Granola Bars

My husband & I, along with a group of my besties went away to the midlands for the weekend.

I promised that I would take some healthy snackaroos along for the trip so finally settled on making a batch of healthy sugar-free granola bars along with some raw chocolate brownies (check out the dessert section).

All the ladies seemed to really enjoy both recipes so felt I simply had to share with you all and let you try for yourselves.

INGREDIENTS

• 1.5 Cups mashed rip banana
• 1 Tsp Vanilla extract
• 2 Cups rolled oats (*Manoli’s at ‘The Crescent’ has 1 kg for R 16)
• ½ - ¾ Cup Chopped Dried Cranberries
• ½ Cup chopped walnuts
• ½ Cup sunflower seeds
• ½ Cup pumpkin seeds
• ½ Cup sliced almonds
• ½ Cup Hemp Seeds (*try your local health store)
• 1 Tsp cinnamon
• ¼ Tsp Himalayan salt or fine grain sea salt

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
• Lightly grease a rectangular baking dish and line with a piece of baking paper.
• In a large bowl mash the banana until smooth.
• Stir in the vanilla.
• Place the rolled oats into a food processor and pulse until the oats are coarsely chopped, keeping the texture.
• Stir oats into the banana mixture.
• Stir in the chopped walnuts & cranberries as well as the rest of the ingredients into the banana-oat mixture until thoroughly combined.
• Spoon mixture into prepared dish.
• Press down until compacted and smooth out with hands until all is even (you can also use a pastry roller to flatten & even it out).
• Bake for 25 minutes until firm and lightly golden along the edges.
• Place dish on a cooling rack for 10 minutes then carefully slide a knife to loosen the ends and lift out.
• Place granola slab on a cooling rack for 10 minutes and then into the freezer for a further 10 minutes (if you are impatient).
• Slice into bars once they are cool.