Recently Greg’s cousin and his family came to the West Coast to visit and we got to spend a lovely afternoon with them. David and Bethany are the owners of B’s Salty and Sweet Bakery in Columbia, Tennessee and they are baking geniuses! Sourdough Bread, Homemade Babka, Pop Tarts… their menu is endless! Cooking for them is a bit daunting, so I wanted to impress!!
Since they eat mostly vegan, I knew I wanted to make some food that everyone could enjoy. For dinner, I served my pesto potatoes and my roasted Brussels sprouts, but dessert left me perplexed. After about a week of searching websites, I settled on making Half-Baked Harvest’s Vegan “Twix” Bars.
These bars are incredibly easy to make, and the recipe was pretty straightforward. I did have to read it carefully because there is a difference in finely shredded coconut (or “Fancy” coconut) and just shredded coconut, who knew?!? But, once I figured this out, the whole thing came together really well. For the future, I think I would make a double batch of the coconut “shortbread” base to have a thicker cookie crunch on the bottom of the bar. I loved this part and I wished for more!
The only substitution I made was the almond butter. I thought I had some at home, but all I had was peanut butter. The peanut butter was really good in the final product, but I think the almond butter would have had a more mellow and less overpowering flavor.
These bars were a huge hit – for the vegans and meat-eaters alike! I loved being able to make a recipe that was so versatile and delicious.
right turn ahead 