In the Kitchen - The Best Ever Granola Bar- Ironman Coco-Nut Bars

I found a recipe today and just had to try it!!  Love new things to feed my family.  We are big snackers in our house.  We seem to eat little bits all day long so I keep lots of snack foods around that are healthy and also satisfy that little sweet tooth.  It keeps us from ever buying candy or junk at the store!  We have also managed to keep our weight off, just by ensuring our protein intake is still high (to keep our metabolism up) and frequent small delicious meals and snacks that fuel our body with what it needs WITHOUT toxic ingredients like preservatives, chemicals, etc. 

Calories are not all created the same.  When the body is properly fueled, the cravings for the bad stuff quit and what you are left with is healthy function!  A calorie should be nutritionally dense so that it provides necessary nutrients and not just empty fuel..  so keeping granola bars and snacks in the house works when they are the right snacks.

This Granola bar recipe is GLUTEN-FREE with the nutrition provided by flax (Omegas), nuts (healthy fats and proteins), and coconut and other dried fruits (for vitamins and anti-oxidants).  I was surprised the recipe turned out so well because somehow it bakes up without any flour, oatmeal, or other starch...

Here are the ingredients

I would have used other dried fruits but someone in my house ate all of my stock.. LOL.

Homemade Ironman Coco-Nut Bars

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp flax seeds (grind to flax meal or start with flax meal)

1/2 cup raw honey (any honey will do)

1 tsp sea salt

1 cup raw almonds (total 1 cup of nuts of any kind)

1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1/2 cup dried apricots (Can use any dried fruit here – be creative)

1 Tbsp goji berries (added for extra anti-oxidants – any dried fruit will do)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine ground flax, honey and salt.  Mix well.

Combine all the rest of the dry ingredients and mix them well.  (Make sure all your ingredients are chopped coursely)

Add the honey mixture to the dried fruit and nut mixture and mix well.

In a greased 8 X 8 pan, press this mixture down and bake for 20 – 25 minutes until center is brown and sides are crispy.

Cool for about 15 minutes and cut into squares or bar shapes.  If you cut them when too warm, they will not stick together well and if you let them cool too long they will be pretty hard to cut!

For the record, this is the first time I have made this recipe.. I cooked these for about 22 minutes and next time I will leave them in until the top is a little browner.  The brown at the edges tasted great...not burnt or too hard.  If they had had about 5 more minutes in my oven, I think they would have held together better when I cut them.  

But suffice it to say these passed the taste test!!  They are wonderful!!  Coconut and the nuts and raisins made them so sweet and they taste a lot like some kind of candy bar!!  But better because I get to choose the quality of the ingredients!!