Tag: coconut

favorite granola bars

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favorite granola bars

Meet the antidote to any chocolate bar craving. This one in particular is a spin off of almond joy with chocolate, toasted almonds and toasted coconut, topped with more toasted coconut. Yum. There’s nothing quite like a chewy, flavorful, hearty granola bar. The great thing is that they can be made to mimic the major ingredients of any type of chocolate bar one might be craving. So good, less guilt.

The process is pretty simple, it makes a big batch that can last several days and they don’t take much time to prepare. There is however a wait period in the freezer if you want the nice sharp cuts to make the bars. As you can see from above, I could’ve waited a bit longer. Sigh.

Anyway, again as with all granola recipes this one is also highly customizable. We have a peanut allergy in the family so we go for more Nutella or almond butter flavored items but peanut butter would work in this recipe as well. To keep it plain, the nut butter can be omitted and coconut oil can be used instead. The chocolate chips and almonds can also be subbed in for other nuts or dried fruit.

I should also state that in my opinion, this is a dessert granola bar. This recipe uses honey and chocolate hazelnut almond butter. I haven’t tried subbing in date paste for one of these yet but I’m sure it would work here as well for a more everyday version instead of a tasty treat. You really can’t go wrong here, all that matters is that the nuts and coconut are toasted. If this step is skipped, you will notice!

this stuff is gold!

Ingredients

3 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup rice krispies

1/2 cup coconut flakes, toasted

1/2 cup chopped almonds, toasted

1/4 chocolate chips

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup nut butter (chocolate hazelnut almond butter is pictured)

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/3 cup honey

1/4 cup desiccated coconut, toasted

Instructions

  1. Toast the coconut flakes and chopped almonds on a baking sheet in the oven*.
  2. After the coconut and almonds have cooled a little, mix together with the oats, rice krispies, chocolate chips and salt.
  3. Melt the nut butter, coconut oil and honey in a small saucepan on medium heat just until it all becomes liquid.
  4. Add the melted mixture to the oat mixture and stir until fully combined.
  5. Pour contents into a 9×13 baking dish lined with parchment paper and push down very firmly to help make it more compact and to make it spread to the edges.
  6. Sprinkle with toasted desiccated coconut.
  7. Place the dish into the freezer for about 20-30 min until firm, then remove and cut into bars**.

Notes

  • *I use the toast function in my oven which only takes about 2 minutes. A toaster oven would also work for this, or the oven at 350 degrees for a few minutes but watch closely so they don’t burn! Also the coconut will toast faster than the almonds so it is best to do them in separate batches to avoid burning the coconut.
  • **Cutting into larger bars helps keep them from crumbling.
  • Store separately in individualized cut wax paper pieces or plastic wrap.
  • Several substitutions can be made: butter for coconut oil, other nuts for almonds, dried fruit for chocolate chips or coconut, etc.

Sweet Date Granola

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sweet date granola with vanilla yogurt and fresh blackberries

(Here she goes with another date paste recipe…)

Sweet date granola! But I promise, you won’t even notice! I have a staple granola recipe I use with pure maple syrup and honey as the only sweeteners. It’s pretty tasty but I wanted to sub in the date paste and was concerned with how it would affect the texture. And would it be sweet enough?

The recipe below is the combination I ended up using and the sweetness was on point. Take a look at one of my previous posts for how to make the date paste. It’s actually cheaper to use the date paste as the cost of pure maple syrup and good quality honey are more expensive than a container of dates. I should also mention that this recipe can be easily adapted to use whatever nuts and spices you desire.

This granola pairs well with yogurt, milk or even ice cream. I happen to love it best plain as a crunchy sweet and salty snack. It should be stored in an airtight container to stay fresh. I would assume it can be stored this way for a month at least however ours never lasts that long!

mix ingredients together
cooling to form clusters

Ingredients

• 3 cups rolled oats (old fashioned)

• 1 generous cup flaked unsweetened coconut (not desiccated)

• 1 cup sliced almonds

• 1 cup chopped pecans

• 1/4 cup flax seeds

• 3/4 cup coconut oil, melted

• 4 tbsp date paste (can use 2 tbsp pure maple syrup + 2 tbsp honey instead of date paste)

• 1 tsp pure maple syrup (optional for added sweetness and maple flavor)

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1 Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

2 Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl. Spread the mixture on a large baking sheet.

3 Bake for 25 minutes. I baked 15 min, stirred and then baked for another 10 min especially to move the outside pieces to the center as the pieces around the edges will brown first.

4 Let the granola sit on the baking sheet for another 10 minutes. This allows clusters to form.

notes

  • If you prefer a sweeter granola, you can add 1 tbsp of honey or pure maple syrup in addition to the 4 tbsp of date paste.
  • 3/4 cup of raisins or any dried fruit can be added halfway when stirring.
  • I use a standard sheet pan size. Any baking tray could work however rimmed baking sheets work best. Prior to investing in a good sheet tray, I used to use a flat baking sheet and had many pieces of granola fall off the edge when stirring. If you can, get a sheet pan to avoid any granola casualties!