Paleo Granola Bars

I used to make granola bars all the time in our pre-primal/Paleo days.  I didn't think I'd be able to eat them again since I always used oats and peanut butter in them.  How can you make granola without those two ingredients? 

Well I searched high and low, dabbled with a few recipes and finally came up with this one.  Because I live in such a humid climate, these tend to fall apart easily.  So sometimes I eat them as a stand alone but I mostly prefer them as a topping to my husband's homemade yogurt. They are really good though!




Paleo Granola Bars
(Makes 16 - 24 bars, depending on how you cut them)

1 tsp olive oil
1 Tbsp ground golden flax seed
1 Tbsp water
2 cups of shredded coconut
2 cups of sliced almonds
1/3 cup of sunflower seeds
1/3 cup of other nut of your choice (cashews, pecans - anything but peanuts!)
1/3 cup of coconut oil
1/2 cup of almond butter (or other nut butter like sun butter or cashew butter)
1/4 cup of honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup of almond flour, blanched
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup of Enjoy life chocolate chips (these are gluten free, dairy free, soy free and surprisingly tasty!)
1/2 cup of raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x13 inch cake pan with the olive oil.  Pat down any excess with a paper towel. 

In a small bowl, mix the ground golden flax seed with the water.  Let it sit for about five minutes until it thickens. 

In a separate large bowl, place your shredded coconut, sliced almonds, nuts and seeds.  Set aside.

In yet another separate bowl, combine your coconut oil, almond butter, honey, vanilla and almond extracts.  Spoon in your flax seed-water mixture, almond flour and baking soda.  Combine and stir well. 

Place your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients.  Stir or mix with hands. 

Lastly add in your chocolate chips and raisins (or whatever dried fruit you wish to use).  Spoon out your granola mixture into the greased 9x13 pan.  Pat it down firmly with your hands covering the entire pan and sticking it together so it will bake correctly.

Bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until lightly brown on edges.  Let them cool before placing it in the fridge or attempting to cut. 

****In fact, I highly recommend putting them in the fridge overnight before you even slice them.  Cut into bars, whatever size you like.  I usually get about 24 bars with mine. 

I like to wrap my individual bars in the Press and Seal and freeze them for later use.  Like this:



Good stuff.  Enjoy this grain-free recipe and know that you're not putting any filler or fluff into your body!  :-)