This recipe is from the hilarious new book Gluten is my Bitch: Rants, Recipes and Ridiculousness for the Gluten Free, by April Peveteaux.
If you’ve been recently diagnosed with Celiac disease and are feeling sorry for yourself, this is a must-read. If you’re like me and you deal with other food sensitivity issues, you’ll have a good laugh reading April’s stories because you totally “get it.” And because she is just so freaking funny.
My favorite part has to be the chapter about traveling as a gluten-free person. It’s called “Paris doesn’t have to suck, but it might.”
I had the pleasure of meeting April in person a few months ago. I hadn’t read the book yet, but we immediately joked about how the two of us should never go to Paris together. (As a vegetarian lactose intolerant person, I survived Paris almost solely on baguette).
It’s hard to talk about why a book is funny (especially since I am much less funny), so I thought I’d just share some of my favorite lines:
April, on air-travel:
“The fact is every time you get on an airplane you’d better pack snacks – whether you’re gluten-free or just like to eat food to live.”
on paris:
“Although the Italians are all over gluten-free pasta and bread, the whole UK area practically invented sprue, France is filled with a delicious gluten-plus attitude. Which means I absolutely had to get there, and fast”.
on getting “glutened” in paris:
“I came to Paris and wanted to act like I was just a normal, if not exceptionally cool, gal traveling around Europe by herself. I was NOT stoked to cultivate the image of the American lady with food issues.”
on traveling with her non-gluten-free husband:
“If you love that brioche so much why don’t you marry it?”
quote on the back cover of the book:
“Can someone please send me some freaking gluten?”
– Aaron, author’s husband
Recipe note: this one is technically in the “Paleo” section of the book, however I’m pretty sure I un-paleo-ed it by adding chocolate.
gluten-free almond coconut bars
- 1 cup chopped almonds
- ½ cup coconut flakes
- ¼ cup almond butter
- ¼ cup honey (vegan: sub agave syrup)
- ¼ cup chocolate chips (optional)
- Preheat the oven to 400. Prepare a 6x6 inch pan (or equivalent size), with parchment paper. (don't forget the parchment like I did, they will stick)
- In a medium bowl, combine all of the ingredients together.
- Using another piece of parchment paper, flatten the mixture to evenly distribute.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes (check them around 12 minutes). Remove from oven and let cool for 20 minutes before slicing.
adapted from Gluten is my Bitch, by April Peveteaux, published by Abrams. Posted with permission.
I was wondering if you could use Apple Butter, or gf peanut butter in place of Almond?
Hi Susan, peanut butter should work just fine. I’m not sure about apple butter, I don’t know what it’s consistency is like.
I just love this !!!
At what temperature should wee bake?
I love nuts! So I doubled coconut and replaced chocolate chips with sésame seeds. I used peanut butter and natural honey. Baked for 10 min at 325 and 5 min at 200. No adjective to describe how yummy, I’ll say, smells good, tastes better.
Thanks much for this recipe.
I’m so glad you liked it!!
These are so good!!!!!
Tasted it a bit before I put it in the oven, and it’s tasty! I added some extra coconut to the top, because I’m obsessed with toasted coconut, and next time I’ll certainly double it. I’m feeding a family of 5, and they almost always go back for seconds!
Hi! After being taken by your lovely photo on Pinterest I had to make. These were delicious- kind of like some kind of samoa granola bar sans the oats. Thought I’d report back with my adapts: Halved it which made it thinner, lightly toasted the coconut flakes and (sliced) almonds beforehand, added a dash vanilla and used half maple and half honey, baked in a 4 x 6 ish le cruset about 12-13 mins. Let cool and also a bit of time in the feezer before cutting and they cut fine. Delightful ; 0
Mine also burned a bit more than I’d have liked, so now it’s a slightly darker golden brown. I substituted olive oil for almond butter since I didn’t have any on hand. I think next time I’ll try doing this at 350 for 20 min instead. I’ve made a similar granola bar at 325 for 25 min, and it was under cooked.
But thanks for this recipe and book recommendation. I’m enjoying reading it with my husband who is recently on a forced gluten and dairy free diet (developed an intolerance to both at the same time) and has been quite down about it.
Olive oil is pretty different than almond butter, so I can’t really help troubleshoot this one… but I’ll add a line to the recipe instructions suggesting to check them around 12 minutes.
Well, something went horribly wrong when I made this recipe. They burned to a crisp (yes, I should have checked on them earlier). Perhaps because I used sunflower seed butter and not almond butter? Dunno. Thoughts?
I’m not sure if it should work the same with sunflower butter vs. almond butter since they’re pretty different. (nuts vs. seeds). I would suggest trying a nut butter and reducing the oven heat, and time.
I just made these and had a little nibble while they were cooling – delish! I made them for my coeliac mum and I will be buying her the book 🙂
so glad you liked them, hope your mum likes them too 🙂
I did use wax paper and it didn’t burn. Thanks for the anti-crumble tips!
great, good to know!
Hello,
Recipe sounds delicious. I thought you cannot bake wax paper though? Doesn’t it burn?
Jilly
Hi Jilly, I meant to say parchment paper! Thanks, I just updated that. You can bake with parchment paper, it doesn’t burn until it’s at a certain temperature (ie. don’t use it under the broiler – I’ve learned that the hard way).
so i know you didn’t write this recipe but mine fell apart so any tips? Also i just went out and bought the book. So excited to read it!
mine were pretty crumbly too, but that didn’t stop me from devouring the whole thing… I think some flax might help it bind, some extra honey (I think honey would be stickier than the agave that I used) or letting it cool in the fridge and also making sure it cools completely before cutting?