a go by making raw peanut butter in your Vitamix and mixing it with a bit of coconut oil. You don’t want too much or it will be really oily. I would mix in date sugar, coconut sugar, or maple sugar, vanilla, a pinch of salt and freeze? I would LOVE to hear hot you go with this! Please let me know :)
Can you taste the honey a lot?? If I love peanut butter but do not like honey will I like these? Can you use manuka honey?
Hey Alicia,
You can use any liquid sweetener in this recipe. Maple syrup and raw agave also work well in this recipe. You can taste the honey if you use it, and you can use manuka honey. Enjoy :)
Oh my god!! My kids will go nuts (peanuts!!) for these sweet things!! Easter weekend is the perfect time to give them a try.
I’m hungry now. Oink! Oink!
Marie-Guy, your family will LOVE these!
SO easy and SO good!!!
Oinkedy Oink :)
The thing I LOVE about these is they are a perfect protein blast for an easy on the run guilt free breaky. Who needs donuts?! pfft.
So right! Donuts are gross anyways. ;-) These will be perfect before I go out for a run too. Yay!!