Homemade Granola Bars~ MMMM

Loosely based on a recipe I found in this month’s Yoga magazine, I basically took the technique and changed up the ingredients.  These things are AWESOME, super easy, cheaper than what you would pay in the grocery store for bars and the best part is you get to lick the delicious batter!

I combined 3 cups of oats, 1/2 cup of oat bran, 1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds.

On stovetop I melted ~1/2 cup honey and 1/2 cup sunflower seed butter with 1 tsp vanilla and a pinch of salt.  Stir constantly.  Once the mixture is nice and melty pour over bowl of oats and stir REALLY well to combine.  Then, press into a greased(i used pan spray) 8 x 8 baking dish and cover with wax paper to press into pan(use a lot of pressure for more formed bars).   Then scrape the pan for any remaining honey/sunflower butter bits and say “mmmmmmmmmmmm”. Because it’s that good! Refrigerate bars and then cut once they have cooled.  I meant to add flax seed but I forgot. You could easily substitute other nuts for the seeds or different kinds of nut butter and add in dried fruit. Brown rice syrup would also work but don’t use a more liquid-y sweetener(like maple syrup or agave) because then the bars will not stay together(trust me, I tried).

The bars are chewy and nutty and sweet and delicious! I will be making more VERY soon!  I may try baking them to achieve the “crunchy” granola texture but I don’t know if I am ready to mess around with these just yet because they are SOOOOO good!

Sorry I don’t have more pictures for you but my favorite way to enjoy these has been crumbled up with Oikos plain Greek yogurt and fresh berries. 

Some other pretty eats….Oikos with berries and hidden almond butter(pre-granola bar making days)

Salad with farmers market corn, guac, organic greens, salsa and black beans.  Something about corn and black beans just says “summertime” to me!

Hope everyone has had a great weekend! Mine was filled with friends and live music and baseball and wine and beer.  Oh and lots of yummy food too!

About these ads