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My husband asked me for a granola bar this week.  So I pulled out one of my older recipes on the site.  Making him a batch of these today so I thought I'd share this "oldie but goodie".  To give credit where due, this bar recipe was inspired by a recipe from Dana Carpender's granola cereal recipe in her book 500 Low Carb Recipes.  I seriously increase sweetener, increase the syrup, add sugar-free honey and increase cinnamon to get the flavor I like in what we eat as a dessert bar.  I also use whole toasted oats rather than oat bran in my version.  I am quite pleased with the final taste on these so I rarely change this up, unless to add a few snipped raisins to the bars.  Just so you know what to expect, I would describe these as firm, but not brittle/hard like Nature's Valley brand granola bars.  This makes a huge pan of bars, so you may want to make half a recipe or simply freeze half.  I've found they freeze really well without getting  dry or crumbly.

These can be crumbled up for a granola cereal if you like.  They also make a nice crunchy topping for baked "fruit" or "fruit" pies and other fruit bar cookies.  🙂  The inspirational recipe mid-cooking time, is crumbled and baked for the last half of the time, as it is offered in the book as a cereal recipe, not a bar.

This recipe is not suitable until Phase 2 Atkins but they are well worth the wait, folks!  They are very nutrient dense.

INGREDIENTS:

½ c. rolled oats, toasted (use 100% certified gluten-free oats for gluten-free version)

2 c. dark flax meal

¾ c. vanilla whey protein

½ c. granular Splenda

10 drops liquid stevia

½ c. sesame seeds

¾ c. grated coconut meat

1½ T. cinnamon

½ tsp. salt

½ c. coconut oil (or butter), melted

½ c. sugar free maple syrup

¼ c. water

2 c. pecans, chopped

½ c. walnuts, chopped

½ c. almonds, coarsely chopped

6 T. sugar free honey (I use Honey Tree from Walmart)

¾ c. sunflower seeds (I use unsalted)

½ c. pumpkin seeds, roasted, salted

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º.  On a 13x15 cookie sheet, toast oats until begin to lightly brown.  Remove from oven and lower heat to 250º.   Pour oats into large mixing bowl.  Add all other ingredients and stir well to be sure all ingredients are moistened.  Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Pour granola mixture onto paper and using plastic gloves or baggies over hands, press evenly into pan.  I like to take a glass loaf pan or sheet of parchment and press the surface evenly before baking.  Pop into oven and bake at 250º for approximately 1 hr. 30 minutes until dry to the touch in the center.  Remove from oven and when almost cool, cut into 30 rectangular bars (10 x 3 rows). This makes a nice size granola bar at an acceptable 4.05 net carb count.  Cutting into 60 squares will of course halve that number.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 30 bars, each contains:

239.7 Cals, 20.0 g  fat, 8.77 g  carbs, 4.72 g  fiber, 4.05 g  NET CARBS, 8.31 g  protein, 79 mg sodium


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