Lazy Flourless Cookie Bars

Intro: Lazy Flourless Cookie Bars

I enjoy recipes where you throw everything into one bowl, mix it all up and put it in the oven. Life is simple, clean up is easier, and you can do other things while the oven does the work. This is one of those recipes. I like to have homemade cookies on hand at all times, but sometimes its no fun to scoop out ball after ball of dough and wait for each batch to cook one after the other. Which brings me to these.....lazy cookie bars. Lazy because you barely have to measure anything and can have these ready to bake in 5 minutes. I think my 5 year old could make these. Seriously, no matter how awful a baker you may be, you can't mess these up.

How can a cookie bar be flourless, you may be thinking? The answer is NUTS. Nut butters are magical and happen to mix with eggs effortlessly. My new philosophy with baking is this.....I don't want to use any ingredient that I wouldn't eat plain on its own (with the exception of salt and vanilla extract, which are also pretty magical). So, this recipe includes: eggs, nuts, maple syrup, and dark chocolate. All things I would absolutely eat on their own, but mixed together they make something entirely different and exciting.

There is one more thing about these cookie bars that I absolutely LOVE. After you bake/cool and cut them into bars, they can store at room temperature, in the fridge, or in the freezer. They are so versatile and portable! They are also much sturdier than a normal cookie (thanks to the bar shape) so they tend to travel very well. They taste like a chocolate chip cookie crossed with a brownie, which I believe is called a Blondie? They are not super sweet (by design). You could also mix in a number of other tasty things (shredded coconut, chopped nuts, etc). I happen to like them just as they are :)

These are gluten and grain free.....also dairy free if you use the right chocolate.

STEP 1: Ingredients

1 (16 oz) jar cashew butter (almond butter would also work well here)

4 large eggs

5 oz pure maple syrup

2 teaspoons vanilla

dash of salt

1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (chopped chocolate would work well here too)

STEP 2: Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Using the paddle attachment on your stand mixer, pour all of your ingredients (except for the chocolate chips) into the bowl and "Stir" for 30 seconds. (Important, you have to start on the lowest setting so you don't get egg all over your kitchen).

3. Turn up the speed of the mixer to "2" for 15 seconds. Then turn it up to "4" for 15 seconds. Finally, raise the speed up to "6" (which is just above medium on my Kitchenaid Stand Mixer) and mix for 30 seconds. You want the batter to be completely smooth with no lumps of cashew butter.

4. Add in the chocolate chips and "Stir" until they are mixed in well. (about 15 seconds).

5. Pour your batter into a 9x13 glass pyrex baking dish. I don't even bother to grease it, they always come out just fine for me.

6. Bake at 400 degrees F for 25 minutes.

7. Remove from oven and cool completely on the counter. If you have a huge bubble looking mountain in the middle of your pan when it comes out of the oven, fear not! Just take a sharp knife and make a 1 inch slit into the top of the bubble. Gently push down on the top of the dough to let all of the steam escape from the bubble. It will cool perfectly and no one will be able to see the slit you made in the top.

STEP 3: Storage

Once your bars are cooled, you can cut them and either eat immediately or store for another day. They store well on the counter, in the fridge, and in the freezer.

This recipe makes about 24 cookie bars.

Comments

[rgarcia72]

I got to try these!

[SophiesFoodieFiles]

These bars look irresistible!! Yummm! I need to make them soon!

[curbowman]

Now I'll have to learn how to do cashew butter before attemtping this recipe.

Oddly enough, cashews are widely avaiable here in Venezuela (in Spain it's ANACARDOS, but we call them MEREY here) but there is not even one brand of cashew butter available! But the appeal of doing a 5-minute recipe is soooo appealing I'll give it a try. Thank you!

[coolman21]

these brownies are amazing

[healthy_eating_unicorn]

Nice! Love the taste of these and I freeze them to eat whenever I have friends round

[buck2217]

I made them - really tasty. Had to make cashew butter and would probably cook for a few mibs more at a slightly lower setting as our oven is a bit fierce. Wifey on gluten free diet loves them.

[GlutenFreeMama]

I'm so pleased to hear that!! Your cookie bars look great. Oven temperatures are a funny thing. I have a tiny little old fashioned thermometer in mine because I never trust the digital temp on the oven. If I set my oven to 390 degrees F, it ends up reaching a perfect 400 degrees inside every time. Most ovens are off 25 degrees one way of the other :)

[ClayOgre]

Looks yummy, but I'd have to take out a second mortgage to afford the cashew butter and maple syrup.

[buck2217]

Hi is cashew/almond butter similar to peanut butter? As we don't have those here in NZ

[GlutenFreeMama]

Hi, yes and no. Cashew and almonds are nuts, where as the peanut is a legume (bean). They look very similar when they are made into "butters", but the taste is drastically different. Do you have a food processor? You can actually make nut butters at home very easily! All you have to do is put the nuts (roasted cashews for example) and two tablespoons of coconut oil into the food processor and turn on high until it resembles a paste. It will keep going until it forms a big ball (like a baseball). You can then either eat it, or use it to make cookie bars. If you check out my other Instructables, you will find one for making honey roasted cashew butter :)

[buck2217]

Thanks, will try thefood processor on it (coincidently I just bought a load of cashews!)

[srpaulsen]

what could you substitute the eggs with? (I'm a pescatarian and don't eat eggs..)

[GlutenFreeMama]

I'm sorry to say this, but this is not the recipe for you. The eggs are an integral part of the structure of this cookie and can not be replaced with something else. Sometimes a cookie recipe will call for just one egg, and its quite easy to replace it with something else. Unfortunately, that won't work here.....it would be a complete waste of money.

[rebecca.sipe]

Honey should work just fine. I'm going to try it with peanut butter and coconut oil, because we always have these. I'll try it first with 2/3 jar of PB and 1/2 cup CO, and see how that comes out. *If it's to dry, add more CO. If it's to moist, add more PB - for the next batch.

[Nick70587]

Could you use honey instead of syrup?

[GlutenFreeMama]

Yes...i just prefer the flavor of maple syrup.

[DIY Hacks and How Tos]

These look delicious. I am going to have to make these for my next party.

[GlutenFreeMama]

Great idea. I recommend making them in the morning (or the night before) so that they have enough time to cool completely before you serve them. It takes about an hour for them to cool in the pan. If you are in a hurry and need them to cool faster, you can cut them into bars and cool the individual bars on a wire cooling rack. They should cool completely in about 10 minutes :)