If someone asked me, “if you could only pick one food to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be?”, is it totally crazy that I might have to choose granola? Just the thought of crunchy oat clusters, nuts and seeds gets me positively salivating. Now that I’ve gone and typed that out, it’s definitely not normal. Probably should have kept that to myself huh.

After taking great pleasure in reading many food blogs on granola recipes, I decided to give it a go myself. I love how there doesn’t need to be any fixed ingredients, you can just chuck in whatever takes your fancy, or whatever is left in your pantry..

I decided to make more chunky granola bars with large pieces of mixed nuts, coconut and dates. I wanted it to be simple and healthy with as few ingredients as possible. It pretty much all sticks together with almond butter and honey.

Granola bar main ingredients

These coconut pieces are a great additional flavour and extra crunch for the bars.

Crunchy coconut pieces

All the ingredients mushed together (the fun part) and flattened in a baking dish..

They came out looking more ‘rustic’ than I had imagined, but tasted delicious if I do say so myself!

These bars with a chilled glass of milk and sliced banana makes for the perfect breakfast treat.

Healthy Granola Bars

Ingredients

(Makes 8-10 granola bars)

• 1 1/2 cups of rolled oats
• 1 cup mixed nuts, roughly chopped
• 1 cup dates, pitted and sliced
• 3/4 cup coconut pieces, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup almond butter (or peanut butter)
• 3 tablespoons honey (or maple syrup)
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds (optional)
• 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds (optional)

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 120ºC.
2. Place the pitted and sliced dates in to a high-powered blender until smooth.
3. Make sure your almond butter is at room temperature, or place in the microwave to warm up to a spreadable consistency.
4. In a large bowl, place all the dry ingredients with the almond butter and honey together. Mix together with your hands, or a spatula. Hands are more fun though. It’s a good idea to wet them first.
5. Transfer the mixture to a preferably square baking dish, lined with parchment paper or greased with a small amount of butter.
6. Make sure it’s flattened evenly, by pressing a bowl or plate firmly on top.
7. Place in the oven for about 20 minutes.
8. Once out the oven, slice in to preferred bar-sizes and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to let it fully set.

These make a great snack, any time of the day. They can be stored in the fridge for several weeks in a tupperware too. Enjoy! 🙂