Healthy Homemade Almond Joy Bars

Do you like Almond Joy candy bars?  I sure do!  But I don't like the icky ingredients in the store-bought ones. Since corn syrup is the first ingredient in them, I decided to make my own using healthy, natural ingredients.  Ready?  Here's what you'll need:

1C Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
2 1/2C UNsweetened Coconut Flakes*
Almonds
1C RAW Honey, melted (not the honey bear kind)
1 1/2C Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (I highly recommend Ghirardelli...Hershey is kinda bitter)
1T Vanilla
Pinch of Sea Salt

Toss everything but almonds into a bowl and mix together.

Line a cupcake tin with 12 paper liners.  Looking back, I wish I had a mini muffin tin and liners because these are entirely too big.  I would imagine you could easily get 48 minis out of this batch.  Put desired amount of almonds in the bottom of each paper cup.  I used 6 per cup and put one on top later.

If using the same size tins I did, you can put 1/4C of the mixture in each paper cup and use it all up exactly as this makes about 3 cups.  You may need to stir in between additions because the coconut oil and honey tend to separate a tad from the coconut.

I decided it needed a little sprinkle of salt on top, too.  I'm glad I did.  It was a nice contrast.

I then put a single almond on top of each and threw the whole pan in the fridge to set.  As a side note, these should be kept in the fridge or they will get really melty and gooey because of the coconut oil.

Once they are set, dig in!  Because these have coconut oil in them, they are actually quite filling/satisfying, so a little goes a long way.   I try to restrain myself to only eat 1/2 to 1 per day.  Sometimes I'm really bad and eat two, tee hee hee.  But that's over the course of an entire day.  If you are not used to eating coconut oil, you need to start out slowly and work your way up or it may cause some major tummy trouble.  Not because it's bad, but because your body isn't used to the good stuff in it.

They were really yummy! I noticed the outside edge was a little bitter, while the inside was sweet and chewy from the honey.  Maybe that happened because I didn't melt my honey first.  I didn't mind at all.  These are not sicky sweet at all.  If you like things really sweet, you could always use some more honey.

If you cannot bear to have your 'almond joy' mixed together like this, I do have a solution for you, well, sorta.  You could always mix the coconut oil, honey, vanilla, coconut flakes and salt together, then pour into molds.  (As a side note, I have not done this, so the coconut oil and honey amounts may need tweaking)  For the chocolate, you'd probably have to melt 1 1/2C chocolate chips with a couple of tablespoons of coconut oil, then pour on top. Then add your almonds on top.  Or heck, go wild and sandwich them in between.  The reason I didn't do it that way was because I was trying to avoid processed sugar altogether.   *As for the coconut flakes, if you can't find unsweetened, you could probably use the normal kind with sugar, but then again, you'll have to adjust for that extra sweetness.  I bought my raw, unsweetened flakes at Tropical Traditions online.  They also sell coconut oil, but VitaCost is usually cheaper.

While these are not low-cal by any means, it is important to remember that not all calories are created equal, not by a long shot.  Let's talk about sweeteners, shall we?  The effects 1oz of HFCS (glycemic index of 87) has on your blood sugar is clearly worse than 1oz of raw honey (glycemic index of 35).  So, raw honey is the 'natural' choice, pun intended.  Raw honey also gives a nice chewy texture that I just love.  It's also good for your allergies!  Just make sure it's RAW, not the honey bear kind.  That kind doesn't work as it won't set up and you'll be left with a gooey mess.  Not to mention it has a higher glycemic index than raw honey.  See what happens when humans mess with mother nature?!  It's never good.  (unless you're talkin' about chocolate!)  Anyway, I get my honey at VitaCost, which has the best prices anywhere for healthy ingredients/vitamins.  If you want to get $10 off your order, contact me and I'll send you a referral link.  We can both save $10 that way....win/win!

Now on to the fats.  Some people believe fat is fat is fat.  Not true. Sure, it all has about 100-120 cals per tablespoon.  Let's say you were thinking of using canola oil instead of coconut oil, in any recipe.  Neither has any carbs...good deal.   So you might say..well, what's the difference then?  Well, aside from the fact that canola oil will not set up in this particular recipe like the coconut oil will, I will go on a small hater of all things canola oil rant if I may.  Canola oil is rancid rapeseed oil that was originally developed to fatten cattle (depending on who you ask), except the cattle developed metabolic disorders, cancer, depressed immune systems and cysts.  When the canola oil was discontinued, the cysts went away, but scarring remained.  So canola manufacturers said, hey! Let's bleach, refine and deodorize it using harmful chemicals similar to fuel oil, and shove it down unsuspecting Americans' throats, touting it as the 'healthiest' of vegetable oils out there.....yeahhhhh, right.

Canola started in Canada where rapeseed is the #3 crop, after wheat and barley.  The Canadian govt paid the US $50 million dollars to certify it as GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe). Hmmmm, in my world, that would be called bribery.  Because RAPEseed oil sounds horrifying, they came up with Canola, which is short for Canadian Oil, Low Acid.  Nope, there is no canola plant.  Makes me wonder if anyone in Canada eats the crap.  They're probably laughing their way to the bank, sitting back and watching all of the fat Americans get sicker and sicker.  Sad, really.  Interesting little tidbit...one of the reasons it's grown so prolifically in Canada is that it's such a hardy crop.  Why so easy to grow?  Well, bugs won't even eat the plants!!!  That should tell us something!! A little not-so-light reading here by someone who knows a heckuva lot more about it than I do.  I will never touch the stuff again.  Hope I don't get sued like Oprah.  Good thing I'm broke.

Now, on to wonderful, beautiful, natural extra virgin coconut oil... According to Natural News, the healthy fat in coconut oil plays an essential role in regulating blood sugar: it slows the digestive process to ensure a steady, even stream of energy from your food by lowering the overall glycemic index of your meal. When you include coconut oil in a meal with carbohydrates, the carbs are broken down into glucose more slowly, so blood sugar levels remain steady even after you eat.  Take THAT canola!!!!  

See how important it is to choose healthy ingredients?....even when making a potentially unhealthy dessert, lol!  If you make these, please let me know what you thought of them!

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