Chocolate Walnut Zucchini Snack Bars – Teaspoon of Spice

Chocolate Walnut Zucchini Snack Bars

I used to be compensated to manage this contest sponsored by California Walnuts.

We be highway trippin’! It appears everyone seems to be on the highway this summer season. (Have you ever seen the fully naked suitcase part at Goal recently?)

These tremendous yummy, cakey, ‘blondie’-like snack bars will certainly qualify as a deal with with all of the individuals in your automobile. Fellow vacationers will adore the nutty taste of the walnuts and all the chocolate chips. (They could not even see the teeny-tiny flecks of zucchini!)

And we’d like some good highway journey snacks that fill us up – so we don’t need to cease for all these brightly coloured packaged snacks at gasoline stations alongside the way in which.

Whereas it was not what my youngsters would name an “epic” highway journey, our journey from our home in southern Illinois via Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan was after they first tasted these Chocolate Walnut Zucchini Bars. And these had been their responses:

• “Wow! Mother these are actually good, don’t change the recipe in any respect!” (Are you able to inform I’m all the time tinkering with recipes!)
• “These are so filling I can’t end mine.”
• “Mother, I’m too full to eat anything.”
• “I’m glad you used all these chocolate chips!”

All this suggestions made me so completely satisfied as a result of these snacking bars are actually, actually good for my youngsters (and for me as a nursing mother!) They include multiple complete cup of walnuts within the recipe. Which means with every serving, we’re getting a complete handful of nutrient-rich walnuts.

Analysis suggests walnut consumption could also be related to improved cognitive perform.

• A handful of walnuts is a flexible snack or ingredient that may enable you really feel full and happy because of a mix of key vitamins together with plant-based protein (4g/oz) and fiber (2g/oz).
• Walnuts are additionally the one nut with a major supply of important omega-3 ALA (2.5g/oz).
• A rising subject of analysis is taking a look at walnuts and cognitive perform, together with areas like wholesome growing older in addition to temper, focus and extra.
• Extra data on snacking with walnuts could be discovered at https://walnuts.org/snacking/ 

After I created this recipe, I wished to make walnuts the predominant fats to moisten this baked deal with, including a lot of good fat. So I created a walnut butter by utilizing the meals processor to mix the batter. As a result of oats don’t have gluten, you may mix them a very long time within the meals processor with out the ultimate baked deal with changing into robust. Win, win!

And never solely are these bars full of the goodness of walnuts, additionally they have:

• Veggies! – A full 2 cups of shredded zucchini
• Complete grains – 2 complete cups of oats
• Honey– The pure sweetness of honey and darkish chocolate chips are the one sweeteners used
• A brief listing of elements – You in all probability have already got them readily available

Plus, these snack bars combine up tremendous fast. (I made them actually the night time earlier than we left on our highway journey as my youngsters had been packing the automobile.) Simply use the meals processor to grate the zucchini, then pop the grating blade out and use the puree blade to combine up your complete batter.

Completely happy snacking…and completely satisfied trails this summer season, associates!

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