Thursday, April 21, 2011

Vegan Granola Bars (Chocolate and Peanut Butter!)

"I don't really do vegan," she scoffs.
"Okay?" I say, a bit on the defense. "Well there is chocolate and peanut butter in the recipe and you wouldn't have even known they were vegan if I didn't tell you."
"That's probably true," she shoots back. "They are pretty good."
Success! I am in no way shape or form a vegan. I'm all for gluten and lactose and dead animals! Too far? Sorry. That was inappropriate. But I do have a point -- I don't shun anything out of my diet.
I don't have an issue with those who do, because it's your boat that has got to float. Not mine. Mine can sink underneath all the good food!
Joking aside, I really don't think I could go vegan. There are too many things I love, but never say never, right?
I happen to intern underneath a sports dietitian in my grad program, and when she offered that I do some recipe tasting for her more particular athletes, I jumped at the opportunity. But vegan granola bars? Oh c'mon!
Well, I loved them. I keep picking them apart, one dried cranberry and chocolate chip at a time. Please, take them away! Or make them. They were super easy and trust me, if you're into chocolate or peanut butter, you can basically consider yourself a sucker for these bars.
They're more like candy bars than granola if you ask me. Like a big chocolate peanut butter cup granola bar. Maybe that should be the name... it would probably get more hits. I guess I'm a hippie-vegan now.


Without further ado...


Vegan Granola Bars
1 cup granola
2 cups old fashion oats
2 tbsp flax seed
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup dried fruit
2 cups chunky peanut butter
1/2 to 3/4 cup light corn syrup


1. Line a 13x9 baking dish with parchment paper and a THIN layer of vegetable oil. In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients (granola-fruit) and mix. Add the peanut butter next, follwed by the corn syrup. You may require a little more corn syrup to help combine everything. Place on the parchment paper and press (use plastic gloves!). Chill for several hours or overnight. Cut into bars and serve. Makes one 13x9 pan (10-20 bars depending on size).

4 comments:

Taylor said...

I'm definitely not a vegan either (and never could be!) but these granola bars look amazing!

Mackenzie@The Caramel Cookie said...

Going vegan has been hard for me but I'm glad to see another vegan recipe. I love granola bars!

Anonymous said...

Technically not vegan, since your granola recipe uses honey. But I'm trying it anyway.

Anonymous said...

Hi! I made these and they were really good.

As per your comment above, my husband is vegan, and I just thought I should let you know that they happily eat gluten. I'm not sure what wouldn't be vegan about gluten, as being vegan is solely about not consuming animal products and gluten is plant-based (wheat.)

Anyway, thanks for the recipe!