Gluten-Free Chunky Monkey Bars

Time for a recipe! These “Monkey Bars” are a delicious mid-afternoon or after-school snack for both adults and kids — plus they’re grain free and high in protein!

Gluten-Free Chunky Monkey Bars

(Based on this recipe)

1/2 cup coconut flour*

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

6 eggs

1/2 cup sucanat (sugar), or 1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

1 Tbsp vanilla

3/4 cup mashed bananas (~2 standard-sized bananas, or 3 smaller ones)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

1/3 cup shredded coconut

1/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a cake pan…mine happens to be 12″ x 7.5″, but you can use a different size and just alter the cooking time as necessary. You could also make these into muffins.

In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the coconut flour, salt, and baking soda. Add everything else and mix well. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool and slice into bars. (For muffins, fill the tins 3/4 full. The baking time is the same. Makes 12 muffins.)

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*If you’re not familiar with coconut flour, it behaves differently than wheat flour; it’s high in fiber and is therefore a very thirsty flour, which is why you don’t need much of it to do the job. 1/2 a cup in this recipe doesn’t seem like nearly enough, but it actually is! Coconut flour also requires lots of eggs to achieve the light texture of wheat-based baked goods. But it’s a lovely flour to work with! Just a little different. I love it. In fact, in this recipe I can’t even tell that there isn’t any actual wheat flour; the texture is light, moist, and tender, and the taste is yummmmmmy! Enjoy these!