Maybe granola bars should have their own food group. Sure, they fit in the grains and nuts. But what if you add dried fruit. And what if you add chocolate. Yeah, I know, confusing right? And I’ll be honest with you, these granola bars really on the line between healthy snack and dessert food. But not so on the line that I didn’t eat one for breakfast this morning. 🙂
Granola bars, makes 10 (or more/less depending how you cut them)
2 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup shredded coconut (I used sweetened but unsweetened is good too)
1/4 cup pistachios
1/4 cup chia seeds
1/4 cup olive oil
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup honey or light corn syrup (I used honey)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
7 oz. dark chocolate
Combine the oats, almonds, coconut, pistachio , chia seeds and olive oil. Stir so that everything gets coated in the oil. Bake at 350°F for 8-10 minutes, just until toasty. In a pot over medium heat stir together the butter, sugar, honey and vanilla extract until the butter melts. Bring to a boil then remove from the heat. In a bowl combine the granola and butter mixture so that all the granola gets coated. Line an 8×8 square pan with parchment paper. Press the granola mix into the pan. Bake at 300°F for 25-28 minutes.
Remove the granola from the pan and cut into bars. The granola bars will be soft so be careful removing them from the pan.Â
Melt the chocolate in the microwave or on the stove top. Add a thin layer of chocolate to the tops of the bars and use your spoon to spread the mixture out over the bars. Now lay a piece of wax paper over the bars and lightly press it into the chocolate. Invert a cooling rack and place it on top, then flip the bars onto the cooling rack so that the chocolate is now on the bottom.
Drizzle just a little more chocolate over the tops. Allow the chocolate to set (to speed up the process you can pop these in the refrigerator for a bit) then slice through the cuts again. Yum!
Store these in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. If your house is a little on the warm side this season (like mine is) you can also store these in the refrigerator so the chocolate doesn’t melt. Happy snacking! xo. Emma
These look so delicious! I hate eating granola bars with ton of overly processed sugars, so this is definitely on my list of MUST try recipes
Miriam-Mine didn’t fall apart. If anything I thought they might be a little too stuck together. 🙂 I refrigerate mine in a sealed bag since we don’t go through them too quickly at my house. So that might have something to do with it. But if you’re already refrigerating them then I’m not sure…. Glad your son is enjoying them. 🙂
QUESTION : How do you prevent them from falling apart when biting into them ? How can I get them to be little stickier?
They are super delicious and my son thinks I should start selling these (they’d never make it out of our kitchen).
I made some, but changed up a few things. DELISH! Thanks for this recipe!
http://www.l8estobsession.com/2013/07/food-obsession-homemade-granola-bars.html
My family and I loves these!! I had to double the recipe so they would last more than a day.
I tried these and totally loved them. I shared them on my blog as my best recipe find of the week. Thanks for sharing such an amazing recipe.
I followed this recipe exactly except I doubled it. Absolute perfection. Everyone make these now!!! They will impress your friends and completely satisfy your snack craving. Emma, this is honestly the best granola bar recipe I’ve tried. I’ve made several of your other posted recipes and haven’t once been disappointed. It’s nice knowing that I can go to your recipe section and be guaranteed a great final product.
How lovely!
Valentina
http://valentinaduracinsky.blogspot.com/
Yum. I love granola bars, so this seems like the perfect snack to try at home. xx
http://www.kaisaphoto.com
These look delicious! I tried making homemade granola bars and failed- i’ll have to try your recipe!
xx Kait | ChickadeeSays | Food Should Taste Good Rafflecopter Giveaway!
I LOVE granola bars, especially chocolate ones but I always feel guilty eating them. I can’t wait to make these!
These look fabulous!
xo
Diana
http://unusuallylovely.com
These look delicious. If you subbed the pistachios for pecans or walnuts, and replaced the honey with maple syrup, this would be a really good ‘low fodmap’ snack for people with sensitive tummies and IBS. Sam @ Thrift-pop.com
Yum these look delicious! I’m almost tempted to get the ingredients together and make some now… maybe tomorrow 🙂
Actually there’s this great food/lifestyle blog I follow called Undressed Skeleton, http://undressedskeleton.tumblr.com/ , I think she covered a few similar recipies with granola bars but with healthy alternatives. So that would make them even more guilt-free!
WOW… I’m totally craving those right now…
Check out my new outfit post :
http://hidinginheaven.blogspot.fr/2013/07/the-one-with-black-to-basics.html
YUM! I can’t wait to try these this week!
Eat with coffee = brunch. Crumble on ice cream = dessert. Sorted.
Mmmmmmm!!!! That’s all I have to say about that!
xox
Bailey
http://akabailey.blogspot.com
When I saw this, I thought of that commercial where the wife is taking the pre-packaged granola bars out and putting them on a baking tray and gets caught by her husband. “So, these are Sandra’s homemade yummy, scrumptious bar…” Haha!
Can’t wait to try this. 🙂
Thank you for sharing…those look amazing and definitely making these this week!
Thewaytomyhart.blogspot.com