Granola Bars

For the past 3 years I have been working of reducing the amount of refined sugar I eat.  I have not eliminated it from my diet completely but have made a serious reduction. I substitute natural sweeteners like honey and maple syrup when I can and reserve sugary indulgences for special occasions.  Each year I have done better than the year before.  The first year we were travelling and I was successful until we hit Asia in our trip and sugar appeared in everything.  The second year I lasted longer but caved during a week long retreat I organized and needed sugary pick me ups to get me through the busy days.  In 2014 I was successful until August and then went on a trip to Africa and was too busy snapping pictures of wild animals to care about what I was eating.

I haven’t found it too difficult to substitute sweeteners when baking. My only complaint being that some things like, chewy chocolate chip cookies get there chewiness, in part, from granulated refined sugar.  Making the same recipe with substitutes can often lead to a soft, cake like cookie instead.  As a result I have gravitated to baking sugar free muffins, banana breads and granola bars.

This week I decided to try a new recipe for a chewy granola bar that I could to take to work and Colin to school.  I adjusted a recipe from the nourishing apron a bit by substituting in some fun ingredients in place of extra oats.

Refined Sugar Free Granola Bars

1 cup almonds

1 cup chopped dates

½ cup butter

½ cup honey

¼ cup maple sugar

¼ cup coconut sugar

1 tsp vanilla

½ cup nut better (I used almond)

2 cups rolled oats

2 ½ cup combination of favourite ingredients, I used a combination of shredded coconut, pumpkin seeds, raisins, sunflower seeds and flax seeds.

¼ cup flour

1 tbsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 325.  Pace nuts in a food processor and grind until fine.  Add the dates and continue blending until they are incorporated into the nuts. Set aside.

In a small sauce pan melt the butter, honey, maple syrup, and coconut sugar.   Stir until combined and remove from heat.  Stir in vanilla and nut butter, mix to combine and set aside.

In a large bowl mix remaining ingredients together until well combined.  Add the almond date mixture and the melted sweaters to the bowl and mix everything until well incorporated.

Lightly grease a 9 x 13 baking dish and firmly press the mixture evenly into the pan.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the edge begin to brown.  Allow to cool in pan at least 20 minutes before cutting into bars.