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Healthy no bake granola bars

When I saw a similar recipe a while ago my first thought was, this can’t be good,...

As a chef you need to challenge yourself so I tried it anyways because a lot of people are asking me for easy recipes. 

Made it and loved it,…this is my version,…

Ingredients (~makes 12 bars)

-200 g rolled oats (you can also use gluten free oats)

-handful of nuts, like walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pinenuts (pick a few different ones),

loosely chopped or whole

-10-15 cl maple syrup

-8 dates, pitted (optional)

-1 tablespoon coconut oil

-1 teaspoon cinnamon

-3 tablespoons natural unsalted almond butter (or peanut butter)

-1 teaspoon almond extract (or vanilla extract)

-pinch of salt

Directions

1  Process dates in a food processor until small bits remain (about 1 minute). It should form

a "dough" like consistency (mine rolled into a ball) (~optional step)

2  Mix the dry ingredients: oats and nuts.

3. Prepare the liquid mix: warm the maple syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat.

Add the processed dates, coconut oil, almond butter, cinnamon powder and almond

extract.

4  Stir the liquid mix into the dry ingredients until the dry ingredients are completely mixed

in with wet ingredients.

5  Prepare dish: line the dish with parchment paper (as a frame of reference, I used a 16

cm to 26 cm glass dish, but other dimensions will work as well, smaller dish will result in

thicker bars).

6   Press down until uniformly flattened. Cover with parchment or plastic wrap, and let set

in fridge or freezer for 15-20 minutes to harden.

7  Remove bars from pan and chop into 12 even bars. Store in an airtight container for up

to a few days. I kept mine in the freezer to keep them extra fresh and to store them longer.

If you use them directly out of the freezer, let them sit for a few minutes at room

temperature and they will be ready to eat.

Optional step: Toast your oats in a 350 degree Celsius oven for 15 minutes before you start if you like the toasted flavor but this step is not required.

Other combinations: add dry fruits, chocolate chips, rice cereal.
For extra protein: add chia seeds, flax seeds

Want to decrease the sugar content of your breakfast cereals? Try this homemade granola

Ever wondered what the 24 g sugar/portion size on some of the breakfast cereal or several brands of granola mean,…???

I don’t know why but until very recently I did not realize that this is actually 6 teaspoons of sugar,….yes!!!!!! 6 teaspoons of sugar,...

That’s why I decided to make my own granola thanks to the recipe my good friend Peggy De Coeyer shared with me.

I tried many different versions but this is the recipe of the one I make most often.

 Ingredients:

-300 g oats

-2 tablespoons coconut oil

-4 tablespoons maple syrup

-handful of almonds, cut in pieces

-handful of hazelnuts, cut in pieces

-handful of walnuts, cut in pieces

-3 tablespoons chiaseeds

-3 tablespoons flaxseeds

-1 teaspoon cinnamon

-1/2 teaspoon cardamon

-handful banana-chips

Directions

1.    Heat the oven to 150 C and mix all the ingredients, except banana chips.

2.    Put the granola onto 1 or 2 baking sheets and spread evenly. Bake for 20 minutes, stir and bake for another 20 minutes (until light brown. Remove and let cool.

4.    Serve with almond milk (or other type of milk), fresh fruit, apple sauce, yoghurt, etc.

Tip

-Store in an airtight container for up to a month.
-For a sweeter version of this recipe add some natural sugars from dried berries, dried raisons, dates, etc. Add to granola after you take it out of the oven
-Fun part about this recipe is, you can use as little or as much ingredients as you want and add plenty of other ones as well (coconut flakes, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, honey, pumpkin seeds, cranberries, raisins, dates,…)