Gluten-free Zucchini Bars (grain-free)

Gluten-free zucchini bars are one of my favorite late summer, fall snacks! They have the most amazing soft texture and delicious sweet taste. You would never know there is zucchini in them! I also love that they are made with wholesome ingredients like grain-free cassava flour, natural sweeteners, and of course, organic zucchini. These bars are super simple to make and are sure to be a hit with modern pioneers of all ages! While they taste delicious plain, they are also amazing when topped with a whipped cream frosting, cream cheese frosting, or whipped raw honey!

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Modern Pioneer Recipe

These gluten-free zucchini bars are a modern pioneer recipe! They are made with simple, wholesome ingredients that make them an easy snack to whip up in your homestead kitchen. A lot of the ingredients can even be sourced right from your homestead!

Use farm fresh eggs from your homestead flock, home-grown zucchini from your homestead garden, and homemade applesauce from your home-canned food preservation pantry! Even if you can’t source all the ingredients from your own homestead, the ingredients are simple enough to source from other local homesteads who you can support in your area.

Not only are these snack bars made with wholesome, simple ingredients, but they also taste amazing! They meet all my expectations for a snacking bar despite being grain-free. They are light, fluffy, and soft. Delicious warm or cold! As far as taste goes, for something that has zucchini in it, these bars could pass as an amazing dessert! Seriously, you cannot taste the zucchini at all!

To top things off, these zucchini snacking bars are allergy-friendly! They make the perfect homemade snack option for modern pioneers with dietary restrictions. These snacking bars are….

• gluten-free
• grain-free
• nut free
• low inflammation
• refined sugar free
• corn free
• have a dairy-free option
• soy free

Modern Pioneer Healthy Snacks Guide

I’m all for snack time on the homestead! Whether it’s back to school, early work days, loads of farm chores, or busy schedules, these bars fit the bill for a quick, easy, delicious, and healthy homestead snack! They are good eaten warm or cold and can be packed easily in re-usable bags or Stasher snack bags. These zucchini bars are not crumbly and will hold up well for traveling.

Finding healthy snack options can be difficult, especially since so many store-bought options are loaded with refined sugar, empty calories, and hard to digest ingredients. But that’s why I love being a modern pioneer, because then I get to make my own healthy snacks to munch on throughout the day!

Along with these gluten-free zucchini bars, here are some of my other favorite homemade snack recipes:

• gluten-free pb&j energy balls
• gluten-free trail bars (tree nut free)
• grain-free chocolate chip muffins
• grain-free no-bake cereal bars (definitely a go-to snack option for me!)
• gluten-free pb&j bars
• gluten-free trail mix granola bars (tree nut free)

With all that being said, I do sometimes resort to store-bought goodies especially for long trips or for emergency prepardness. However, I am pretty picky about what I buy. For a guide to some of the store-bought snacks that I like to buy, check out this Healthy Menu for Busy Students guide!

Tips for Baking with Zucchini

I love baking with zucchini! It is one of my favorite vegetables to bake with, which is kind of ironic because I don’t like to eat zucchini plain. I’d take zucchini pancakes any day over spiralized zucchini. Needless to say I have put zucchini in just about everything from bread, cupcakes, muffins, pancakes, brownies, cake, pie, and of course these snacking bars!

Along the way I have learned a thing or two about baking with zucchini on the homestead. Here are a few tips for baking with zucchini:

• Moisture: Zucchini is mostly water (95% in fact), so all that moisture affects a recipe. Adding zucchini to a recipe will increase the moisture content.
• Reducing Moisture: Shredding the zucchini releases water, as does adding a pinch of salt to the shredded zucchini. For recipes that need to be drier, drain out any standing water that has accumulated with the shredded zucchini.
• Last Ingredient: You nearly always add your zucchini last in any zucchini recipe to preserve the zucchini shreds. Stir it in gently so that you don’t over mix the batter.
• Freezing Tip: It seems like zucchini shrinks when it is frozen, probably because all the water content is condensed. So, if you freeze 1 quart of zucchini, plan on only getting 2 cups from that bag.
• Zucchini Size: Use small zucchini for baking with. Small zucchini have smaller seeds and are more tender. With that being said, if you are looking to use up some jumbo zucchini, simple scrape out some of the biggest seeds before shredding the flesh to use in baking recipes.

