I love granola bars and I also love giving them to my kids as a snack. I don’t however like the fact that the store-bought types are loaded with refined sugar! I’ve been playing around with different combinations of ingredients and making my own homemade granola bars. In this recipe I use pure Canadian maple syrup as my sweetener. Pure maple syrup is low on the glycemic index and contains manganese and iron which a total plus! 🙂 These bars are protein packed and contain healthy omega! Hurrah! I even eat them for breakfast sometimes when I’m on the go. Here is my easy and healthy recipe for vegan granola bars …

Healthy Vegan Cranberry Granola Bars

Ingredients:

• 2 cups oats
• 3/4 cup sulfur free dried cranberries
• 3 TBSP raw pumpkin seeds
• 1/3 cup flaxmeal
• 2 TBSP vegan protein powder (I used vanilla brown rice protein powder)
• 1 TBSP cinnamon
• 1/4 cup melted organic coconut oil
• 1 TBSP natural almond or peanut butter
• 3 TBSP brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 TBSP of flaxmeal w/ 3 TBSP warm water
• 1/4 cup chopped almonds or nut of choice

* You will need a baking pan. The size of the pan will vary depending on how thick you want your granola bars to be*

* Depending on how sweet you like your baked goods, you may want to add more maple syrup to your granola bars. I don’t feel the need for the extra sweetness so I only use 1/2 cup in my recipe.

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. In a large bowl add oats, brown rice flour, vegan protein powder, cinnamon, and 1/3 cup flaxmeal. Mix well.
3. In a small bowl add the 2 TBSP of flaxmeal with 3 TBSP of warm water. Mix and let it sit for a couple of minutes to thicken.
4. Chop up nuts or process them. Toss them into the mixture.
5. Add cranberries and pumpkin seeds and mix.
6. In a medium-sized bowl add the almond butter, maple syrup and coconut oil. Mix well.
7. Add the wet ingredients into the dry and combine well.
8. Use vegan butter/coconut oil to grease your pan or cut parchment paper to fit your baking dish.
9. Add the mixture to the baking pan and even out. Push it down with a spoon to make sure it’s tightly packed in.
10. Pop into the oven for 35-40 minutes at 350 F.

• Once you take it out of the oven let it cool off in the baking dish before you cut it up.
• When the granola mixture has cooled off you can remove the parchment paper and place on the counter. Cut the granola up as desired and place in an airtight container. If you didn’t use the parchment paper just cut it up right in the baking dish. You could also individually wrap them up so you have them ready to go for breakfast on the go or to toss in your lunchbag or purse for a snack.

ENJOY! 🙂

Easy to make healthy granola bars!