No-bake Chocolate-Oat Granola Bar
This back-to-school no-bake chocolate-granola bar is made without any processed sugar and added fat and tastes almost like a brownie.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (51g) quick oats, sprouted (using sprouted oats highly recommended, but can sub with regular kind*)
- 1/2 cup (60g)sunflower seeds** (raw)
- 1/2 cup (60g) pumpkin seeds** (raw)
- 1/4 cup (22g) cocoa powder (unsweetened, pure)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 4 dates** (preferably medjool dates)
- 4 tbsp (59 mL) maple syrup (can sub with date syrup or honey)
- 1 tbsp (7.5g) sunflower seeds (raw, for topping, optional)
- 1 tbsp (7.5g)pumpkin seeds (raw, for topping, optional)
Instructions
- Process the quick oats in a food processor till grainy in texture. Add 1/2 cup sunflower seeds and 1/2 cup pumpkins seeds and pulse a few times till well-mixed with and about the same texture as processed quick oats. Add cocoa powder and pulse 2-3 times to mix it with the oat and seed mixture.
- Add 4 dates and pulse again to mix the dates with the dry mixture. Then add maple syrup and vanilla extract and pulse till the mixture bunches up around the central blade.
- Take the mixture out in small cookie tray lined with either wax paper or parchment. Press it to spread evenly in the desired thickness. Score the bars on the cookie tray with a butter knife. If you are going to use sunflower and pumpkins seeds as a topping, you can spread on the flattened mixture and press gently till they stick.
- You can cut the granola bar in desired shape and size right after pressing, but it is usually much easier to do this step if you refrigerate the scored granola bars for 10 minutes. You can store these granola bars in an airtight container for up to 8-10 days in the refrigerator or up to 4-5 days at room temperature. Enjoy!
Notes
*If using regular oats, if it best to enjoy these bars infrequently as high amount of phytates in raw oats can hinder the absorption of essential minerals such as calcium, zinc, iron, and magnesium.
**if not allergic to nuts, you can also use one part walnuts and one part pumpkin or sunflower seeds. You can also replace sunflower and pumpkins seeds with 1 cup of melon seeds, which are readily available in India.
** if not using Medjool dates, use 5-6 dates.
Gluten-free Variation
Replace regular oats with gluten-free oats. Rest of the ingredients in the recipe are gluten-free.
Low-fat variation
Omit sunflower seeds and replace with 1/2 cup of oats.
Nutrition
Serving: 1BarCalories: 190kcalCarbohydrates: 26gProtein: 5gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 3mgPotassium: 287mgFiber: 3gSugar: 14gVitamin C: 0.1mgCalcium: 35mgIron: 1.9mg
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