Check out my Gluten-free Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cookies for another delicious zucchini recipe that can help you use up surplus zucchini!

About the Ingredients

The ingredients in these gluten-free zucchini bars are super simple, plus they are nutritious! While I might not say you are getting tons of nutrition from eating these snack bars, you are at least eating a snack bar is made from nutritious ingredients and not just empty-calorie ingredients.

Here’s a little bit about some of the main ingredients in these zucchini bars:

• Unsweetened Applesauce- applesauce is a great substitute for butter or oil in a lot of recipes, it also adds some sweetness to these zucchini bars
• Grass-fed Butter– choosing butter from grass-fed cows means the butter is richer and has more flavor, plus it is healthier for you compared to butter from grain-fed cows
• Baking Powder- I typically try to not use baking powder because a lot of brands use corn starch as an anti-caking agent, however, some recipes just need that little extra lift (I always use aluminium-free baking powder)
• Grain-free Cassava Flour- cassava flour is a great anti-inflammatory flour that is absorbent and adds a little extra fiber to the recipe plus it is naturally grain-free and gluten-free
• Coconut Sugar- coconut sugar is less refined than cane sugar or other processed sugars and it is lower on the glycemic index which means it is less likely to cause a spike in blood sugar levels
• Pasture-raised Eggs- eggs give these bars their light texture and provide protein to give the bars some lift and structure

Zucchini Bar Recipe Tips

Just like the ingredients are simple, making these gluten-free zucchini bars is also super simple! However, to ensure your zucchini bars turn out perfectly, I’ve noted some special tips that might be helpful if you are making the recipe for the first time.

Here are my tips for making these amazing zucchini bars!

Recipe Tips:

• Egg Substitute: I don’t recommend using an egg substitute for the four eggs in this recipe. The eggs help give the bars loft and structure.
• Dairy-free Option: You can substitute coconut oil for the butter to make these bars dairy free. Whether using butter or coconut oil, either one needs to be mostly melted to yield the right batter constistency.
• Baking Powder: The baking powder in these bars helps them rise, but if you don’t mind flat bars you can leave the baking powder out. For a grain-free baking powder option, make sure you check out Otto’s Naturals grain-free baking powder!
• Flour Substitutes: I have not tried making these zucchini bars with any other grain-free flour besides cassava flour. Cassava flour is very similar to all-purpose flour, however, it is a little more absorbant.
• Extra Zucchini: You can go a little over on the zucchini without affecting the recipe. I have used up to 2 1/2 cups of shredded zucchini in these bars.
• Zucchini Moisture: You do not need to squeeze the excess moisture out of your shredded zucchini before adding it to the batter.
• Sugar Options: Just about any granulated sugar will work in this recipe. Coconut sugar and maple sugar are two of the healthiest options.

Gluten-free zucchini bars are a delicious, healthy snack that contain hidden veggies and low inflammation ingredients! They are a snack bar that can easily be packed for on-the-go or eaten as a dessert. I love the taste and texture of these bars and I am sure you will too!

Where to Find the Ingredients

• Nutiva unrefined coconut sugar
• Otto’s Naturals cassava flour
• Hain Pure Foods baking powder
• Simply Organic vanilla extract
• Simply Organic ground cinnamon
• Organic unsweetened applesauce
• Nutiva coconut oil
• Supplies: 9×13 glass baking dish, Cuisinart food processor, Vitamix

These gluten-free zucchini bars are allergy friendly and healthy for you! Their taste and texture are sure to win over even the pickest veggie eaters. I love having these zucchini bars as a snack, with a meal, or for dessert! Cream cheese frosting or whipped raw honey add a touch of sweetness that definitely turn these snack bars into a healthy dessert option. They can even be frozen for later too. Enjoy making these easy and simple bars knowing that they are a healthy snack option for modern pioneers of all ages!

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by Alexa