I’m getting on the bandwagon.
I’m making homemade granola bars. Why? Because I had some left over dates in the fridge that were dying to be made into something. Because my husband tells me we never have snacks in our house. Because I figured it’d be cool and trendy to do a vegan, gluten-free, no-sugar-added recipe.
Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against vegan, gluten-free, or no-sugar added recipes. It’s just not normally my forte.
But here we go.
The basic idea here: take all the super healthy things in your pantry that would taste good in a granola bar, and then add a little chocolate. Because I said so.
To bind the granola bars together, blend dates with some water. Dates are naturally sweet, so you don’t need to add additional sugar.
Mix it all together and bake it in a 8 by 8 square pan, then simply slice.
See? It wasn’t that difficult. And now you’ve got some delicious, chewy snacks to turn to when your baby is crying and needs to be fed and you yourself haven’t eaten anything in four hours. Not that that would happen or anything.
- 1 cup water
- 12 Medjool dates, pitted
- ¾ cup rolled oats
- ⅓ cup chia seeds
- 3 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
- ½ cup walnuts, chopped
- ¼ cup bittersweet chocolate chunks or chips
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Soak pitted dates in water for 30 minutes or until soft.
- Preheat oven to 325F. Line an 8 by 8 inch baking dish with parchment paper.
- Using a food processor, grind oats into oat flour. Transfer to bowl. Add chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, chocolate, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt to bowl.
- Using a food processor, puree dates and water until smooth. Pour date mixture into bowl with dry ingredients and mix until combined.
- Spread mixture evenly into baking dish and bake for 25-28 minutes, until it feels firm to the touch.
- Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Transfer to cooling rack and let cool completely. Slice into 8 granola bars.
2measles
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