Gluten free, grain free raspberry streusel bars, made with high protein almond flour, lightly sweetened with xylitol.

This recipe for vegan raspberry streusel bars is based on one by Brittany at Real Sustenance. Ever since she posted her delicious looking recipe last year during the holidays I’ve been wanting to make it.

I adjusted her recipe by removing the sweetener from the crust and by increasing the amount of high protein items in the streusel so the topping would be a bit less sweet as well. I hope you like these gluten free dessert bars as much as we did.

Raspberry Streusel Bars

Crust:

• 2 cups blanched almond flour
• ¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon water

1. Pulse ingredients together in a food processor until dough forms a ball
2. Press dough into an 8 x 8 inch baking dish
3. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes

Filling:

• 1 cup raspberry jam

Streusel Topping:

• ¼ cup coconut oil
• ¼ cup blanched almond flour
• 2 tablespoons xylitol
• ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped
• ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1. Pulse oil, almond flour, xylitol and salt together in a food processor until creamy
2. Briefly pulse in walnuts and coconut, so they are left coarse, not pulverized
3. Set streusel aside
4. Spread raspberry fruit spread over warm crust
5. Sprinkle streusel topping over raspberry fruit spread
6. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes
7. Cool for 10 minutes, then refrigerate for 2 hours to set up
8. Serve

Makes 16 bars

Recently I was fortunate enough to meet a wonderful couple, Pepi Gramshammer and his lovely wife Sheika. Pepi is one of the founders of Vail –”Pepi’s Face” is a run on the mountain; Sheika, his awesome wife, is the genius behind many of their business ventures. They are the quintessential close knit hardworking European couple.

In any event, Sheika asked me what I had done earlier that day, and I told her that I had spent the afternoon making streusal. She had no clue what I was talking about which I thought was funny since she is from Austria and German is her native language. Finally, I got my point across through various descriptions and she said, “Oh! STREUSEL!” Rolling her “r’s” in that wonderful way that only she can.

Whatever your accent, I hope you enjoy these vegan streusal bars!