Yogi Trail Mix Granola Bars - No Bake!

I really wanted a no-bake granola bar recipe where the granola bar stayed together.  This site http://eatliverun.com/yogi-trail-mix-bars/ had a recipe for yogi trail mix bars and it really served the need.  I didn't have any vegan choco chips so I used a square of baking chocolate crushed in the food processor - and added at the end like a choco topping.  FYI: Yum, yum, yum. 

These are good. I will definitely make them again.  Although... for those die hard vegans, I use honey, so this isn't total vegan.  Next time I'll maybe try brown rice syrup or agave nectar and see if they turn out.

If you want to try out the recipe check out the link for instructions.  I've pasted the ingredients here.  It's pretty easy.... (1) boil the honey, peanutbutter & sugar, (2) dump this over the dry & mix, and (3) press down hard into a pan. Voila.

Tip: We kept these in the fridge for the week or at least the 5 days they lasted.

Ingredients;
1 cup honey
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4th tsp salt
2 T granulated sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup oat bran (or ground flax seed - that's what I used)
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
3/4 cup dried cherries, cranberries or berry blend

Really Good Vegan Granola Bars

Sometimes it's a challenge to find a product that is vegan to replace other products I used to use.  Finding a good granola bar has been one of those things.  The ones I found that were vegan often were not very tasty.  So I started searching for a recipe.  I make a batch of these and we have lunch snacks for the whole week.  After some experimentation this is the recipe I settled on.  It's a little tricky to cook it for the right time and removing them from the pan - but once I did a few times I figured out the tricks.  Here's my version of this recipe (I found somewhere online).

Ingredients:

• 1 cup organic wheat flour
• 2.5 cups organic rolled oats
• 3/4-1 cup unpasturized honey (other options: Organic Maple Syrup, Brown Rice Syrup)
• 2/3 cup organic peanut butter
• 1/2 cup wheat germ (other options: Chia Seed)
• MIXES: 2 cups of your choice - you can mix up any ingredients like these (I try for organic where available) - her are some ideas for your combos:
• Coconut (one of my favourites)
• Dried Fruit (I like dried cranberries)
• Almonds, Peanuts, Walnuts, Cashews, etc.
• Raisins 
• Hemp Seeds

Heat oven to 350 - cooking time is 15-20 minutes depending on oven - bake until barely brown on top.

1. Mix the honey (unpasturized) and peanut butter until smooth.  

I do this right in the pot - if it's hard to mix I turn the heat on low until ingredients warm up a little

2. Blend the Mixes in a food processor.  I used 1 cup coconut, 1 cup nuts.

3. Add the mixes, oats, flour, and wheat germ (or Chia Seed) - mix this all up really well.  If it's too dry add some water a teaspoon at a time - if too wet add some oats a tbsp at a time.  

This will need to stick together - fully blend it 

3. Grease a lasagna pan & pack the granola down hard into the pan. 

Use your hands to pack this down

4. Bake around 15-20 minutes - keep checking - it should just be dry on the top - if you overcook they will crumble apart (you'll recognize that's what happened).  Immediately cut & remove from pan when you take them out of the oven.  Get into sealed container as soon as they are cooled a bit. You can freeze these too - but we always finish them too fast for that.  I use wax paper to layer them in a rectangle container.

Trick to cutting - I use a fry pan lifter with a sharp edge as my knife and lifter.