I’m thrilled to introduce you to the latest addition to our family, Yuki! Yuki means “snow” in Japanese. For the past two weeks, my days have been filled with sleepless nights and cluster feeds, but it is all worth it for these short and precious newborn days.
Speaking of lack of sleep, there’s nothing like a sweet treat to perk you up during a mid afternoon slump. During my pregnancy, I quit sugar due to my gestational diabetes. I’m now a little more relaxed about my sugar intake, but I continue to make lots of the sugarless recipes I discovered during restricted diet. My absolute favourite are these sugar free “snickers” bars, which are adapted from the Women’s Weekly Sugar Free cookbook. They give you the chocolate and peanut fix of snickers bars, but are vegan, sugar AND gluten free!
Recipe: Sugar Free “Snickers” Bars
Adapted from Women’s Weekly Sugar Free cookbook
INGREDIENTS
Base
1/2 cup (115g) pitted dried dates
1 cup (130g) roasted unsalted nuts (almonds, walnuts, or whatever you have on hand)
1 1/2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
1/4 teaspoon sea salt flakes
Peanut filling
1 cup (230g) pitted dried dates
1/2 cup (125ml) liquid sweetener (maple syrup, rice syrup or agave are all good choices)
1/3 cup (95g) crunchy peanut butter
1/4 cup (60ml) melted coconut oil
Cacao topping
1/4 cup (20g) raw cacao powder
1/4 cup (60ml) melted coconut oil
2 teaspoons liquid sweetener (maple syrup, rice syrup or agave are all good choices)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Line a loaf pan with baking paper. My pan is about 14cmx25cm (5.5″x9.5″).
- Make the base. Mix dates, nuts and coconut oil in a food processor until smooth. Press onto the base of the pan and place in the fridge for 1 hour or until set. Don’t worry if the mixture has lumps of nuts in it. My food processor is not very powerful, but I like the crunchy nuts in my base.
- Make the peanut filling. Process all peanut filling ingredients until smooth. Spread over the base evenly. Freeze for 1 hour or until firm.
- Make the cacao topping. Whilst the coconut oil is warm, mix with the remaining cacao topping ingredients. Spread over the peanut filling quickly before it sets. Sprinkle sea salt flakes on top. Place in the fridge for 1 hour or until set.
- Cut into desired slices using a hot knife. I run my knife under hot water after each slice to ensure a clean cut.
I like to freeze half the slices so I can enjoy them over a few weeks. I find they just disappear if I stick them in the fridge!
