Aunt Barbs Chocolatey Squares
Squares:
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tablespoons carob powder
1/2 cup coconut, or nuts
1/3 cup raisins
1 1/2-2 cups oatmeal
Carob Icing:
maple syrup, to taste
carob powder, to taste
peanut butter, to taste
nondairy milk, to taste
1. Heat together water, maple syrup, peanut butter and carob powder and stir until homogeneous.
2. Add coconut, raisins and oatmeal. Mix together and pat into a lightly oiled 8x8 pan.
3. Serve as is or with carob icing. For icing, mix together ingredients and heat. Let simmer until it is the thickness you want. Pour and spread on top of bars.
My Aunt-in-law, Barbara Heywood, makes these ultra rich squares whenever we visit. She calls them chocolatey squares because they look and taste like chocolate, but aren't chocolate!!
SO HOW'D IT GO?
Could I use cocoa powder instead of carob powder? I've never seen carob in any grocery store or ever tasted it so...
These are SO yummy! I made them with cocoa instead of carob and they turned out so incredibly chocolatey and rich, they should be illegal.
Thanks for also giving me a recipe to make for the glutenfree, lactose-intolerant girl at our children's play group. She'll be happy to be able to eat something cake-like too!
Awesome! :D I don't even use the frosting and these still taste great. I do add some marshmallows to the mix and that takes them over the top for me. Thanks for the recipe!
These are wonderful tasting - like a no-bake cookie with coconut added in - but my bars don't look anywhere near as thick as the recipe pictures indicate and I followed the recipe. Not a big deal but I'm a tad perplexed by that.
These were a great hit at a potluck yesterday. Everybody wanted the recipe. ;)b
I quadrupled the recipe to make lots.I used a mix of maple syrup, honey and agave nectar instead of all maple syrup to cut the cost a little. I also used carob powder rather than cocoa. I also used half sweetened shredded coconut (could have easily used unsweetened it turns out) and chopped walnuts. A very nice combination. :)>>>
I realized too late that I didn't cook the syrup and stuff together, so I just went ahead and it came out fine. I just let them set a while so the oats could soak up the liquids and "set". Thanks for a yummy recipe.
Oh so good and oh so easy. I followed the recipe exactly and was very, very pleased with the result. Amazing!
I made these with cocoa powder instead of carob, because my husband is prejudiced against carob - I guess that defeats the point of them not being chocolate, but they were excellent. This is going to become one of those "it's not dessert, it's healthy... so I can eat it all" recipes, I can feel it.
Yeah, I just made these..with a lot of modifications..and they did not work out well! We don't have maple syrup, so I tried to use molasses and Florida Crystals with cocoa...and I made a regular chocolate icing with cocoa, powdered sugar, and soy milk....which was fine on its own...but the molasses just overpowered everything! Maple syrup is just too expensive! :-\
Agreed, SO easy. I used dried cherries instead of raisins, but I basically followed all the other directions (which says a lot, for me!). Where it called for oats, I used rolled oats, because that's what I have on hand. And I used coconut, which added some nice flavor and moistness. I think they are even better after they sit for a day or two, and the texture also improves a bit (it must be the oats soaking up all the good stuff).
I wouldn't say they are a "healthy" dessert option (if you want healthy, I say eat fruit), but they're certainly not the worst thing you could eat. The only fat is really from the carob, coconut, and the PB, and there's not too much sugar. Even healthier if you omit the icing, which I made and really enjoyed.
These were awesome, and so easy! They were perfect for a chocolatey fix. I did as kmouse suggested and used about 1/3 cup maple syrup, plus a little bit of molasses. I also used cocoa powder. I didn't have any nuts or coconut, and i don't like raisins, so i just omitted all that stuff. For the topping I felt like something pure chocolate, so I melted about 3/4 cup chocolate chips with about 1/3 cup soymilk. They turned out really well. I couldn't wait for them to harden so i just ate them when they were still soft and gooey :D So yummy! I cut them into nine squares. All my family members devoured them! Thank you for this crazy good recipe!
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