Cocoa Cranberry Granola Bars: SunButter Blog Guest Post

Are you looking for a great peanut-free and nut-free granola bar recipe? If so, you're in luck! I recently tried SunButter's Cocoa Cranberry Granola Bar recipe, and I wrote a guest post review of it on the SunButter blog. These granola bars get a big thumbs up from our family. They're satisfying as a snack or even a sweet treat after a meal!

Check out my guest post review of this tasty recipe! 


You may also be interested in these granola bar and snack recipes:

Nut-free granola bars - so delicious an a staple in this house!

Simple oat date bars - an "out of the freezer" sweet treat that's healthy and delicious

Pumpkin chocolate chip granola bars - a favorite!

Nut-free snack mix - hard to resist eating too much!

Nut Free Granola Bars

I don't know about you, but I have certain recipes I make over and over again. This recipe for nut free granola bars is one of them. It has been a staple in our house ever since I bought food allergy friendly Gerbs Raw Sunflower Seeds a few weeks ago.

Since we can't buy granola bars at the grocery store (seriously, if you can find an egg-free, nut-free, dairy-free and sesame-free granola bar at the grocery store - please let me know!), I make batches of these every other week. We eat most of them (they go FAST!) and then I freeze the rest for a quick and portable snack for the kiddos.

These are similar to the pumpkin chocolate chip granola bars I previously posted, but with a nuttier flavor and texture. I like this new version better because it includes less sugar and I love the nutty taste and crunchier texture of the sunflower seeds.

I call them granola bars since it's a granola bar substitute in our house. But I could also call them nut free oat bars since they're a little softer and chewier than traditional granola bars you buy in the store.

Whatever you call them...they're delicious and addicting!

Sometimes I pop a small one out of the freezer to satisfy a sweet craving. It's JUST sweet enough. I figure it's a healthier option than candy or cookies.

Here's the recipe. Hope you try it!

Nut Free Granola Bar Recipe

Dry Ingredients:

• 6 cups old fashioned oats
• 3/4 cups raw unsalted sunflower seeds (we use Gerbs Raw Sunflower Seeds) 
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 cup Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (we use these since they're food allergy friendly)

Wet Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar (I recently started only using 1/4 to cut down on sugar. Works great! Also, I included this with the wet ingredients since you mix it in with all the wet ingredients first)
• 1 cup honey (or agave nectar - maple syrup would probably work too)
• 1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree (make sure to buy plain, not pumpkin pie puree)
• 6 Tbsp oil (I use organic canola oil)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

• Mix all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl with a whisk EXCEPT for the chocolate chips 
• Mix the wet ingredients in a separate bowl
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir well with a spoon or spatula
• Add the chocolate chips and stir until distributed throughout 
• Line a 9" x 13" pan with parchment paper and add the granola bar mixture to the pan. Spread it, press it down and smooth it with a spatula so the granola bars are flat.
• Bake at 350 degrees for at least 30 minutes or until golden brown
• Let cool and cut as you wish.

Here are the awesome food allergy friendly Gerbs Raw Sunflower Seeds I used for this recipe. I actually bought the raw and lightly salted versions.  I'd highly recommend the raw/plain kind, but I found the lightly salted kind tasted a little too salty. I've been using the salty kind in salads and I plan to make trail mix with them. Next time I'll just buy the raw kind so I can control the amount of salt by adding my own.

As I said, this is a major REPEAT recipe for us - I keep making it over and over again! What's your favorite repeat recipe!? 

Linking this to Real Food Recipe Roundup!

You may also like: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

No Bake Granola Bars and July 4th Wrap-Up

Hoping you had a wonderful July 4th holiday and weekend! We had a wonderful four days of family time and fun. We were constantly busy as usual, but it was FUN busy. I just loved that I actually had time to cook up a storm of allergy-friendly recipes like our favorite tropical coconut banana muffins, dairy-free quesadillas, and a new recipe I've been wanting to try for no bake granola bars. YUM.

 

I got the recipe from The Food Allergy Chronicles blog, and the bars were REALLY yummy. They remind me of a cross between a rice krispy treat, and a chocolate oat granola bar. These granola bars are of course great because they're vegan and nut free, but also because they are NO BAKE granola bars.  It was so HOT this weekend that a no bake recipe was exactly what I needed.

I think our usual pumpkin granola bars (also vegan and nut free) will still be my go-to granola bar recipe, but the no bake granola bars are a great option for a quick, no bake option. They're similar to another no bake oat recipe we love for no bake oat balls.

We enjoyed the new allergy-friendly granola bars throughout the weekend, and also enjoyed fun at the pool...

Staying cool with big girl and big guy "shades"....

 Visiting with wonderful friends...

 

And exploring and playing....

What fun did you have this 4th of July?  Any new recipes or good eats?

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

My husband and I love Kashi granola bars as a snack or quick breakfast (plus a banana) on the go. However, I can't seem to find any nut, dairy, gluten and egg free granola bars for my son. Solution?  Make them myself!  I found the recipe for these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Granola Bars here, and they're so tasty that I haven't tried any alternate recipes.  These bars are probably even better than store-bought granola bars since they're homemade, less processed, and include less "junk" than store-bought granola bars.

They may be more of a fall-time treat since they use pumpkin, but they're a staple at our house year-round.  They also freeze really well.  I just cut them into toddler size squares, wrap them in plastic wrap, and put them in a large ziplock bag to freeze.  I defrost one or two on the counter overnight, or even in the microwave if I need one quickly.  They taste great even after being frozen.

I found this recipe here. I stayed true to most of it, but made a few minor changes.

Here are the ingredients I used:

• 3 1/4 cups Bob's Red Mill gluten free oats
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup honey (agave nectar works too)
• 3 Tbsp oil (I used Smart Balance this time) **This is updated from my original post - you need 3!
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips
• 1/4 cup Craisins

In one large bowl combine: oats, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.

In another bowl whisk together: brown sugar, pumpkin, honey, oil and vanilla extract.

Pour mixture over oats and stir well, then add chocolate chips and Craisins (other add-ins would work well too if you can eat them!  I'd love these with almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds or other dried fruit).

Line your 8x8 or 8x11 pan with parchment paper as I did, or spray it with oil or cooking spray.

Put your pan into a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Cut them however you like - in bar shape, squares, etc.

REALLY delicious!