I had some leftover gluten-free oats to use after I recently made these gluten-free oatmeal fudge bars (rave reviews and gone in less than 24 hours, BTW).
After researching some similar recipes, I decided to make my own gluten-free version of granola bars. I used my Vitamix blender, but honestly, a food processor would have been better since I needed to stop the blender and push everything down a few times.
Ingredients:
- 3 cups gluten-free old fashioned rolled oats
- 3/4 cup crunchy almond butter
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate flavored almonds (I used these)
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup dried cherries
Directions:
- Spray an 8″ x 8″ pan with olive oil or coconut oil spray and set aside.
- Briefly pulse the almonds to coarsely chop; set aside.
- Add the oats to the blender or food processor and pulse for a few seconds to roughly break them up.
- Combine almond butter and honey in a microwave safe bowl. Heat about 20-30 seconds to soften.
- Add warmed almond butter and honey mixture to oats and pulse again until combined.
- Add chopped almonds, chocolate chips and dried cherries. You may want to stir these in by hand if you don’t want them to be cut into smaller pieces.
- Press into prepared pan and refrigerate. *These have to stay refrigerated for best outcome.*
- Eat and enjoy! This makes about 10 bars.
Full disclosure: I wasn’t completely sold when I first finished these. I tasted the mixture as I was pressing it into the pan and thought it was ok, but I wasn’t convinced it was worth the sticky mess in my blender. After refrigerating though, they were great, especially with a glass of cold almond milk.
These were so much better than any other granola bars I’ve ever had.
P.S. This cute appetizer plate is from CB2.