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Pumpkin Granola Bars

November 6, 2012 By Carolyn Berry 9 Comments

granola bars 1

Why bother buying expensive boxes of granola bars full of questionable ingredients?  Well once you try these easy and fun to make GRAINola bars, you won’t bother anymore!

granola bars 3

As previously warned, my pumpkin frenzy continues…!  Did you know that you can even put pumpkin in granola bars?!  This certainly had never crossed my mind, but what an excellent idea!  The pumpkin adds moisture to the bar, so as a result, there is less fat needed (only 1/4 cup oil!).

These bars are so easy to make and they make the perfect grab-and-go snacks!  Store these bars in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge, and they’ll keep for about 1 week.  Or, they also keep well in the freezer when individually wrapped.

granola bars 2

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Granola Bars

Source: slightly modified from Looneyspoons By: Janet & Greta Podleski

Ingredients

  • 2-1/2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats (not instant)
  • 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
  • 1/2 cup chopped raw almonds, pecans, or pistachios
  • 1/2 cup chopped dried cranberries
  • 1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3/4 cup pureed pumpkin (fresh, or canned, but not pumpkin pie filling)
  • 1/2 cup liquid honey
  • 1/4 cup canola or other light tasting oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F.  Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with parchment paper, letting the paper overhang on two opposite sides (so you can use it as a sling to pick up the granola bars after baking).
  2. Combine the first 9 ingredients in a large bowl.  Mix well.  In a medium bowl, whisk together pumpkin, honey, oil and vanilla.  Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients.  Mix using a wooden spoon until dry ingredients are coated with pumpkin mixture.
  3. Pour the wet granola mixture onto the prepared pan and spread it evenly to the edges.  Using your hands, press down firmly on the granola so that it’s tightly packed in the pan.
  4. Bake on middle rack for about 25 minutes, until top turns light golden brown and is dry to the touch.  Remove pan from oven and cool completely on a wire rack.
  5. Lift cooled slab of granola from pan by holding on to parchment paper and transfer to a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, cut into bars.  Store in an airtight container, either at room temperature or the fridge.  They also freeze well when individually wrapped.

Variation: For delicious banana-nut granola bars, replace pumpkin with mashed rips bananas and replace the cranberries with chopped walnuts.  The pumpkin can also be replaced with applesauce or any pureed fruit.

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Carolyn Berry

Welcome! I’m Carolyn, a Vancouver based registered dietitian, certified diabetes educator, marathon runner and foodie. My passion is creating simple and nourishing recipes to share with you! I hope you enjoy looking around.
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Comments

  1. Hansen says

    November 6, 2012 at 10:27 pm

    Thanks Carolyn

    Is there anything I can subsitute for the coconut? Looking forward to more pumpkin Ideas!

    Reply
    • ckberry says

      November 7, 2012 at 9:43 pm

      Hi! Because the coconut is part of the dry ingredients, you could sub the coconut with an equal amount of some other dry ingredient such as oats, oat bran, wheat bran, chopped nuts, or chopped dry fruit, or a combination of two of these. Good luck!

      Reply
  2. Aly says

    November 7, 2012 at 12:00 am

    Delish!! Can’t wait to try this recipe

    Reply
  3. Marianne says

    November 7, 2012 at 10:27 pm

    And here I thought this was going to be the recipe for “the” granola bars from Agora! Nice to see these are free of sweetened condensed milk 😀

    Reply
    • ckberry says

      November 18, 2012 at 8:02 pm

      Haha yes those Agora “G Bars” are definitely not very healthy! I’d say these are a healthy spin on the Agora granola bar =)

      Reply
  4. Ally says

    November 18, 2012 at 5:28 pm

    Just made these (my kitchen still smells delicious)! I like how they aren’t greasy like a lot of the ones you buy at cafes/coffee houses. The coconut gives it a nice meaty/heavy taste. I subbed the cranberries with raisins. I think next time I’ll use a heavier dried fruit (cut-up dried papaya or cantaloupe). I didn’t actually like the chewiness of the raisins.

    Reply
    • ckberry says

      November 18, 2012 at 8:04 pm

      I’m glad you like them! They’re the perfect snack! And yes I totally agree, dried papaya or cantaloupe would be delicious! I also just made these!! With mashed up banana instead of pumpkin this time, and they are even more delicious!

      Reply
  5. Melanie says

    September 8, 2013 at 6:36 pm

    I have a tree nut allergy (basically all nuts but peanuts) and so I never know what I can put in place of nuts in recipes like this. I know the nuts add protein, so what can I use to still get protein but not end up in the ER?

    Reply
    • ckberry says

      October 1, 2013 at 12:21 pm

      Hi Melanie, great question! You could add some milk powder to add extra protein or even add greek yogurt to the wet ingredients. You could also add wheat bran or oat bran which both offer about 7g of protein per approx. 1/3 cup

      Reply

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Carolyn Berry

Welcome! I’m Carolyn, a Vancouver based registered dietitian, certified diabetes educator, marathon runner and foodie. My passion is creating simple and nourishing recipes to share with you! I hope you enjoy looking around.

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