Crispy Baked Granola Bar

breakfast & brunch desserts recipes snacks Nov 16, 2017

Crunchy granola bar recipe. I’ve been looking for a good crispy granola recipe that isn’t laden with sugar for quite sometime. After a number of tries, I’ve developed a simple recipe that even the least experienced baker can whip together. Some of the recipes that I share with you are developed rather quickly, in one to three tries, but some take a few more tries to get just right. Well this recipe fell into the latter category. I can’t recall just how many times I attempted this, but it took a couple of weeks until l I was pleased with the results. And man am I pleased! I really love these bars! They are super crispy, packed with fibre, protein, complex carbs and a whole lot of yum!

The ingredients are simple and you can make different variations of this recipe to suit your palate or your particular diet. The only thing you’ll have to ensure is that you maintain the same ratio of dry to wet ingredients. The main ingredients in this recipe are thick cut gluten free rolled oats and rice crisps, I like to use Natures Path, crispy rice cereal. You'll also need almond meal or sunfower seeds that have been ground. This can be replaced with any other nut or seed coarsely or finely ground, entirely up to you. You'll also need chia seeds, both for added fibre as well as to help bind the mixture together. The chia seeds can also be replaced with equal amount of milled flax. You mix all of these in a bowl, add in the salt and optional chocolate chips and set aside. Next add the 2 tablespoons of water to a small pot and mix in the coconut sugar. Set over low/medium heat and whisk together until the sugar is dissolved. As I’ve mentioned in other posts, this is my preferred sweetener as it’s the lowest sugar on the glycemic index which means, it won't spike your blood sugar. Once the sugar is dissolved add in either the peanut butter, almond butter or if you want to be school lunch friendly a seed butter, and whisk until well combined. You don’t need to cook this mixture for any length of time, you’re essentially just trying to have the sugar and peanut butter to meld together. Remove this mixture from the heat, cool slightly if you're using the chocolate chips, otherwise the chocolate chips will melt :). Once cooled, drizzle the wet ingredients over the dry mixture and mix well until evenly distributed.

Line a 9X9 pan with a baking sheet and place mixture into the pan. Press the mixture firmly down into the pan with your hand. You might want to use another baking sheet on top of the mixture to avoid it sticking to your hand. Once firmly pressed, place into the preheated oven and bake for 22 minutes in total. At the 15 minute mark, remove from the oven and press down with a spatula. Place back into the oven and bake for another 7 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely for at least one hour. This is important to make sure the mixture doesn't crumble, so be patient! Once fully cooled, cut into 12 square or rectangular pieces with a sharp knife. This can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 weeks, in the freezer for much longer and at room temperature for about a week.

Hope you can give this a try and let me know how they turn out!

Lara

Crunchy baked granola bar

Author: Lara

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 22 mins

Total time: 27 mins

Serves: 12 bars

We love making our own granola bars around here. They are great to have in the house — especially when that snack attack happens.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of old fashioned thick cut rolled oats (GF)
1 1/2 cups brown rices crisps
3/4 cup of sunflower seeds, milled into a flour or 3/4 cup of almond meal
2 tbsp chia seeds
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 tablespoons water
2/3 cup coconut sugar
4 tablespoons peanut butter, seed butter or almond butter
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350
In a large bowl mix together rolled oats, brown rice crisps, ground sunflower seeds or almond meal, chia seeds, sea salt and dark chocolate chips (optional). Mix with hands or a a spoon until evenly incorporated.
In a small sauce pan place 2 tablespoons of water and coconut sugar and place over medium to low heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Then add in 4 tablespoons of peanut butter and mix until fully dissolved, approximately one minute.
Drizzle the sugar and nut butter mixture over the dry ingredients and mix until the wet ingredients are evenly spread over all the dry ingredients. You can use a spatula or your hands. Allow to cool if using the chocolate chips.
Line a 9 X9 square pan with a baking sheet and place mixture into the pan. Press the mixture firmly down into the pan with your hand. You might want to use another baking sheet on top of the mixture to avoid it sticking to your hand. Once firmly pressed, place into the preheated oven and bake for 22 minutes in total. At the 15 minute mark, remove from the oven and press down with a spatula. Place back into the oven and bake for another 7 minutes
Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely for at least one hour.
Once fully cooled, cut into 12 square or rectangular pieces with a sharp knife.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 weeks, in the freezer for much longer and at room temperature for a week.