Dark Chocolate Chunk Quinoa Granola Bars
By: Jennifer Debth
Published: Sunday, March 1, 2015 - 3:07pm

Ingredients




1 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup quinoa, uncooked
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup shredded coconut (mine was sweetened)
½ cup toasted wheat germ
3 tablespoons coconut oil, measured out while hard (at room temperature)
⅔ cup honey (some vegans will eat honey, others won't, so keep that in mind!)
¼ cup dark brown sugar, packed
1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup chopped pitted dates (I like smaller fruit chunks, so I chopped these pretty finely)
¼ cup dried cherry craisins
½ cup dark chocolate chips (if vegan, make sure you're purchasing vegan chocolate chips)

Preparation

1 Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8 x 12 in glassbaking dish (or a similar size) and line it with parchment paper. 2 Combine the oats, quinoa, almonds, and coconut together on an unlined baking pan and bake for 12 minutes, or until lightly browned, stirring every 4 minutes. 3 Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl and stir in the wheat germ. 4 Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F. 5 Place the oil, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat. Bring to a boil (the mixture will start foaming) Once boiling, cook for 60 seconds, stirring constantly. 6 Pour the syrup over the toasted oatmeal mixture. Add the dates and craisins and stir well. 7 Stir in the dark chocolate chunks, because the mixture is so warm, you will find some of the chocolate melting. 8 Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and gently, but firmly press the mixture evenly into the pan using your fingers. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the granola is a light golden brown color. 9 Cool for at least 2 to 3 hours before removing from the pan and cutting into squares. Store in an airtight container at room temperature! 10 NOTES 11 **Make sure that your oats are certified gluten free. 12 ** These do contain honey, I've seen some vegans eat honey, others don't, so keep that in mind! :) I haven't tried to sub the honey with agave, but if you do, please let me know the results!

About

Dark Chocolate Chunk Quinoa Granola Bars - a healthy, gluten free, vegetarian, on the go breakfast option!