I know it's not knitting related, but not everything here will be! Well, it will MOSTLY be knitting related, because let's face it... I have an obsession with knitting. Lately, I've also been obsessed with being gluten free. Last year, I was diagnosed with having GERD. I went to several doctors before anyone had any idea of what was causing all of my crazy symptoms. Through many tests, it was determined that my GERD was likely caused by having a gluten sensitivity. I am not yet celiac, but it could progress to it if I don't stop eating gluten. I'd be happy to talk about this more if anyone felt it would also help them!
I began to experiment with different recipes and how to make granola bars. Here is a bar that I whip up that can also be made as a crumble, or less chewy and more crunchy if the wet ingredients are cooked for a longer period of time.
Ingredients:
2 cups assorted nuts I like pistachios, almonds and cashews.
1/4 cup ground golden flax seed Omit this ingredient and substitute with more nuts if you would like to make this grain free.
1/4 cup fine blended sunflower seed kernels
1/2 teaspoon salt (omit the salt if your nuts come pre-salted)
2 cups dried coconut Don't use the pretty looking stuff in the baking isle. Use something that is unsweetened and dry, like Bob's Red Mill brand.
1 cup dried fruit I like a variety of fruits that don't have any additives or sweeteners. I most recently used equal parts dates, cranberries, raisins and figs.
3/4 cup honey
1/4 cup coconut oil
cinnamon to taste
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons tahini (optional)
Directions:
Chop up your nuts in a food processor. It will help to have a variety of sizes for better bar texture. If you are not planning on using the sunflower kernels, replace them with the same volume in nuts of your choice, but fine blend that portion. It will help your bars stick together if you have some fine blended bits. Add all of the dried ingredients into the bowl with your nuts.
Chop up your dried fruit and add it to the nut mixture.
Add the tahini if you are planning on incorporating it. Stir everything together.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat: add your coconut oil, honey and vanilla extract. Cook this until the mixture becomes bubbly. The longer you cook the mixture, the harder your bars will become.
Add the wet ingredients to the nut mixture and stir thoroughly. Once incorporated, spoon it into a parchment lined baking dish or something that will release your sticky bars easily such as a glass dish. I used a small non-stick cookie sheet and used some extra coconut oil to grease the pan.
The most important part is to PRESS FIRMLY. If you do not press firm enough, your bars will not stick together well enough and you'll end up with a more crumbly bar. If that's what you like, then great! If not, press away. I will use another sheet of parchment, or put my hand in a large ziplock bag with some coconut oil on the outside and press away. You could also press these into molds.
Let it sit for a few hours, but are much more "SET" if you let them wait overnight. Cut and enjoy! The photo below shows what a bar would look like if the wet mixture is only cooked slightly over bubbling and then pressed medium hard into a pan. My hubby likes to crumble this over yogurt and it's the perfect texture for him!