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Chocolate Chip Bars Recipe: A Healthier Version

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February 6, 2015

I don’t eat a lot of snacks but my husband has a large enough sweet tooth for both of us. One of  his favorite snacks of all time is chocolate chip bars. Since he’s working on trying to eat healthier, we decided to take a look at our original recipe and see if we could add a healthy twist. While these still aren’t as healthy as a bowl of fruit, they’ve taken a few steps in the right direction.

Chocolate Chip Bars Recipe: A Healthier Version

We started with my Mom’s chocolate chip bar recipe that I’ve been making for years and made a bunch of small changes. My husband didn’t notice any change in the taste overall and he loved these just as much as the original recipe:

  • Brown Sugar : We substituted fair trade, organic brown sugar for the traditional brown sugar. This eliminates GMO sugar beats.
  • Butter: We substituted organic butter from grass fed cows. This eliminates any rGBH and antibiotics from our butter.
  • Eggs: We chose organic. If it were summer, we would have used farm fresh from our chickens.
  • Vanilla: Choose vanilla extract and NOT vanilla flavoring
  • Flour: Instead of 2 cups of all purpose flour, we chose 1/2 cup whole wheat and 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour.
  • Baking powder: Always choose aluminum free baking powder.
  • Salt: We switched to sea salt.
  • Chocolate chips: Instead of semi-sweet chips (which generally contain soy) choose allergy friendly dark chocolate chips which are generally soy free.
  • Cooking spray: Use organic olive oil cooking spray or line the pan with unbleached parchment paper.

Here is the final Chocolate Chip Bars recipe that we used for a healthier version:

Healthy Chocolate Chip BarsIngredients:

  • 2 cups firmly packed fair trade, organic brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup organic butter, melted
  • 2 eggs, organic or farm fresh
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder, aluminum free
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1 cup of allergy friendly, soy free dark chocolate chips
  • organic olive oil spray or parchment paper, unbleached

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350F
  2. Line a 13″ x 9″ pan with unbleached parchment paper or spray with organic olive oil spray.
  3. Mix the melted butter and the dark brown sugar.
  4. Add the eggs and mix well.
  5. Stir in the vanilla
  6. Add flour, baking powder and salt and mix well.
  7. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  8. Spread in the pan.
  9. Bake 25 to 35 minutes until set. Do not over bake. Cool completely before cutting.
  10. Makes 36 small bars. Enjoy!

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