Healthy Chocolate Almond Bars

It’s Monday, December 8th, a special holiday here in Italy called The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. The story says that her mother, Anne, conceived Mary without her husband Joachim.

December 8th is a National holiday here in Italy, kids don’t go to school, stores stay closed, people don’t go to work and families stay home and enjoy the day together, some go to church, others just stay home. It’s also the day chosen to decorate the Christmas tree. Very few people put up the Christmas tree before the 8th, and in my home, we like to follow traditions, so we always decorate it today. Not a day before, not a day after.

Since it’s a holiday, I decided to dive into the Christmas atmosphere by listening to some Christmas music (The Taylor Swift’s Holiday Collection is on repeat) and bake some cookies. After all it’s Christmas, the best time for baking!

So today, I’m sharing with you this sweet recipe that is good and healthy at the same time. Just because it’s the holiday season doesn’t mean we can’t still keep our healthy habits in check! It’s made with dark chocolate (always the best choice for our sweet tooth, the darker the chocolate the better,) rolled oats, whole wheat flour and chopped almonds.  So here it is: My Healthy Chocolate Almond Bars recipe.

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup Butter

1/4 cup Sweetener

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

2/3 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 cup oats

1 cup dark chocolate chips

2 tablespoons 2% milk

1/2 cup slivered almonds

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease an 8″ cake pan. In a medium bowl cream together butter, sugars and egg, combine well.

Stir in flour and oats, and mix well. Spread evenly in pan, bake for approximately 20-25 minutes.

While in oven, in a small bowl melt chocolate and milk on a small pot of boiling water stirring often until smooth. Then remove pan from oven, spread chocolate mixture evenly over base and top with slivered almonds. Let cool completely before cutting.

Enjoy!