A Special Treat to Celebrate National Fair Trade Month!
The ingredients we choose not only impact our lives, they also impact the lives of countless others across the globe. That’s because many of the ingredients we purchase, like chocolate for example, come from countries where people are not paid fairly for the hard work they do to bring us these cherished foods.
I know your heart is kind and full of love and compassion, and so is mine. So what can we do to help these beautiful people escape poverty and mistreatment?
It’s actually pretty simple … We can choose to Be Fair and Support Fair Trade!
October is National Fair Trade Month, and so to celebrate, I’ve created an absolutely scrumptious gluten-free, grain-free treat that’s made with some of my favorite fair trade ingredients.
By choosing to purchase fair-trade ingredients, we can make a difference in the lives of others for just a few pennies more per serving. Buying Fair Trade ensures that you’re not only getting quality products, but the people who grow and harvest them get fair pay for their hard work.
In fact, your everyday purchases can help farmers and workers in 70 countries across the globe to work in safe conditions, earn extra money to invest in their communities and improve the lives of their families.
Wondering where you can find fair-trade products? Most whole food type stores, markets and even Amazon sell a wide selection of fair trade products. Just look for the fair trade symbol.
You can also check out Fair Trade USA’s Be Fair website for a complete listing of fair-trade products – everything from chocolate, coffee, and other foods to apparel, home goods and body care products. I also encourage you to watch the brief Be Fair Video at the bottom their site. It’s absolutely wonderful!
Of course, a celebration wouldn’t be a celebration without a special treat. So I’ve gathered together some of my favorite fair trade ingredients to create a special treat just for you!
These irresistible Double Chocolate Banana Bars are certain to become a family favorite! My kids love these moist, ooey-gooey bars full of chocolatey goodness (and so do the adults around here).
But what we love most is knowing that our choice to select fair trade ingredients is helping to secure a better life for other families across the globe. I hope you’ll join me in this mission!
Ingredients
- 2 cups blanched almond flour
- 1/4 cup unsweetened fair trade cocoa powder
- 1 Tbsp fair trade coconut flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2 large ripe bananas)
- 3 Tbsp honey
- 2 Tbsp fair trade coconut oil, melted
- 3 large eggs
- 2 Tbsp pure coconut milk (or almond milk)
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup rough-chopped fair trade baking chocolate, divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 9x9-inch baking dish. In a small bowl, combine the almond flour, cocoa powder, coconut flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the mashed banana, honey and coconut oil. Using a stand mixer or electric hand mixer, blend together until smooth and creamy.
- Add the eggs, milk, vanilla and apple cider vinegar to the banana mixture and blend until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until batter is thick and smooth, making sure to scrape down the bowl as needed.
- Fold in half of the chocolate pieces into the batter. Then pour batter into the prepared baking dish using a rubber spatula to scrape all the batter from the bowl.
- Use an offset spatula to even out batter. Sprinkle remaining chocolate pieces evenly over the top of the batter.
- Bake approximately 30 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Allow bars to rest on stovetop until completely cool. Then, cut into bars and enjoy!
This looks delicious! I cannot have almonds – and I notice many GF recipes use almond flour. What is a good substitute? Thank you!
Hi, Stephanie. Yes, a lot of us who are grain-free rely on almond flour because it creates baked goods that are very close in taste and texture to gluten-flour recipes. I’m sorry you can’t enjoy almonds. I’d recommend using coconut flour. However, coconut flour is not an easy substitution. So it’s best to find coconut flour recipes and use those, since coconut flour requires more liquids and eggs than almond flour recipes do. I have a coconut flour brownie cake that is delicious, if you’d like to give it a try. Here’s the link: http://thenourishinghome.com/2012/03/coconut-flour-brownie-cake-gf/ and one of my blogging friends has a coconut flour banana bread recipe you may want to try. You could try adding some cocoa powder to it, if you want to replicate this recipe. Here’s the link: http://www.theroastedroot.net/coconut-flour-banana-bread-paleo/ Hope this helps! Happy baking! 🙂 Kelly
Hello,
Why the Tbs of coconut flour? I am not familiar with gluten free baking (well any baking for that matter, lol). But these look fantastic and I would love to make them for my sister in law who is gluten free. Just curiosity. Thank you!
Kathryn
The coconut flour helps to absorb excess moisture and helps with the texture as well. How kind of you to make these for your sister-n-law. I’m sure she’ll love them (and mostly likely everyone else too who isn’t GF will enjoy them). What a sweet and thoughtful person you are! 🙂
Hi
What can I substitute for the eggs in this recipe. My daughter has an egg intolerance. Also is this recipe considered a dairy free recipe?
Thanks Tina
Hi, Tina. This recipe is definitely dairy free since there are no dairy ingredients called for in the recipe. As far as the eggs, this can be very tricky for any baking recipe, especially recipes that use grain-free flours which do not having any binding properties. If you opt to try this recipe using an egg substitute, I can’t guarantee results because I haven’t attempted to create this recipe using an egg replacer. But you can find some options for baking without eggs here: http://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/articles/955371/baking-without-eggs Blessings to you and your precious daughter! 🙂 Kelly
Is the apple cider vinegar imperative to the recipe?
Hi, Candice. No, it’s not a must. ACV is used to help activate the baking soda for better rise. It’s often used in grain-free baking recipes for this purpose, but it’s definitely not a must. Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do! With blessings, Kelly 🙂
I don’t have coconut flour but would love to make these….is it necessary or is there a substitute? Thanks!
Hi, Laurie. You can substitute with arrowroot or tapioca. The small amount of coconut flour is to help absorb excess moisture and add a little more binding of the ingredients. So if you have arrowroot or tapioca on hand, you could use either as a substitute in this recipe. Happy baking! 🙂