I’m still obsessed with breakfast foods! I’m always looking for new ways to revamp my breakfast routine and I think I found just the way to do so.

Remember that Cherry-Cranberry Granola I made a few weeks ago? Well, it’s back and better than ever! It’s now in bar form with a few ingredients added and a few taken away. I recently posted about these granola bars in my Fabulous Friday post, and was so intrigued by them I had to make them this week! This week, I’ll be indulging in several other recipes I posted to my Fabulous Friday list.

CHEWY GRANOLA BARS ACCORDING TO THE HEARTY HERBIVORE
Adapted from Iowa Girl Eats

Ingredients

1 cup whole almonds
1 cup walnut halves
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 cup dried cranberries
2 Tablespoons sesame seeds
1/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon Honey
2 Tablespoons coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons Black Cherry Juice

Directions

Add 1/2 cup almonds, 1/2 cup walnuts, and 1/2 cup oats to a food processor and process until worked into a fine grain. Transfer to a large bowl.

Chop the rest of the walnuts and mix into the grained mixture. Add rest of almonds to the food processor and process for a very sort period of time, just long enough to chop them. Add almonds to bowl, along with the rest of the oats, dried cranberries, and sesame seeds.

In a small sauce pan, heat honey, coconut oil, salt, vanilla extract, and black cherry juice until the mixture begins to foam. Immediately remove from heat and pour over nut mixture.

Mix until fully combined and nut mixture is covered with the liquid.

Line an 8×8 ceramic pan with parchment paper, leaving excess paper hanging around the edges.

Pour the granola into the pan and using your hands, flatten the granola mix. Fold over the excess parchment paper and using a lot of force, flatten the granola again with your hands to make sure it holds together.

Leave granola covered with parchment paper and refrigerate dish until hard (4 hours-overnight).

Cut granola into squares and wrap each individual square in plastic wrap for storage. Store in the refrigerator or freezer.

THE REVIEW

These things are great because they’re naturally sweet. There’s no extra sugar, but the coconut oil gives them a nice buttery flavor. Although they do have some fat in them (with the oil and honey), they are packed with all sorts of nuts for energy and protein.

They’re great by themselves as bars, or crumble them up over plain yogurt. I ate one this morning in my rush to get to a meeting. A great, healthy on-the-go breakfast!

LENT UPDATE

With natural sweeteners like honey, who needs sugar? I recently bought a new cookbook (dated back in 1980 something, so I guess it’s not too new) called Natural Feasting. Everything in the book has no added sugar, only honey, agave nectar, and the like. I can’t wait to get going on those recipes!