Paleo Chewy Granola Bars

I have played with homemade chewy granola bar recipes for about a year.  I never did master my oat-based recipe, so I didn’t have the best of starting points for a Paleo version.  Very few of my recipes have required this many iterations to perfect.  But I desperately needed to create a granola bar recipe for my kids.  Granola bars are our “go-to” travel food, perfect for a drive during snack time or a picnic. But granola bars are a very lofty goal for the Paleo baker.  They have to have the right chewy with some crunch texture, hold together, travel well, and taste great!  I finally got it right and am happy to share the very successful recipe with you!

Note:  This recipe is very sensitive to small changes in the wet to dry ingredient ratio.  Please measure carefully.

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups Sliced Almonds
• 2 cups finely Shredded Unsweetened Coconut
• 1/3 cup Raw Sunflower Seeds
• 1/3 cup Raw Pepitas (Shelled Pumpkin Seeds)
• 1 Tbsp Brown Sesame Seeds
• ½ cup Blanched Almond Flour
• 1/3 cup extra virgin coconut oil, melted
• ¼ cup unsweetened, natural Almond Butter
• ¼ cup Honey
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• ¾ tsp Baking Soda
• 1 Tbsp Flaxseed Meal
• 1½ Tbsp water
• ¾ cup Mini Chocolate Chips or your favorite chopped dried fruit (optional)

 

1.    Preheat oven to 325F.  Grease a 9”x13” baking pan with coconut oil.
2.    Mix ground flax seed with water and let sit for 3-4 minutes.
3.    Pulse pepitas in a food processor a couple of times to break up to the size of sunflower seeds.
4.    Add coconut oil, almond butter, honey and vanilla to flax goop and mix well.
5.    Add almond flour and baking soda and stir to combine.
6.    Add slivered almonds, shredded coconut, pepitas, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and chocolate chips or dried fruit.  Stir to combine.
7.    Spoon batter into prepared baking pan.  Spread out and flatten well with your hand or the back of a spatula.
8.    Bake for 22-23 minutes, until golden brown.  They will puff up slightly while baking, so immediately after removing from the oven, flatten the bars with the back of a spatula (or something else heat resistant and flat).
9.    Let cool completely in pan before cutting into bars (I actually like to refrigerate before cutting).  Cut into bars (I usually get 18-20) and wrap individual bars in plastic wrap for easy travel (optional).  I prefer to store these in the refrigerator.