Fancy a soft, moist, pumpkin bar with a creamy chocolate ganache that is actually good for your skin too?!
Of course you do!

Snacks with benefits
These bars are flourless but filled with skin loving, vitamin A loaded pumpkin, creamy vitamin E filled almond butter and anti inflammatory spices.
Both vitamin A and E act as powerful antioxidants to help fight wrinkles/signs of ageing and vitamin E can help lock in moisture to give skin a softer quality. Plus the good fats from the almond butter, cacao and avocado all help to plump out the skin meaning fine lines are less apparent.
The cinnamon and ginger are not only good for digestion but also help control inflammation. These would be a great snack substitute for any teens that are trying to tackle diet based skin issues. I myself have always battled with my skin which is why I try to get a consistent intake of skin loving nutrients into my diet and after the Christmas period my skin has really needed some attention.

Beauty food pumpkin bars and healthy chocolate ganache Breakfast Desserts Grainfree Lunch snack

Beauty food pumpkin bars and healthy chocolate ganache Breakfast Desserts Grainfree Lunch snack

The main flavour here is from the soft pumpkin and rich chocolate top so I’ve purposely tried to keep the added sweetness from the honey low meaning these are more of a nice snack rather than a sickly sweet dessert.

Flourless pumpkin bars recipe (makes 8)
-1 egg
-1 medium banana (100g flesh)
-150g almond butter
-260g cooked pumpkin/squash-mashed
-2 tsp ginger
-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
-1/2 tsp cinnamon
-1/2 tsp baking powder
-1 & ½ Tbsp honey/maple

Healthy chocolate ganache
-55g cacao liquor or 90%+ dark chocolate
-½ large ripe avocado (70g)
-50ml milk of choice
-1 Tbsp honey/maple

Beauty food pumpkin bars and healthy chocolate ganache Breakfast Desserts Grainfree Lunch snack

100% cacao/chocolate buttons

Tips
*
Cacao liquor is 100% chocolate, nothing added, if you can’t get it then use a chocolate that’s as dark as you can find
*Use a ripe avocado or else it won’t blend well and you’ll get lumps
*I used a rectangular tray that was 17cm by 27cm

Beauty food pumpkin bars and healthy chocolate ganache Breakfast Desserts Grainfree Lunch snack

Directions
1-Preheat the oven to 160C
2-Mash the banana in a large bowl then whisk in the rest of the ingredients, make sure it’s well combined.
3-Line a medium/large rectangular dish and pour the mix in then smooth it out and bake on a top shelf for 30mins then remove and allow to cool
4-Once the bars are nearly cool, start making the ganache by breaking the cacao liquor/chocolate into small bits, then add it to a bowl along with the milk and gently melt over a pot of boiling water
5-Weigh out the avocado and honey into a small food processor and add the melted chocolate then blend until smooth and no lumps remain
6-Spread the ganache on top of the base then allow to set in the fridge for clean cutting edges or else you can slice and eat them straight away (the ganache will firm up in the fridge)
Store leftovers in an air tight container in the fridge for 3-4 days

 

Beauty food pumpkin bars and healthy chocolate ganache Breakfast Desserts Grainfree Lunch snack

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xx