From Lauren: Today’s recipe is a guest post shared by the talented Heather from Cook It Up Paleo. I love her ingenious grain free recipes, including her famous Paleo French Bread. Go check out her blog!
Hi everyone! My name is Heather and I am so excited and honored to be guest posting on Empowered Sustenance! I have been blogging at my blog, Cook It Up Paleo, for about two years now, and I love to create delicious paleo recipes for my family and friends. My favorite thing is when I can create something healthy that even non-paleo eaters can enjoy.
Chocolate Cherry Paleo Granola Bar Recipe
Enough about me though; let’s talk about these granola bars. I can be fairly busy sometimes, and occasionally I have to wait longer than usual between meals. I love the concept of having a delicious and nutritious bar in my purse. Problem is, most packaged bars, even the nut and seed kind, have agave or puffed grains or some other yucky ingredient in them. Plus they cost an arm and a leg.
That’s why I enjoy making my own snack bars. These bars are full of nutritious seeds and dried cherries, and you can make them as sweet or not sweet as you like. They taste like a delicious granola nut bar, but they don’t have any grains or nuts in them! They are held together with egg instead of rice syrup.
Hope you enjoy them as much as my family does!
- 1 cup coarsely crushed unsweetened banana chips, recommended brand available here
- 1-½ cups unsweetened coconut flakes (large flake), recommended brand available here
- 1 cup dried cherries, recommended brand available here
- ½ cup raw sunflower seeds
- ½ cup raw pumpkin seeds
- ⅓ cup raw hulled sesame seeds
- ⅓ cup coconut oil, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 egg whites
- 1 whole egg
- 2-4 tablespoons honey
- ½ cup chopped dairy-free dark chocolate or chocolate chips, recommended brand available here
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a 9 inch by 11 inch glass baking dish with a bit of coconut oil.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the banana chips, cherries, coconut, seeds, and salt.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, eggs whites, egg, vanilla, and honey.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix well. Press into the prepared baking dish.
- Bake for 20-23 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool and cut into bars.
- Melt the chocolate and coconut oil over low heat and stir. Drizzle over bars and let harden.
- Enjoy!
About Heather at Cook It Up Paleo
My name is Heather Resler and I am the 18 year old blogger at Cook It Up Paleo. I was diagnosed with celiac disease at age 16 and have regained health through a gluten-free and paleo lifestyle. I am passionate about cooking and nutrition. When I’m not in the kitchen, I am taking photographs, learning the science behind nutrition, or watching Psych on Netflix with my family and our dog. You can also find me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Google+. Find my cookbook, Grain-Free Family Favorites – 70+ paleo recipes that everyone will love on Amazon Kindle.
The instructions (#2) says salt is to be added. Can you tell me how much?
Which amount of coconut oil is mixed with the chocolate? Also, how much salt?
The 2 tablespoons of oil is listed right after the chocolate, so I would assume that the 1/3 cup goes with the main ingredients, and the 2 TBS goes with the chocolate.(and those amounts do make sense by the way) 🙂
I plan to try these as soon as I get the ingredients that I don’t have (and fix my oven! LOL)
Do you have the calorie content and etc for this recipe?
I make these all the time! I usually use a combo of raisins and cranberries because they are so much cheaper. And I add a handul of enjoy life chocolate chips in the mix instead of on top. The recipe is really forgiving and easy to tweak. I even sneak in flax seeds and my husband has never noticed. This is my go to “granola bar” recipe. Sometimes I push the mixture in mini muffin tins…they bake much faster, you don’t have to cut them, and are perfectly portioned. Thank you so much!
Mini muffin tins…great idea!!
I agree, that is a great idea!
Mine broke apart so easily. I’d recommend parchment paper instead of coconut oil for sticking. I cut 18 bars, and ended up with 14 because the others broke apart. I followed everything else exactly. They’re very tasty!