No Bake White Chocolate & Cranberry Granola Bars

Makes 14 Healthy Granola Bars

You guys, these quick-to-make and nutritionally packed bars are so just stinking good I don’t even have the right words to describe them! I’ve given an old recipe of mine a new festive twist given that we are all in need of a bit of extra Christmassy joy in our lives right now!

We pulled our kids out of school over a week ago and have been in full-on isolation-mode in the lead up to hopefully finally getting to see my parents after many many months apart.  So whilst I’m so excited at the prospect of getting to hug them again after all this time,  the past 9 days of being in, in and more in, has been HARD! Doing all of the cooking and cleaning whilst having three little ones to amuse all day long while my husband works upstairs means that I need easy activities for us all to do together that don’t make too much mess....cue these yummy bars! They are perfect to make with little helping hands and require no baking so are ready in no time. And as an added bonus, at the end of the activity we are left with the most delicious high-protein, plant-based snack on the planet that strikes the perfect balance between being sweet and indulgent, but also packed with wholesome ingredients like wholegrain oats, nut butter, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds and dried cranberries, as well as some white chocolate chunks for good measure!  They just so happen to be gluten-free and can easily be made vegan by swapping out the white chocolate for dark chocolate instead.

I somehow managed to type up this recipe while the kids made a fort around me whilst also giving me a pedicure with a felt tip pen, so apologies in advance for any typos or missing ingredients! I thought it was more important to get something written down so that you can get in on the deliciousness, stat!

One bar provides 261 calories, 10g of plant-based protein and 3g of fibre.  Not to mention almost 20% of my daily calcium requirements despite being dairy-free.

Homemade Granola Bar INGREDIENTS

·      200g Peanut Butter (or any nut butter of your choice)
·      110g Maple Syrup
·      25g Coconut Oil
·      1 tsp Vanilla Extract
·      A pinch of Salt
·      150g Wholegrain Jumbo Oats
·      75g Flaked Almonds
·      60g Mixed Seeds (I used 30g Pumpkin Seeds, 20g Hemp Seeds and 20g Chia Seeds)
·      45g Dried Cranberries 
·      45g White Chocolate Chips (and more to melt and drizzle on top)
·      20g Protein Powder (I used Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides that is unsweetened and unflavoured but you could use a chocolate protein powder)

Easy, no-bake METHOD

·      Line a 20-22cm square baking pan with parchment paper.  
·      In a large mixing bowl, add the oats, nuts, seeds, protein powder and dried berries (but leave out the chocolate chips unless you want them to melt into the mixture). Combine them all together well and set aside.
·      In a medium non-stick saucepan, add the peanut butter, maple syrup and coconut oil. 
·      Heat over a medium heat, stirring occasionally.   
·      Once the mixture reaches a simmer, stir well so that all of the ingredients are fully combined.  
·      Remove from the heat.
·      Add a pinch of salt and the vanilla extract, and stir well.  
·      Carefully pour this mixture into the mixing bowl with the oats, nuts and seeds.
·      Mix well until completely combined.  
·      If you don’t want the chocolate chips to melt, then leave the mixture to cool slightly before adding them in.  
·      Once the chocolate chips have been added, transfer the mixture onto the parchment-lined tin and press down firmly.  If the mixture is cool enough, I like to use my knuckles to help press the mixture down so that it’s packed in tight and flat (this helps stop it from crumbling and falling apart when you cut it into bars).
·      Refrigerate for a few hours, until they have hardened enough to be cut into bars.  
·      TIP: Use the parchment paper to lift the bars out of the pan, then use a large sharp knife to cut them into 14 bars.   They can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for 1 week or else in the freezer for 3 months.  

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Calories – 261
Protein – 10g
Fat – 16g
Carbohydrates – 19g
Fibre – 3g
Calcium – 17%
Sugar – 9g