This spice mix came into my life via Crazy Burger's Just Plain Nuts Burger.  I loved the smell of it and these burgers were amazing so I've transferred this to where they belong, on fries and YES...  best fries ever!  I make my fries in my air fryer from the recipe in the book but after drying I season.  Then season again before serving.

​Fry Salt
​Wendy McMillian naturalhealthmag.com
July/August 2011

3 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons white pepper
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

​Mix all ingredients to evenly combine.  ​

Generally I'm not fooled by celebrity recipes but in my healthy living days while looking through Self magazine the words "candy bar" jump off the page at me.  I skeptically tear the page out and in a mood of baking withdrawl I come across it a few months later.  I read and after making tons of date/nut filled goodies I think this recipe sounds pretty good, and not too difficult.  But I wonder if this is really worth buying another type of flour (now I need coconut flour in my life?!) but I'm desperately fooled by the title...  CANDY!....  I want CANDY!....  so on my grocery list it goes.

Like I mentioned almost every week I've been experimenting with energy balls/bites with nuts/fruit in the Vitamix (my food processor passed away and I have not replaced yet) so I though I could try this in there.  This recipe is more like a dough that was a bit much for the Vitamix; I overheated several times and tore a William Sonoma spatuala in the process so I would not recommend doing that.  My husband actually begged me to run to the store and get a food processor while I was making this.  I am stubborn so I did get it to blend after doing small amounts and chopping the dates pretty fine...  but I did shortly after decide on a food processor to buy, which I will do soon because we need more of these bars!

The recipe didn't specify what type of pan to but these in buy now I see all the photos in a square brownie size pan...  oops.  I went with a jelly roll pan lined with a Silpat instead of the parchment and it worked great.  My husband and I actually loved how thin they were.  We like the smaller serving size, just a little square of these satisfies that candy bar craving.

The almond butter I made using a simple recipe (bottom of the article gave Gwenyth's recipe which is 1 cup almonds and pinch of salt in a food processor).  I started this in the Vitamix and have no luck making nut butters in there without oil so I added a little canola oil to my 1 cup almonds to get a smooth blend.

I'm not a fan of recipes that ask for chocolate chips to be melted down; I like my chips to stay chips!  So I used 80% cacao chocolate that I chopped (my favorite local brand, Omanhene).

Definitely worth the investment in the coconut flour...  (as now I'm studying more recipes to make using it)...  but for now more of Gwenyth's candy bars, one of the best healthy snack recipes I've come across!

Candy Bars

2013 Self Magazine from "It's All Good: Delicious, Easy Recipes That Will Make You Look Good and Feel Great" by Gwyneth Paltrow and Julia Turshen



INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups raw cashews
• 1 1/2 cups dates, pitted and roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup almond butter
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips (60% or higher cacao)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil

PREPARATION

1. In a food processor, grind cashews to a fine meal. Add dates, almond butter, syrup, flour, coconut and almond extract; pulse until a sticky dough forms.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. With a drop of water on hands, press cashew mixture onto parchment, forming a 1-inch-thick rectangle.
3. Refrigerate until firm, 6 to 8 hours.
4. Set a stainless steel or glass bowl over a pot of simmering water (water not touching bowl). In bowl, combine chocolate chips and oil. Stir until just melted, 3 to 5 minutes; remove from heat.
5. Pour chocolate mixture over cold cashew mixture; smooth with spatula. Refrigerate until chocolate coating sets, at least 1 hour. Using parchment, lift bar out of baking sheet. Cut into 18 rectangles.

Preparing for a recent trip to Phoenix I came across an article about Phoenix's best cookie.  It was a Salted Chocolate Chip cookie from LaGrande Orange.  I was obsessed with trying this cookie and it was worth all the hype.  It was a good hearty, giant chocolate chip cookie on the chewy side coated in one of my favorite things on the planet, Maldon.  It was so amazing that just eating the one in Phoenix was not enough.  I needed to make at home..  so here we go.  These are a bit more cake like but a great upgrade to the standard chocolate chip friend.

Salted Chocolate Chip Cookie  
            makes about 72

  1 1/2  cups  butter -- softened
  1 1/2  cups  brown sugar -- firmly packed
  3/4     cup sugar
  3        eggs
  1        tablespoon  vanilla extract
  3 1/3  cups flour
  1 1/2  teaspoons baking soda
  1    teaspoon  salt
  24   ounces  semisweet chocolate chunks
  1/2   cup Maldon sea salt

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease 2 baking sheets with butter.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars with electric mixer. 
Beat in eggs one at a time.  Beat in vanilla.

In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.  Add to egg mixture
and blend until combined.  Stir in chocolate chunks.

 In a small bowl, place Maldon salt.  Form dough into rounded tablespoons
and flatten slightly.  Press tops of dough into bowl of sea salt. 
Place on prepared baking sheets about 2" apart.

 Bake in preheated oven 12 minutes.  Cool slightly before removing to a
wire rack.