Zucchini Bread Bars

By á-29897

This recipe calls for a dehydrator but can be done in an oven set to 150°F. The results yield 10 to 13 Zucchini Bread Bars, the perfect individualized snack for when you're on the go!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 to 2 cups zucchini, grated
• 1 cup raw oat groats, soaked 4 hours
• 1/3 cup raw buckwheat groats, soaked 4 hours
• 1 1/1 /3 cups pitted dates (depending on how sweet you want your bars to be, 1 is fine for me, you can probably get away with less)
• 1/4 cup almonds
• 4 tablespoons defatted shredded coconut (I used Let’s Do…Organic Reduced Fat Shredded Coconut (Unsweetened))
• 1/2 cup dried figs, chopped
• 1 3/4 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Dash Grand Marnier, optional
• 1/2 teaspoon orange zest, optional but highly reccomended
• 1/2 cup psyllium husks or pysllium husk powder (not the seeds)

Details

Servings 10
Preparation time 15mins
Cooking time 75mins

Preparation

Step 1

First of all soak the oat groats and the buckwheat groats for 4 hours. Drain and rinse. Then spoon them out on a clean dishcloth or layer of paper towels to dry. Grate the zucchini and put in a large mixing bowl. Pit your dates if you need to. Chop the figs. In the food processor, process the oat groats, buckwheat groats and almonds until they are paste-like. Then add the dates and the spices and vanilla and process until all is combined into a thick paste. It won’t be completely smooth and that’s okay. Add this to the zucchini, along with the coconut, chopped figs, psyllium husks and orange zest if using. Combine everything well and then shape into mini bars or loaves. Line one of your food dehydrator trays with baking parchment and place the mini loaves on it. This makes anywhere from 10 to13. I got 13 every time and they fit on one tray.

Dehydrate at 150°F for about an hour. If, like me, you don’t have temperature controls on your dehydrator, close the top vents (if you have them) for an hour, or put it on “high” if it has such a setting. After that, you can check for consistency. I usually open the vents and leave them in for a little while longer (maybe an hour). You will smell them and you will tell by how they hold together if you think they are done. “Desired consistency” is subjective, so after that hour, it’s basically up to you. If you leave them in overnight, they’ll probably dry up too much and crack though.

Notes: I’m no experit, but I assume that technically these are considered raw because of the low temperature of the dehydrator. But I think you could try making them in your oven by putting them in ant 150°F for an hour. I’m not able to test that out here since my electric oven doesn’t show signs of heating up until the temperature is set at about 275 or 300. Sigh.

You can use any kind of nuts you like.

This recipe is rather forgiving about proportions. As long as they are in the ball park and you get a “dough” you can mold into bars that’s not too wet, all will be well. Here’s what they look like all shaped and ready to go on the baking parchment in the dehydrator: