Homemade Granola Bars

Awwwww yeah, summer is in full swing now, y’all. I successfully graduated college, *crowd cheers* and now in my search for a big girl job, I find myself at home with a *lot* of spare time. It has worked out well thus far, however, since the Ryan and I just moved into the new house last weekend. Everything is pretty well finished being painted (the rooms that count, anyway), and I have had the opportunity this week to do a crap ton of unpacking. 🙂 I’ve run errands, met with people for services (like Verizon and plumbing :P), and generally tried to get stuff done around the house. I even hung a picture frame perfectly level. Ohhhhh yeaaaaah.

Anyway, one of the ways I occupied my time this week was walking around the new neighborhood, and on one of those jaunts, I walked up to the grocery store we’ve got here. I was going up there for chicken and other food items, but I decided to grab a couple things to make these quinoa granola bars I saw on Pinterest. I changed the recipe a bit, but overall, they looked awesome, and since the Ryan doesn’t like quinoa, I figured I could actually have something that was, well, just mine. That didn’t work, as it turns out, because though he doesn’t like quinoa OR coconut, he does like everything else in the bars, and has eaten them anyway. So..yeah. Marriage is sharing, y’all.

I changed the original recipe some to fit what I kept in my house, and my granola bars came out much more soft and squishy than the ones in the original recipe appear to have. I don’t know if it was the changes I made, or because she didn’t mention to refrigerate them (which works and keeps them nice and solid but still yummy and squishy), or if I didn’t cook them long enough, or what. Regardless, they’re delicious! So, let’s get started!

You will need:

• 1 cup of coconut flakes (the original calls for unsweetened, but I couldn’t find unsweetened so I got what the store had)
• 1 cup of coarsely chopped walnuts (she calls for cashews in the original recipe, but I didn’t have any – I did have walnuts)
• 1 cup of slivered almonds
• 1 cup of dried cranberries (original calls for cherries, but again, I didn’t have any – I had cranberries)
• 2 cups of oats (she didn’t say whether they were instant or rolled oats, I have instant, so that’s what I used)
• 1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed and dried
• 1/2 cup flax seeds
• 1/3 cup almond butter (I had peanut butter, so I used that)
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• Sea salt for garnish, if desired

Preheat your oven to 350, and line a 9×13 pan with wax paper.

Meanwhile, toast your oats and quinoa until cooked warmed and fragrant. Allow to cool.

After the oats and quinoa are cooled, combine them with your nuts, coconut, flax seed, and fruit.

In a small pan, add maple syrup, coconut oil, peanut butter, and honey.

Warm until melted, then mix together with the nuts and oats mixture until evenly coated.

 

Bake at 350 for ~25-30 minutes until the edges are toasted and brown. Remove and allow to cool completely.

I had to keep mine in the fridge to keep them solid, I am not sure what I did wrong, or if this is normal? But they’re delicious anyway. Once your bars are cooled and solid, cut them into strips.

As suggested in the original recipe, I decided to dip the bottoms of mine into chocolate. Mmmm.

I stuck them back in the fridge and let them harden. There you have it, delicious granola bars, all homemade and yummy! And healthy! Enjoy!!