I always have a ton of recipes in my backlog of things to cook, and granola bars have been on them for a few weeks.  I made a similar one with quinoa here, but wanted to try something new. I mashed up a few recipes I saw, including this baked one and this chewy one, but made them my own because I wanted to use the tahini and hemp seeds I had on hand! The whole no bake thing also sounded good, and fast, so I went that route. And because I didn't have chocolate chips (sad, unheard of), I went with a DRIZZLE!

No bake granola bars or balls are pretty straightforward to make. You start with your dry ingredients -

Then mix away.

Melt your wet ingredients (tahini or nut butter, maple or honey, vanilla) like so (that swirl!)

Mix this in with the dry ingredients until well combined. It will look a bit crumbly like the picture below, but once you press the mixture into a pan tightly, it will come together.

Once you've pressed the oat mixture, you can TOP IT!! You'll see that I drizzled chocolate on top - totally recommend! Chocolate chips inside would be even better 🙂 The drizzle was a good compromise with my husband, who doesn't like chocolate quiiiiite as much as me. Just mix it all up - press into pan - drizzle - fridge it - then...

Cut into bars!

And then enjoy all week 🙂

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No Bake Tahini Hemp Granola Bars

A 10 minute no bake recipe for granola bars made with oats, nuts, tahini and seeds. A not-too-sweet snack or breakfast far. Vegan and gluten free.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Total Time 10 minutes

Servings 12 -16 small bars

Author Andrea Shome

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

• 1 and ½ cups rolled oats
• ¼ cup hemp seeds
• ¼ cup finely shredded coconut
• ¼ cup mini chocolate chips
• 3 Tablespoons nuts I used sliced almonds
• 2 Tablespoons chia seeds
• 2 Tablespoons ground flax seeds
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients

• ½ cup tahini
• ¼ cup maple syrup ⅓ cup for sweeter bars
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

• Line a 9-inch square pan with parchment paper. In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients (oats, hemp seeds, coconut, nuts, chia seeds, flax seeds, cinnamon, salt and chocolate chips if using).
• Heat a small saucepan over medium low heat and add in wet ingredients (maple syrup, tahini, coconut oil, and vanilla). Stir until everything is melted and combine.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry mixture and stir, stir, stir until coated. It may not seem like enough at first but will come together nicely.
• Transfer the granola mix to the pan and spread evenly until the pan is filled. Press down firmly to pack in the bars - this will make sure that they stick together. I used the top of a lid to pat them down firmly. Once they are flat, you can drizzle them with melted chocolate*.
• Place the pan in the fridge for 1-2 hours to firm up. Once firm, cut into even squares or thin bars. These should keep nicely in the fridge for a week or so - I like to wrap them individually and bring as snacks!

Notes

* You can melt chocolate using the double boiler method, or in 15-20 second spurts in the microwave, stirring in between sessions.

You could leave out any of the seeds if you don't have them on hand - the oats, maple, and tahini are the main ingredients! You can add other chopped nuts if you like in place of them.

If you try these out, or any other variations, let me know how they turn out! Bon appetit.

The post No Bake Tahini Hemp Granola Bars appeared first on French Pressed Kitchen.

I was thinking about getting another Purely Elizabeth or Love Crunch to have with my yogurt this week but we had already maxed our grocery budget for the month, hehe. I secretly don't mind because it means a bit of pantry clean out and creativity!

Perfect with Siggi's.

I had already decided to make granola bars for my coworkers on my last day (incentive to come say bye 😉 ) I went with my favorite peanut butter quinoa oat bats from Ambitious Kitchen, with some tweaks!! A new jar of peanut butter was just enough for the budget so it seemed like a perfect fit.  I doubled the recipe, subbed ¼ cup of the quinoa with more oats (!!), added in more chia seeds and cinnamon, and cut the honey by about half (I like it less sweet especially if adding chocolate!). The honey might keep it together more so depending on your texture or desired sweetness you may like more. 

My original plan was to stud the bars with chocolate chips (example here) but I reached into my chocolate chip jar and found out they had melted!!!! In this crazy February weather I had forgotten my jar on the table in the morning and the warm weather + sun = melted. SAD!! So I just melted the rest with some coconut oil and did a drizzle instead. Saved. 

Since these are no bake bars, I mixed everything up and threw them in the fridge to set. I ended up cutting them into small pieces which was maybe not the best idea since they crumbled quite a bit. But still so delicious!!!

Ok, on to the next recipe!! While this was happening, I queued up the granola situation because #bakingfrenzy. I found this easy banana bread granola recipe that I adapted slightly. It made a great single pan and came out toasty and crunchy just the way I like it. I let it cool on the pan and ate it right out of there. Like pan in lap (...after it cooled and I took a few photos). Soo good! I loved the banana chunks, too (subtle enough that it went with fruity yogurt).

I highly recommend this granola recipe if you're looking for a small batch, more affordable option to a fancy granola 🙂 AND you'll get big clusters for the whole batch, not just on top of the bag! 

Hope you are inspired by my granola saga to make yourself a homemade treat this weekend.

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Banana Breakfast Granola

This recipe, adapted from Minimalist Baker, makes a great morning granola to serve with yogurt, milk, or just by itself on the go. The sweetness of the banana and maple is magical! Double the recipe for a big batch.

Course Breakfast

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Servings 1 big 30 ounce jar

Author Andrea @ French Pressed Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 and ½ cups rolled oats
• ½ cup chopped walnuts
• ½ cup slivered almonds or sub other nut
• 1 and ½ Tablespoons raw sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 Tablespoons ground flax seed
• ⅛ cup coconut oil
• 3 Tablespoons maple syrup or honey
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ of a banana mashed

Instructions

• Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Mix the dry ingredients (oats through flax seed) together in a big bowl.
• Melt the coconut oil, maple syrup (or honey) and vanilla in a small bowl in the microwave (it only took me 20-30 seconds). Add in the mashed banana. Mix to combine, then add to the dry ingredients and stir well to coat the oats.
• Spread the mixture on a baking pan (I used 9x13") and bake for 23-26 minutes. Mine was done and toasty at 25. No need to stir if you want big chunks!
• Let cool completely on the baking sheet, then store in a jar or other container. I doubt it will last longer than a few days but it's probably fine for up to a couple weeks.

Bon appétit!

The post Banana Breakfast Granola + The Best Bars appeared first on French Pressed Kitchen.