Description
These homemade granola bars are not only much healthier than the ones you can buy at a store, they taste way better too!
Ingredients
Scale
- Coconut oil, to grease the pan
- 1 (13.66 fl oz/403 ml) can full-fat coconut milk
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon butterscotch flavor (see note below)
- 2 cups (200 g) old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1/2 cup (60 g) toasted and cooled (unsalted) pecans, chopped (or any nuts you like)
- 2 tablespoons golden ground flaxseed
- 1/3 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/2 cup (100 g) mini semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Line an 8 by 8-inch dish with parchment paper and grease the inside with coconut oil; set aside.
- Combine the coconut milk and maple syrup in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down so it doesn’t boil over, and boil until reduced to about 1 cup, about 20 minutes, whisking frequently. (The cooking process is all about evaporating off the extra liquid. Because of this, it could take longer depending on the weather; I made mine on a cold, dry day, but I expect it could take a bit longer on a hot, humid day.) Cool completely to room temperature (this is very important so that your chocolate chips don’t melt). Stir in the vanilla extract and butterscotch flavor.
- Combine the oats, nuts, ground flaxseed, salt, and chocolate chips in a large bowl, and then stir in the coconut/maple syrup mixture.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared dish and spread it out evenly with a spatula. Cover the top with parchment paper; firmly and evenly press down across the top to compact the mixture.
- Cover and refrigerate until fully chilled, at least 2 hours, before cutting into bars.
- Once cut into bars, wrap them individually and store refrigerated up to 2 weeks.
Notes
Butterscotch Flavor: I use Frontier Natural Butterscotch Flavor. If you can’t find this, you can use a different flavor or extract; caramel would also work well here, or just omit it and increase the vanilla extract to 2 teaspoons.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Category: Snack