Sometimes you really just need a snack that has some Serious Staying power. And you know how I love everything simple. This Oats Granola Bar is the thing . Wholesome, power-packed and seriously addictive.
How to Make Granola Bars
The base for these bars is Oats – the natural fill-your-belly-fo -longer-ingredient. Then we add almonds, seeds, peanut butter, and maple syrup (or honey or agave) and mix it all together!
That’s it. As much as I like to make things easy I somehow do not prefer no-bake bars. Maybe the Indian in me which likes everything toasted, cooked, and bolder in flavours. These energy bars can be made no-bake as well. All you have to do is press these well in the tin before refrigeration. (I have tested the no-bake version and works really well)
Substitutions
If you can’t jive with peanut butter simply swap in almond, sunflower or another nut/seed butter. To keep these Vegan, stick with maple syrup or agave instead of honey. And to keep them gluten-free, use GF oats.
Simple, customizable, delicious!
Speaking of delicious, these little guys are dreamy.
Simple flavors, wholesome ingredients, salty-sweet, and lots of crunches. I made a batch last week and am already down to one-quarter of ONE bar. How I exercised self-control to save one-quarter of a bar is beyond me!! But by tomorrow it will likely won’t be there if I know myself at all.
These really are the perfect bar for a hearty snack because they keep you full for hours and don’t provide a sugar overload. Plus, they pack in plenty of healthy fats from the almonds and peanut butter and lots of fibre from the oats. Mid-morning and afternoon snack solved.
Important things to remember before making these bars
- Take care to press the mixture into the pan. After a few tries, we’ve found that it’s really important to press the granola mixture into the pan. We’ve actually spent about a minute pressing before — the harder and longer you press, the less chance you’ll end up with granola instead of granola bars.
- Maple syrup and brown sugar help make glue for the bars. The maple syrup and brown sugar really help with keeping the bars together. Chocolate chips can be added to the mixture too. You might notice some of the chocolate melts — this is totally okay, it acts as extra glue, holding the bars together. After that, you can add more chocolate chips to the top — these don’t melt. (this is optional)
- Chill for two hours. Finally, we like to refrigerate the granola mixture for about 2 hours. This hardens everything and makes it easy to cut the granola mixture into bars.
These bars can be eaten
- As a snack for lunch boxes
- Post-workout snack
- Mid-morning filler
- Gift for friends
- Cheat dessert
Granola Bar
Ingredients
- 1 cup 1/2 Jumbo oats
- 2 tablespoon chia seeds
- 2 tablespoon flaxseed meal
- 2 tablespoon pumpkin seeds
- 2 tablespoon cranberries
- 2 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 6 tablespoons of water
- ¼ cup coconut/brown sugar
- ½ cup chopped nuts like almonds and walnuts
- ¼ cup almond /peanut butter
- ¼ cup maple syrup/honey
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170 degrees centigrade. Line an 8’’x8’’ tin with parchment.
- In a bowl mix chia seeds and flaxseeds and 6 tablespoons of water and keep aside to bloom.
- In a bowl mix the oats and nuts like walnuts or almonds, seeds like pumpkin seeds.
- Add cranberries, coconut oil, cinnamon, sea salt brown sugar peanut butter, and honey.
- Mix everything well.
- Empty the mixture in a square tin.
- With a help of glass with a flat bottom press the mixture well.
- This is an important step to keep the bars together.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove the pan to cool.
- Refrigerate for a couple of hours.
- Cut into bars.
- Store at room temperature for 3-4 days and refrigerate for 15 days.
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