Tongue Twisted Buckwheat Berry Binge Bars

April 25, 2011 By Leanne Vogel July 19, 2015

Tongue-Twisting-Buckwheat-Berry-Binge-Bars7

How was your Easter weekend? I’ll be quite honest with you, I’m not ready to go back to work today. I had 4 sweet days off and couldn’t have enjoyed myself more. Why does time fly when you’re having fun? It’s just not fair.

Tongue-Twisting-Buckwheat-Berry-Binge-Bars

Speaking of time off, only 4 more weeks until our vacation to Golden, BC! It’s one of our favorite places to go. It’s nestled between a valley of mountains, with a river running through, endless trails for hiking, and so much quiet, it can calm any soul… mmm it couldn’t come soon enough!

I’m so thankful to live so close to such a beautiful place.

How many weeks did I say, 4?

Ugh. Okay, now that I’ve totally teased myself… Let’s get back to delicious bar goodness.

Tongue-Twisting-Buckwheat-Berry-Binge-Bars4

I made these bars for our Easter dinner on Saturday but initially gave some to our neighbors as a test run. They passed with flying colors on the first try. Yay! My favorite part of these bars is the fruit filling. Once the bars were in the oven, I was stuck standing at the stove for a good 10 minutes dragging my finger along the bottom of the pot, then into my mouth, bottom of the pot, into my mouth, side of the… well, you get the picture. Note to self: next time – double the fruit filling and eat it for breakfast.

Tongue-Twisting-Buckwheat-Berry-Binge-Bars6

Tongue Twisted Buckwheat Berry Binge Bars

Author: Leanne Vogel

Recipe type: Vegan, Gluten free, Dairy free, Refined sugar free, Yeast free, Corn free

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 35 mins

Total time: 1 hour 5 mins

Serves: 16 squares

Light, sugar free bars with a crunchy buckwheat topping.

Ingredients

1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup fresh strawberries, chopped
1 granny smith apple, diced small – keep skin on!
¼ cup apple juice
2 tablespoon coconut/coconut sugar
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoon arrowroot starch mixed with 2 tablespoon water
1½ cup almond flour
1 cup uncontaminated rolled oats
½ cup buckwheat groats, divided
¼ cup coconut/coconut sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon himalayan rock salt
⅛ teaspoon white powdered stevia
1 flax egg [1 tablespoon freshly ground flax + 2 tablespoon water] *see note
3 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375F and line 9×9 square pan with parchment paper across both sides for easy lifting and set aside. In a small bowl, mix arrowroot with warm water to form a paste. Set aside.
Berry Filling: combine the berries, apple, apple juice, coconut sugar, stevia and vanilla extract in a blender and pulse quickly. Transfer mixture to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the pre-mixed arrowroot mixture. Whisk until all clumps are gone and set aside.
Base: Grind half of the buckwheat groats in a food processor or coffee grinder. Pour mixture into a large bowl and add remaining buckwheat, oats, almond flour, coconut sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, stevia, and salt.
In a separate bowl, mix flax egg, coconut oil and vanilla. Pour wet into dry and mix until combined. It will be slightly dry, but keep mixing with hands until it’s incorporated.
Drop ⅔ of the mixture into the prepared pan and push down firmly with fingers to smooth out. Grab the prepared berry filling and spread over the top of the base until smooth.
Now, crumble the remaining oat mixture on top.
Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is slightly golden and firm. Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before cutting into squares.

Notes

Generally flax eggs are comprised of 1 tablespoon flax and 3 tablespoon water, but use 2 tablespoon in this recipe. It’s not a typo!

View Nutritional Information (once on page scroll down)

Tongue-Twisting-Buckwheat-Berry-Binge-Bars2

I have a very, very busy week ahead of me. eak! To make things a heck of a lot easier, I spent most of Sunday morning preparing my meals for the week

Boiled lentils
Cooked 2 cups of rice
Made 3 types of salad dressings
A week wouldn’t be complete without a batch of hummus
Precooked 1 lb of chicken
Made 6 hard boiled eggs
Washed and cut carrots, celery, cucumber
Whipped up another batch of muffins

I’m ready. Bring it on! How do you prepare for a busy week? What’s your favorite fruit filling in bars, cookies, cakes, whatever. Apple Do you have any vacations coming up?

Want to do a guest post on Healthful Pursuit?

I knew there was a reason I got into major vacation mode this morning. While we’re hanging out in Golden at the end of May, I hoped to find a few lovely readers to guest post! Leave a comment or drop me an email at leanne[at]leannevogel.com if you’re interested! Only requirement: you have to share a recipe with us! It doesn’t have to be original or exclusive, it just has to be one of your favorites!