Dairy-Free Chocolate Granola Bars

It’s -30C outside and I am doing my best not to leave the house.  Unfortunately the last few weeks have been filled with doctors appointments, blood tests, and trips to my therapists (physio and psychologist). Finally I have a day at home to rest (and bake).

I took a little break

January suuucked.  I mean, it usually does for me anyway, but this year more than ever. I’ve lost interest in a lot things (including this blog, oops). But, I think I’m starting to feel better. I might post details about it later, but I’m not quite ready to go there yet. This is just a reminder that mental health is real, yo! Take care of yourself first.

Back to the Baking

This post is about these delicious dairy-free chocolate granola bars! As I said, its effing cold out. I haven’t been to Costco for a while to buy my go-to kid’s snacks, Clif Z-bars. I tried to go last week but I realized I forgot my card when I got there so I said “f*ck it” and went home! Haha.  I needed to make some healthy snacks for the kid’s lunches.  I was prepared to make my usual chocolate chip cookies, but I realized we were out of eggs :/

Robb and I recently started ordering our groceries online, which is awesome in this weather.  But, our order wasn’t coming until the next day.  I decided to make granola bars, remembering I had pinned a recipe from this website a long time ago and they were tasty!  This was before I went dairy-free though, so I had to modify them this time. 

I substituted coconut oil for the butter and used my favourite Kirkland brand chocolate chips (they have less sugar and no milk ingredients compared to Chip-its). I also used whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour. One cup of honey seemed like enough sweetness so I omitted the brown sugar.  My mom gave me a massive jar of raw honey straight from a honey farm, so I used that. I swear it’s the best honey I’ve ever tasted.

To make these more delicious (and maybe a little less healthy??) I added some chocolate on top by melting chocolate chips. Hopefully your microwave works properly.  Mine is on the fritz.  Only the 2 and the 6 work, plus a couple preset ones.  I used the “vegetable” setting, and clearly that was a bad decision because they started on fire.  Who knew chocolate chips could burn so quickly?

Dairy-Free Chocolate Granola Bar Recipe

Ingredients

4 ½ cups large flake oats

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup coconut oil, melted

1 cup of raw honey

1 cup of chocolate chips

Extra chocolate chips for melting.

Preheat oven to 325F. Lightly grease a 9×13 pan (I lined mine with parchment).  Add oats, flour, baking soda, cinnamon to a large bowl and mix.  Add chocolate chips.  Melt coconut oil and honey in the microwave, stir and add to oats mixture. Bake for 15-20 minutes.  Let them cool for about 20 min.  Then melt extra chocolate chips in the microwave, and drizzle over pan.  Put them in the fridge for 30 min or until chocolate hardens slightly.  Then cut into bars (or squares, whatever you want).

These Dairy-Free Chocolate Granola bars were a huge hit with the girls (and Robb).  I’m enjoying them as well on my high carb days. I think next time I’ll add a little coconut. These are a nice alternative to the kind you buy in the store which are full of additives and sugar.

Enjoy!