Nutty Chocolate Healthy Granola Bars!
Cereals has been something I’ve loved and eaten since childhood. Favourite was always Choco Krispies and Frosties from Kellogg’s. But as I grew up my taste buds changed and Post kind of became favourite.
In all of this cereal bars became a fad. And a very tasty but unhealthy snacking option.
( go straight to healthy granola bar recipe…..)
Today you get many healthy granola bar options , but the best and most nutritious bars are what we make at home. Without any, preservatives and refined sugars.
Here are the variety of ingredients I use in my bars
Oats: Quick rolled oats are the main ingredient . They give that cereal and rustic texture and help you fill up.
Nut butters: They help in combining the granola and holding it together. It’s best to combine two flavours of nut butter and use sugar free and creamy variant.
Agave: a very healthy sweetener and also a binder. You can also use maple syrup or any liquid sweetener. But u will have to alter the proportions to get the right consistency
Seeds: these give an amazing taste and nutritional value to the bars . Use pumpkin, sunflower, or melon seeds.
Berries: you can use some dried berries like blueberries or cranberries or dates to get a a nice chewy texture to the granola bars.
Amaranth and chia seeds : love these today add the crunchy element to the granola bars.
Chocolate: who doesn’t love and live chocolate. I always use vegan chocolate chunks. The dark variety is the least sweet
Sea Salt: it’s always tasty to add a bit of salt to cut of the sweet!
Here is the Ingredients
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1 cup mixed seeds and peanuts
1/2 cup Amaranth
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp and little more if sea salt
2 tbsp chia
60 gms plus more of vegan chocolate
2 tbsp mixed berries
1/2 cup Agave or liquid sweetener
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cup mix of almond and peanut butter
* take 2 1/2 cups of rolled oats and heat it on a low flame till it becomes crunchy
* take 1/2 cup of chopped almonds on low flame and roast
* take 1 cup of mixed seeds ( pumpkin, melon, and chopped peanuts) and flame roast
* 1/2 cup of amaranth and roast on low flame
* mix together the above ingredients along with 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp sea salt and 2 tbsp of chia and 60 gms of chopped chocolate (I prefer 65% @masonandco_chocolate … for health factor) and some mixed berries
* on low flame combine 3/4 cup peanut butter, 3/4 cups almond butter 3/4 cup maple syrup or agave (agave from @urbanplatter.in ) … make sure v low flame just to mix it up and combine… don’t overheat otherwise the mix will get lumpy. Add in 2 tsp vanilla essence to the mix.
* once the agave, butters mix is a bit cool pour it over the oats nut and seed mix. Combine and mix well till the butter mix has mixed evenly throughout.
* if you need can add a little more if any of the nut butters to spread … it need to bind
* In a 10*10 inch square pan take the mixture and spread evenly
* top up with some chocolate chunks and little sea salt
* freeze for 15-20 mins and then in refrigerator for 4 hours.
* remove from refrigerator and cut to bars!
* ENJOY
