Coconut & Chocolate Granola Bars

This granola bar recipe totally satisfied my craving for the crunchy bars I loved in my lunch box. Not the chewy, blonde granola bars that I usually make like my Chewy Cherry Chocolate Granola Bars or my Chocolate Pistachio & Cranberry Granola Bars.

I’m talking deeply toasted, quickly-entering-oatmeal-cookie-territory ones.

We ate the whole batch in under a day, which almost never happens with anything in our home since I bake so much that it’s not a particular novelty. We broke the bars into large shards over our yogurt in the morning and it was delicious. I mean, chunks are the best part of granola right? This was 100% chunks.

Because they’re crunchy, I’d say they’d last about 2 weeks in a tightly sealed container (or for months if you stash them in the freezer). You could individually wrap the bars in parchment paper in advance and just pop them into lunch boxes (straight from frozen is fine).

They also happen to be vegan, as long as you choose vegan dark chocolate. I love using coconut oil in my granola and granola bars. It gives a really great texture.

The secret to homemade granola bars (or just regular granola) that hold together, rather than succumbing to a crumbly mess at the lightest pressure of a knife, is to pulse some of the oats to a flour first. This gives the mixture structure as it bakes. You could swap in an alternative flour rather than grinding your own oatmeal, if you like.

Hope you all are doing well! I’m off to Toronto next week on some exciting business – follow along on Instagram for details. I feel like I haven’t had many stories for you lately. We’ve just been exploring our new neighbourhood and settling in to new routines and are recovering from another round of flu (will it ever END?).

I had a high school friend visiting last week, so she and I were visiting lots of local beaches and just doing life the slow way (and with plenty of rosé on the patio). We saw six seals in one afternoon. So magical.

The kids have been working hard with me on a backyard container vegetable garden – I’ll share more on that soon.  XO

PS – check out one of my most popular granola bar recipes while you’re at it, too – Super-Tasty, Very Easy Healthy Granola Bars

Vegan Coconut and Chocolate Granola Bar Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Servings 16

Ingredients
  

  • ½ cup coconut
  • ½ cup chopped dark chocolate
  • ½ cup chopped nuts
  • ½ cup dried fruit
  • 1 ½ cup old fashioned large-flake oats not quick or instant, divided use
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup maple syrup
  • ½ cup melted coconut oil (you can sub in butter, but clearly they won't be vegan)

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a 9x9” square pan with parchment paper.
  • Toss together coconut, chocolate, nuts and dried fruit in a large bowl. Scoop a handful into a separate bowl and reserve as a topping for the bars.
  • Process 1/2 cup of the oats in the blender or food processor until finely ground. Dump this oat flour into the bowl with the coconut mixture, and add the rest of the oats along with the brown sugar, maple syrup and coconut oil. Toss until everything is evenly coated, then dump the mixture into the prepared pan. Use your hands (lightly dampened, if too sticky) to press it firmly and evenly right to the corners. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove from oven and sprinkle reserved toppings over the surface and return to oven for 5 minutes more, or until toppings are nicely toasted.
  • Cool 5 minutes in pan, then use the parchment paper to lift the whole thing onto a wire rack to cool completely. Slice into 16 bars.

Last Updated on May 6, 2018 by Jennifer Pallian BSc, RD

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