Peanut butter granola bars (No bake)
I love granola & started making them at home after seeing my cuz Madhu make them so easily at home. This was a few years back when I did not bake that often. So I remember going over to her place once, seeing her put all the ingredients together & then bake them. I went and bought all the ingredients she uses and followed her recipe verbatim. Over the years, I have gotten so comfortable with making granola that I don’t go about buying the same ingredients as in my recipe. If something isn’t there, I am perfectly ok to swap (well, I am talking about the nuts & seeds and not the base oats :D). However, off late the urge to make a nice batch of granola bars has always been there. Especially because I end up getting these 4pm hunger pangs and I end up mindlessly snacking a lot and I knew I had to do something about it but was just being lazy about it. Then one evening when I was in my co-sister’s place, she was mentioning how they are snacking on granola bars quite often now with everyone being home and that kinda hit the spot for me :D. Most of the store bought granola bars, however awesome they are have a lot of ingredients (mainly all the Es) that is not really required when we make them at home and tada, I was super sincere to try out a recipe the very next day. I did not want try out granola bars that require baking & so tried these out and they came out sooooooooooooooooooooooo well. I made a batch solely for them but I ended up finishing half of them before handing over the other half to them :D. I literally tortured them checking in every hours if they tried the bars :D. Anywho, it turns out my co-sister, my brother in law & my darling niece Tash loved the granola bars as much I did (Well, Tash will like anything I make but Shankar anna giving a thumbs up to anything is awesome) and I was over the moon. Manni obviously wanted the recipe so she can make it on her own. I knew I have to put this recipe up even though I didn’t capture stepwise pictures (will have to do that for the next batch). I have some very nice date syrup which I am sneaking into everything and into these bars as well :D. Anywho, these are super simple and very very easy to make. I love that there is a very nice texture to this bar because there are some ingredients ground and some that retain their shape. So overall, the bite is very nice. And oh, this is very filling. If I was very hungry I could finish 1 square at a time else I could only finish half at a go. Ofcourse, I could always overeat but I meant to give more of a general idea of a normal person eating. So yo, make these because they are awesome.
- 1/3 cup almonds
- 1/3 cup cashews
- 3/4 cup rolled oats
- 2 tbsp flax powder
- 2.5 tbsp raisins
- 2.5 tbsp dried cranberries
- 1/8 cup maple syrup
- 1/8 cup date syrup
- 6 tbsp unsweetened peanut butter
- 1 tbsp melted virgin coconut oil
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 3 tbsp chocolate chips optional but I highly recommend
-
In a mixer jar, place almonds, cashews & 1/4c rolled oats. Pulse them all to coarse bits (powder is fine too but don't overdo where they start to get sticky).
-
Take a wide bowl and pour out the ground mixture.
-
To this add, flax powder & remaining rolled oats.
-
Add roughly diced dried cranberries & raisins to the dry mixture. Mix it all in.
-
In a microwaveable bowl, add 1 tbsp melted virgin coconut oil, 1/8c maple syrup, 1/8c date syrup, 6T peanut butter.
-
Microwave for 20 seconds on high. Take it out & whisk it all together into a smooth puree/ paste.
-
Pour this over the dry mixture, 1t vanilla essence & mix it all using a spatula.
-
Grease a 9×6 loaf pan and pour this granola mixture on to it.
-
Flatten out using the spatula & then press it firmly using your fingers.
-
Close with a lid/ foil and place in the refrigerator for an hour.
-
Take it out & cut into squares using a sharp knife.
-
Put it back in the refrigerator & leave it overnight.
-
Yum yum granola bars are ready to be attacked anytime of the day!
- Pulsing the cashews, almonds and a little bit of oats is key to holding the bars together.
- Any nut mixture works for this. 2/3 cups of say a mix of cashew, almonds, walnuts work absolutely fine.
- Any dry fruit will work too. I had cranberries & raisins. You could do dates if you have them (then again, reduce the overall sweetness).
- If you don’t have flax powder, thats ok. You can skip it. It helps with the hold & ofcourse adds to the goodness.
- 1/4c of any wet sweetener works – honey or just maple syrup or just date syrup. I did a mix since I did not want my bil to realise there was date syrup in it :D.
- If your peanut butter is sweetened, then add less sweetener (you may have to add a little more coconut oil if the bars don’t hold shape).
- Also, thought I know I have called this recipe ‘peanut butter granola bar’ any nut butter should work awesome.
Stepwise pictures
In a mixer jar, place almonds, cashews & 1/4c rolled oats. 
Pulse them all to coarse bits (powder is fine too but don’t overdo where they start to get sticky). 
Take a wide bowl and pour out the ground mixture. 
To this add, flax powder & remaining rolled oats. 
Add roughly diced dried cranberries & raisins to the dry mixture. Mix it all in. 
In a microwaveable bowl, add 1 tbsp melted virgin coconut oil, 1/8c maple syrup, 1/8c date syrup, 6T peanut butter. 
Microwave for 20 seconds on high. Take it out & whisk it all together into a smooth puree/ paste. 
Pour this over the dry mixture, 1t vanilla essence. 
Mix it all using a spatula 
Grease a 9×6 loaf pan and pour this granola mixture on to it. 
Flatten out using the spatula & then press it firmly using your fingers. Close with a lid/ foil and place in the refrigerator for an hour. Take it out & cut into squares using a sharp knife.
Put it back in the refrigerator & leave it overnight.
Yum yum granola bars are ready to be attacked anytime of the day!
