Allergy Friendly Fruity Fruit & Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
An epic snack from breakfast to dinner, adapted from the What’s Gaby Cooking Blog.
This recipe is not allergen-free. It contains the following allergens: butter. If you or a loved one is living with a milk allergy, please refer to this resource on using milk substitutions.
“Lately I’ve been making these homemade Granola Bars with chocolate chips, dried fruit and chia seeds. They’re stuffed with dried cranberries, raisins and plenty of chocolate chips. I’ve been known to throw in dried cherries or apricots if those are on hand too. You can mix and match all kinds of dried fruit, just keep the proportions the same so the granola bars stick together properly and hold up when cut. You can serve these right away or cut them up and wrap each bar in a bit of parchment paper and refrigerate them until ready to eat.”
HONEY IS THE BINDER
Important. Honey is the binder. If you want less sugar, reduce the brown sugar by half but keep the honey as is! NOTE: You can purchase dried fruits with NO SUGAR ADDED or the dried fruits with cane sugar: Allergen Friendly chocolate, chia seeds, dried fruits and rolled oats all right here on this site.
| Servings |
10 large bars |
- 2 1/2 cups Gerbs Rolled Oats
- 1/3 cup Honey
- 1/4 cup unsalted Butter If you have a dairy allergy, use dairy-free margarine
- 1/4 cup Dark Brown Sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract Organic
- 1 tsp Gerbs Chia Seeds you can add more if you wish
- 1/4 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1/4 cup Gerbs Dried Cranberries or Dried Cherries, Dried Blueberries or Dried Currants
- 1/4 cup Gerbs Raisins coarsely chopped
- 1/4 cup Chocolate Chips Gerbs currently has the Jumbo Chocolate Chips available
Ingredients
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1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line bottom of a 9-inch square pan with parchment paper. Then lightly spray the parchment with cooking spray.
3. Spread the oats on a small baking sheet then bake 7-10 minutes until lightly toasted. Transfer to a large bowl.
4. While the oats are toasting, combine the butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla extract seeds, chia and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook until the butter melts and the sugar completely dissolves, making sure to stir occasionally. NOTE: You can add a tablespoon of Pumpkin Seed Butter into the warm honey mixture.
5. Pour the butter mixture over the toasted oats and add the cranberries (or other dried fruits but in same proportion) and raisins. Mix well. Let cool for 15 minutes THEN add the chocolate chips. Stir to combine.
6. Transfer the oat mixture to your prepared pan (with the parchment paper as described in STEP 1). Using a rubber spatula FIRMLY press the mixture into the pan until the mixture is in a uniform layer. Place (or scatter) more chocolate chips over the granola bars and use the same rubber spatula to gently press the chips into the granola so they stick.
7. Transfer the entire pan to the refrigerator and chill for 2 hours.
8. After the granola has cooled completely, gently lift it out of the pan using the parchment paper as handles and cut it into small squares or large bars. Serve as needed. Keep the rest refrigerated in an airtight container. Will last a 1 to 2 weeks although these are SNACKS and probably will be consumed well before that.