I debated whether I should start posting my own, trial-and-error-discovered recipes on here for fear that it would turn in to another annoying (look at me, I make everything from scratch!) blog, that serves to annoy more than inspire, but… well, I’m risking it any way. To hell with you, fear monger! (who am I TALKING to?!)
Recently, I’ve really taken to making my own snacks. I like doing this because, in some embarrassingly major way, it helps give me a much stronger sense of control over my life – and plus, who doesn’t love guilt-free, delicious, easy to grab-and-go snacks?!
Granola bars are one of the things that I used to love snacking on, but slowly over time moved away from because so many of them are either full of sugar, or too dry and flavourless for my liking.
So, I began “research” recently (cue: stealing from others), and found several sites where others post their own trial-and-error, natural, sugar-free snack recipes and ideas. These ones I’m about to share with you, were adapted from this recipe on Minimalist Baker.com. I did very little to change it, but my process is a little different, and I was naughty (and by naughty, I mean AWESOME) and added a bit of dark chocolate on top!
I wanted a chewy, sweet, toasty, crunchy, healthy-delicious bar that I could have kicking around to grab whenever I wanted an easy, no fuss snack, and these really delivered! (Oh, and the boyfriend loved them and made all of the “these are delicious” sounds, and went back for seconds, so you know they rival the sugar-laden ones of the grocery store)
So, without further adieu…
Honey-Nut & Oat Granola Bars
(read through recipe before beginning, especially if you’re ADD like me)
Preheat oven to 350℉
Dry Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup whole raw almonds, roughly chopped (or sub in your favourite nut)
1 tbsp coconut oil (or canola)
Splash of maple syrup (to coat) (start with 1tbsp – do not SOAK)
Sunflower seeds
Melt coconut oil using a double boiler. Take off of heat once melted and toss in above ingredients (except for sunflower seeds if they are already roasted) to coat oats and nuts. Place on cookie sheet and roast in oven for 10-15 minutes.
In food processor, combine following ingredients:
Wet Ingredients:
4 medjool dates, pitted and chopped
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup natural peanut butter
1 1/2 tbsp honey (you can add more if you like it sweeter 😉
1-2 tbsp warm water (as needed to make it easier to work with)
Using spatula, spoon out mixture into bowl with the toasted granola. It will be very thick, but mix any way and allow heat from roasted oats and nuts to help warm the thick “wet” ingredients. Toss in a couple small handfuls of roasted sunflower seeds. It should have an almost dough like consistency when you’re done.
Pack mixture down into 8″ square glass pan (you can use a spatula or a flipper for this), cover with plastic wrap and put in the freezer for 15-20mins.
Melt 3-4 tbsp dark or semi-sweet chocolate using double-boiler.
Take the bars out of the freezer then pour chocolate over top and use a spatula to thinly coat the top. Throw back in freezer for 5-10 minutes. This gives you only a very thin layer of chocolate on top – so, nothing to worry about!
Take out and slowly/carefully use a knife or lifter to loosen entire thing from the pan (if it starts to crumble, throw back in freezer for another 5-10mins). Place on cutting board and cut in to 1 1/2″ wide strips using a large sharp knife. Cut strips in half.
Enjoy!
If you made it, modified it, loved it, or hated it – let me know in the comments 🙂
Happy Snacking!
Ballbag & Taint 