Coconut Granola Bars!

Recently my friend, Haya, asked me to recommend a good granola bar as they were fed up of buying them and had begun to realise that what they were buying wasn't quite the healthy, energising snack they were aiming for. Most store bought granola bars are full of sugar and syrups that it's more like a candy bar than any thing health giving! Obviously if a candy bar style treat is what you're after then those fit the bill but I prefer mine to pack more of a nutritional punch; especially if I'm using them to fuel my runs! A lot of race and running fuel tends to be gels etc but I prefer to refuel with real food.

Anyway, back to the granola bars! My go-to recipe has always been one from the amazing blog oh she glows. So many amazing vegan, gluten-free and naturally sweetened recipes over there (I prefer not to use refined sugar in any of my food). Naturally this was the link I sent over to my friend! But then came the list of things I actually now do differently to the original recipe so I decided to make a batch today to share on here. These bars are so scrummy you don't miss the sugar at all and they are full of nutritional goodness - what's not to like?! 

I love that these bars are naturally sweetened with dates and the protein punch from the seeds, especially the chia, is amazing - perfect for refuelling on the go! Personally I love the taste of cinnamon so I bumped the quantity of that up a few notches and swapped out the cranberries for unsweetened desiccated coconut (I find the bars hold together in my teeny running pockets better that way - plus I love coconut!). I also sprinkled some on top for aesthetics as I knew I would be taking pictures, but even though I pressed it in, most of it hasn't stuck very well so I wouldn't recommend that if you're planning to wrap them up and stick them in your pocket like me! 

So without further ado, here is my recipe for coconut granola bars (adapted from oh she glows)! If you try them or would like to share your favourite granola bar recipe please let me know! 

Coconut Granola Bars

(Makes 12 bars)

3/4 cup pitted dates

1 cup of water

3/4 cup of oats, ground into a flour

1/2 cup of chia seeds

1/4 unsweetened desiccated coconut (plus extra for sprinkling if you desire!)

1/4 pumpkin seeds

1/4 sunflower seeds

2 tsp of cinnamon

1 tsp of pure vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 150C and prepare an 8x8inch dish or pan (I use a glass dish and don't feel like I need to grease it - the bars come out super easily).

2. Put dates and water in your food processor and blend into a paste. If your dates aren't super soft and your food processor is having trouble breaking them up you can leave them to soak for a while and it should get easier!

2. Put oat flour, chia seeds, coconut, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, cinnamon and salt into a bowl and mix together. 

3. Add the date paste and the vanilla into the bowl and throughly mix together so everything is coated in the paste.

4. Pour the mixture into your prepared dish and spread it out as evenly as you can. If you want to sprinkle on some coconut do it now!

5. Cook in the oven for about 25 minutes; until firm to the touch. Allow to cool in the dish for at least 20minutes before cutting and removing to a rack to cool completely. 

Once they are cooled I wrap them up and put them in the freezer so they are always fresh when I want them but I imagine they would last about a week in an airtight container in the fridge!