I love to hike, be outdoors, go on adventures, and explore new places. But that can be exhausting, so I like to make sure I bring a power snack. Of course, I'm not a big fan of store-bought bars and energy food items. They're never as good as homemade and you never know what's really in them. So, this recipe for homemade granola bars is perfect for me. It's simple, delicious, and helps to keep up my energy throughout the day. The secret ingredient? DOVE® Fruit from Walmart.
Recipe:
2 cups Quick Oats
1 cup Flour
2 tbsp Chia Seeds
2 tbsp Flax Seeds
1/2 cup Sunflower Seeds
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp Salt (unless your sunflower seeds are salted)
1 egg
2 tsp Vanilla
1/2 cup Honey
1/2 cup Melted Butter
1 pkg DOVE® Fruit in Blueberry
Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a cookie sheet
In a food processor, chop up the DOVE® Fruit until they are small enough to use for baking. Some of the pieces may still be slightly larger, which is perfectly fine in a granola bar.
Mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl or mixer- oats, flour, brown sugar, salt, flax, chia, and sunflower seeds. When they are well mixed, add the other ingredients- melted butter, egg, vanilla, & honey. Finish your batter by mixing in the chopped up DOVE® Fruit.
Spread the ingredients out onto a cookie sheet and press it down with a spoon. Mine didn't quite reach from one end to the other when I was finished, which is ok. Then bake for 16-20 minutes. (That may seem like a large window of time, but just keep an eye on them. Once the edges have started to brown, they're done. Plus, I don't like to over bake anything.)
Cut them into bars while they're still warm. If you wait until they're cooled it'll be a lot harder and they'll crumble apart. Once they have cooled, use a spatula to separate them, then wrap them individually in plastic wrap or tin foil.
Now you've got a delicious, homemade, on-the-go snack, perfect for any occasion! Throw them into your bag or lunch sack for a midday pick-me-up, use them on the trail as an energy bar, or keep them stocked in your kitchen to prevent sweet tooth snacking.
DOVE® Fruit come in three flavors- blueberry (which I used in my recipe), cherry, and cranberry. They're all so delicious; the dark chocolate and real fruit make for a tasty and "better for you" snack that is sure to satisfy!
You can check out more DOVE® Fruit recipes, HERE. Be sure to download THIS COUPON, exclusively for Gentri Lee readers, to use when purchasing your DOVE® Fruit.
How do you keep yourself energized throughout the day?
