Granola Bar Ingredients:

  • 6 cups oats (I used Quaker)
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar, packed (light or brown or a mix is fine!)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted (filtered will have less coconutty flavor if you’re not a fan of that!)
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or any type of milk for that matter)
  • 1/4 cup vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (reserve 1/2 cup for sprinkling on top or melting and piping a drizzle)

Granola Bar Directions:

  1. In a heavy duty blender or food processor (I use my Ninja blender), add all dry ingredients: 6 cups oats, 1 cup white sugar, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp salt). I think it would be perfectly fine to substitute any sugar that reads as a 1:1 ratio, including only using white or only brown sugars!
  2. Pulse thoroughly until the mixture is homogeneous.
  3. Melt 1/2 cup coconut oil in the microwave (careful not to burn yourself). I used triple filtered organic coconut oil so it wouldn’t be too overwhelmingly coconutty, but use any kind you like!
  4. Add the 1/2 cup melted coconut oil, 1/2 cup vanilla unsweetened almond milk, and 1/4 cup vanilla extract to your dry mix in the blender. Blend or process until mixed homogenously. You may need to stop the blender (turn the power off for safety please), and use a spatula to scrape down the sides. Repeat blending process until you have a nice smooth mixture.
  5. Turn off your blender and remove the blade. Fold 1 cup of chocolate chips into your mixture. If you find it easier to scoop this out into a bowl feel free, but I did it right in my blender!
  6. Line a 9″x13″ pan/dish with parchment paper. Pour (or glob) your chocolate chip granola mixture onto the parchment paper lined pan/dish. The mixture will be a little tricky to shape and will seem hopeless in ever flattening out. Don’t worry it will work out and still be delicious.
  7. After you have emptied your blender/processor/bowl of the mixture, use the bottom of a measuring cup or any flat bottomed cup to help smooth your batter out. It will still settle a bit more on it’s own.
  8. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips on top of your bars.
  9. Place in the fridge for a minimum of 2-4 hours before cutting.
  10. To cut, I recommend boiling some water and adding it to a mug. Use a sharp metal knife (no metal handle), and dip it into the hot water mug between each slice. In a 9″x13″ pan I like to slice halfway across the long side and then I make 8 even cuts down the short side. Total yield is 16 bars (don’t worry if the corners aren’t perfect due to the crinkling of the parchment paper-you can fix that problem by eating those 4 pieces before anyone else notices).
  11. Serve and enjoy!

Notes:

I realize you’re probably crying about the cost of the 1/4 cup vanilla extract – I can tell you as a “healthier” dessert, this is worth it, and I suggest to take a trip to Costco or Sam’s Club or one of those bulk grocery stores. Costco has a giant bottle of vanilla extract for ~$25-30 and it seems to last a long time in my kitchen! They also have a mighty bag of semisweet chocolate chips… which doesn’t seem to last very long in my kitchen.

If anyone has any tips and tricks on those parchment paper corners (that we oh so sadly had to eat before anyone else noticed), please drop a comment and let me know what your trick is!