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Banana Bread Granola Bars

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Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings 16
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Ingredients

Granola Bars

  • 3 very ripe bananas, peeled
  • 3 tablespoons almond butter
  • ¼ cup brown rice syrup
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin coconut oil, plus extra for greasing the pan
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 3 cups rolled oats, certified GF if needed
  • 1 ¼ cups chopped nuts + seeds (I used toasted hazelnuts, raw walnuts, and black sesame seeds)
  • ⅓ cup chocolate chips (or dried fruit of choice)

Chocolate Drizzle

  • ½ cup dairy-free chocolate chips
  • splash of almond milk
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8x11" or an 8x12" pan with coconut oil. Lay a piece of parchment into the pan (with overhang on the sides) and grease that with more coconut oil. Set aside.
  • In a blender or food processor, combine the bananas, almond butter, brown rice syrup, maple syrup, coconut oil, cinnamon and sea salt. Pulse or blend until a homogenous and creamy mixture is achieved. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, combine the oats, chopped nuts, seeds, chocolate chips etc. Stir to mix. Add the creamy banana mixture and stir until thoroughly combined. Scrape the granola bar mix into the prepared pan. Smooth the mix out, pressing down with a flat surface (measuring cup, spatula) until the mix has evenly filled the pan. Bake the bars for 40 minutes or until golden on the edges/top. Remove from the oven and allow to cool thoroughly on a rack.
  • Once completely cool, lift the bars out of the pan with the overhanging parchment onto a cutting board. If you still feel residual heat emitting from the bars, allow them to cool down on the rack some more. Once ready, cut the slab right down the middle lengthwise. From here, cut the two halves into 8 bars each.
  • In a double boiler/non-reactive pan set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, combine the chocolate drizzle ingredients. Stir constantly with a spatula until chocolate is melted and a sauce forms. Drizzle over the cut granola bars. Refrigerate bars until chocolate is solidified, about 30 minutes. Keep the bars in a sealed container for about a week.

Equipment

Recipe Notes

  • I blend the bananas up with all of the other liquid components for maximum integration. You could just mash them up real nice and whisk the other wet ingredients in for simplicity.
  • I find whole nuts make for harder-to-cut finished bars--chop them on the smaller side.
  • This is more of a soft/chewy granola bar as opposed to a crispy/crunchy vibe. Maybe try toasting your oats in a 350 oven for 10 minutes or so before stirring them into the bar mixture to help with crunchiness.
Banana bread granola bars are a naturally vegan and wholesome snack with the comforting classic flavour of banana bread!