Stealthy Chocolate Bars

My daughter is the quintessential picky eater.  At one point, it got so difficult she actually ended up working with a food therapist for several months.  Now she is doing much better, and is much more willing to try different foods.  Unfortunately, she is still very resistant to eating most so-called "Superfoods".  So in an effort to sneak some nutritionally-packed produce into her diet, I came up with my Stealthy Chocolate Bars.  It tastes like dessert, but is made with mostly healthy ingredients packed with vitamins.  My child gobbles these up, while singing "yummy, yummy, in my tummy".  My husband and I both really enjoy it as a dessert too!


Stealthy Chocolate Bars are made with healthy ingredients like cottage cheese, blueberries, and spinach.  Yes, it also is made with white sugar, which I found to be unavoidable to keep it sweet enough for kids to truly enjoy it.  However, I keep the sugar content as low as possible.  My Stealthy Chocolate Bars have 10 grams of sugar per serving.  It has the same amount of sugar that half a cup (a serving size) of unsweetened applesauce contains.  Those teeny little box of raisins you toss to your kid in the car while driving?  17 grams a serving.  Not that those snacks aren't healthy! I'm just using them for comparison purposes. However, keep in mind, that white sugar will never be considered truly "healthy", but these bars are meant to be a treat!  (In other words, these bars are meant to be enjoyed in moderation.)  If you want to try to avoid using white sugar altogether, I don't recommend submitting with maple syrup or honey, as it will probably make the bars runny.  I would try pureed dates instead.  Let me know if anyone tries this and how they turn out.

Stealthy Chocolate Bars

Yields 12 Servings

INGREDIENTS

1 Cup Cottage Cheese

1/4 Cup Milk of Choice

1 Cup Blueberries (I used frozen blueberries, defrosted)

1 Cup of Spinach Leaves (tightly compacted)

1/2 Cup Old Fashioned Rolled Oats

1/2 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1 Large Egg

1/2 Cup Sugar

1/2 tsp Salt

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

1/8 tsp Almond Extract (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease an 8 x 8 baking dish.

2.  In a food processor, combine all the ingredients.  Puree until completely smooth.

3.  Pour mixture into the greased baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 27-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean (be careful not to overcook).

4.  Once cool, allow the squares to chill in the fridge for at least two hours before serving.  Cut into 12 squares.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Serving Size:  1 Bar

Calories:  86

Fat:  2

Carbs: 15

Protein: 4

Sugars: 10