Gluten Free Almond Bars Recipe
Updated Feb 15, 2021, Published Feb 27, 2012
This post contains affiliate links. Please see our disclosure policy.
I hear it all the time – people, especially those new to a gluten free diet, tell me how difficult it is to cook and bake gluten free – the ingredients are hard to find, they are expensive, they can’t be found in the regular grocery store…
I understand that there can be challenges to baking gluten free, trust me, I have had to face my fair share of challenges over the past 18 years of creating gluten free recipes. But it does not have to be hard, expensive and inconvenient! To prove this I gave myself a little challenge. I decided to bake a dessert that could be taken to a bake sale, a cookie swap or served to friends with tea or coffee and to use ingredients I bought entirely at my local grocery store.
I don’t live in a big city and I certainly don’t live in a progressive city – I think my grocery store is probably pretty average in terms of what gluten free items are available. But I will say this – over the past year my store has started to carry many more gluten free items. I like to think that I have something to do with this. Why? Because I ask for them! And then, when they get the items in, I buy them and I spread the word.
OK, maybe it’s not all because of me; recent studies have shown that there are 5 times more gluten free products available in “normal” grocery stores currently, than there were just one year ago. Companies that have been producing wheat based products for decades have started producing gluten free products. But I don’t rely on my local grocery store to follow suit – I talk to the manager, I ask for them to carry more gluten free products and when they get in the products I ask for, I buy them. There are grocery stores on every corner practically, if one store wants my business, they need to stock the items I buy. And when they do stock the items I ask for, others buy them too. Obviously I am not the only gluten free person in this town.
So, back to my challenge – I walked the grocery aisles and looked at what was available and decided to make almond bars. I started with a bag of blanched almonds (my store sometimes carries almond flour but they were out that day) and went on from there. I grabbed some gluten free oats, a bag of brown rice flour, a couple cans of Solo’s Cake and Pastry Filling (all of Solo’s cake and pastry filling flavors are gluten free) and some sliced almonds. I tossed some butter and brown sugar into my cart and off I went to bake.
The result? Gluten Free Almond Bars with a rich almondy base, topped with a crumbly almond oat topping and a layer of berry flavor sandwiched in between that I would proudly offer to anyone, I would take them to a bake sale, participate in a cookie swap with them and I would even serve them to people who firmly believe that “gluten free” equals “taste free.”
I hope this recipe proves that gluten free baking does not always require unusual ingredients, it does not have to be difficult and that great results are available to everyone. If your local store doesn’t carry any of these ingredients – ask for them! If you never ask, you never give them an opportunity to please you.
Gluten Free Almond Bars Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup blanched almonds
- 1 cup brown rice flour , – use divided
- ½ cup corn starch, (or you could use tapioca starch)
- 1 teaspoon kosher or fine sea salt
- ½ cup plus 4 tablespoons cold butter, , cut into small pieces – use divided
- 1 (12.5 ounce) can Solo Almond Cake & Pastry Filling, (not almond paste or marzipan)
- ½ cup gluten free rolled oats
- ½ cup brown sugar, , lightly packed
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup sliced almonds
- 1 (12 ounce) can Mixed Berry (or your favorite flavor) Solo Cake & Pastry filling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9- by 13-inch baking dish (a lasagna pan) with a piece of parchment paper large enough to extend over the sides of the dish.
- Place the blanched almonds into a food processor and pulse several times until they are ground into a meal. Add ½ cup brown rice flour, the corn or tapioca starch and salt and pulse a few times to combine. Add ½ cup of butter and the almond Cake & Pastry filling and process until fully combined. Spread the mixture into the prepared baking dish in an even layer. Bake for 20 minutes.
- While the base layer bakes, prepare the topping by combining the remaining ½ cup brown rice flour with the gluten free oats, brown sugar and cinnamon. Stir to combine. Add the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter and work it into the mixture with your fingers until crumbly (or you can use a pastry cutter). Stir in the sliced almonds.
- When the base layer has cooked, spread the Mixed Berry Pastry Cake & Pastry Filling on top in an even layer. Sprinkle the topping all over in an even layer and bake for another 20 – 25 minutes or until the berry filling is bubbly and the topping lightly browned. Let cool in the pan. Once cooled, place a sturdy cutting board next to the baking dish, lift the baked pastry out of the pan using the parchment paper and place it on the cutting board. Cut into 16 bars approximately 2 by 3 inches each.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This sounds so intriguing–I have no idea what almond cake and pastry filling is, but I am going to find out! :)
Just all sorts of different flavored fillings, they sell them on the baking asile in the grocery store – good pantry items for when you need to make dessert in a hurry :)
Wow coral I’m drooling on my morning bus- these look delicious! Might I ask though what the cake and pastry can of stuff is? We don’t get it here in Australia and I’d love to try your recipe! Sorry, I know it’s a pain when everyone asks for a version of your recipe, but we just don’t get canned stuff like that here, would love to know what to substitute as I’ll just do jam as the top filling layer, thanks!
It’s just almond paste – almonds and sugar ground together finely, mostly. You can find a whole bunch of recipes for it online. (Not marzipan – it’s softer than that.)
This company makes an Almond filling and an Almond paste so be carefull what you purchase.
Yes, they make almond paste, almond filling and marzipan – in this recipe I used the almond filling.
Yes, jam is the perfect sub for the berry filling and you could make almond cream – here’s a link to a fairly simple recipe – https://frenchfood.about.com/od/pastrycream/r/frangipane.htm
Not as easy as opening cans but still simple enough and nothing unusual! I really need to come to Australia and start importing products from America :)
Yum! I love that almond filling. It’s absolutely addictive.
Yes, I agree!
NIce job, I like the Simply…Gluten-Free Desserts i am about see those recipes and tell my mom to make some of those there, definitely she will change the ones from keikos cake.
Cheers
Thank you!
I love your challenge. How fun! And you came up with such a perfect Bake Sale recipe!!!
Thanks Ellen!
Are these sturdy enough to eat as a breakfast bar, or is it too soft for that? I’m trying to find some new breakfast on-the-go ideas.
Angie there were a little soft but hardened up in the fridge. You can certainly eat them out of hand. They get softer as they are at room temp. We ate them all so fast it is hard for me to say for sure :)
Ahh…I love this post. I get so frustrated because my own mother-in-law, who sees how easy it is to eat gf every time she eats at my house, still says it is too hard to cook gluten free, so she just doesn’t. Anyway, I want some of these bars right now! Great easy recipe!! xo
I teach a gluten free cooking calss at Publix which is one of the main grocery store chains here in the South East. I use all products that I can pick up off the shelves there and I do a whole meal including dessert. It really isn’t hard to make a full meal with out special ingredients – I love educating people about this because once they get over the idea that it is difficult they start to see how it can be done. ANd many of the people who attend the class are not gluten free themselves, they want to be able to cook for others in their family. So do you have to bring your own food when you go to your MIL’s for dinner?
Almond bars! Brilliant! These are one of my favorite snacks, but iI will have to try this recipe. Thanks!
Thanks Crysty – enjoy!