No-bake Granola Bars

My teenage son and I love these no-bake granola bars. They are soft and chewy, just the way I like them. I am not a fan of dry cardboard bars that scrape the roof of your mouth when you eat them. No thank you. These are relatively easy to make, keep for a long time, healthy and flexible as far as ingredients and flavours go. The ones in the photographs are cranberry almond but our latest favourite flavour is dark chocolate and saskatoon made with miniature dark chocolate chips and wild saskatoons (also known as service berries) that I picked from our property and dehydrated. Another delicious combination is the dark chocolate and dried sour cherries that I picked at a friends u-pick farm last summer. Unfortunately, the cherries are all gone and my trees are not producing, yet. I encourage you to get creative with flavours when you make these granola bars. Next time I make them I want to play with ginger and pumpkin seeds. You can change the spices and mix-ins as well as what you use for flour and nut butters.

First you need to make a date paste. Place 2 cups of pitted dates in a pot with ½ cup of water and heat on low heat. The dates will absorb the water and soften. As they soften, stir and they will break down and become less distinguishable and more like a combined paste. You want to do this until there are no more lumps. This can take some time, up to 20 mins. So, while you are waiting, gather your other ingredients.

Line a 9 x 9 pan with parchment paper.

In a large bowl add 2 cups of rolled oats, ½ cup of oat flour (or any other gluten free flour you may have), ½ cup of shredded unsweetened coconut, 1 tsp – 1 Tbsp of ground flax seed and ½ tsp cinnamon.

Once your dates are in the paste state, remove pot from heat and stir in ½ cup peanut butter (or other nut butter or nut butter substitute), ¼ cup of coconut oil and 1 tsp of vanilla. Stir until the coconut oil and peanut butter are well incorporated.

Scrape the date mixture into the large bowl with your dry ingredients. Stir well so you do not see any flour or oats just hanging out on their own. This will also allow for the date paste mix to cool slightly.

Then add your favourite add-ins. Chocolate chips of various flavours, dried fruit and berries, seeds, nuts. 1/3 – 1/2cup total. I found the smaller pieces are better. When I first started making these, I used whole almonds but found the bars did not hold together as well. Now I use almond slivers or smaller seeds like pumpkins or sunflower seeds. Mix well again.

Pour everything from bowl into lined pan. Press down with the back of a spatula. Place in fridge for 1 hour before cutting. When ready to cut, I pull on the sides of the parchment paper and lift the whole thing out and place on a large cutting board. Cut the block in half one way then turn your board and cut each half into 6 pieces. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

This recipe can be doubled, just be sure to use a larger pan. I always double it and keep about 8 bars in a little baggie in the freezer because I know that we will run out before I have the time or desire to make more. This way, I can whip out a little more to buy me a few more days. My son is like any young man his age, growing and likes to eat things that are easy (aka requires no effort on his part) so when there is a batch of these around, I’m sure he eats a couple or three a day. In theory, they will last 6 months in the freezer, but I’ve never had them in there long enough to test that theory.