Slimmed-Down Granola (Vegan)

Slimmed-Down Granola with yogurt

Last week, one of my roller-derby cohorts (thanks, A!) passed along a granola bar recipe to me; I'd eaten one of hers at our last practice, and I'd, of course, enjoyed it to the maximum.  I mean, c'mon, it's granola.  In any case, at this week's practice, she handed me a fresh recipe card with a fresh new recipe to try.

Excited to make the "healthy" treat, I scanned the recipe, only to notice two evil-hearted, yet extremely tasty cardiovascular disease culprits:  butter and sweetened condensed milk.  These were, of course, the reasons I'd enjoyed her granola bar so much in the first place.  I mean, who doesn't want a bowl full of butter and sweetened condensed milk with a little dried fruit and oatmeal?  If I were 18 again, I'd have at it.  But since I'm not, I had a new challenge--to make a tasty, chewy granola bar without the heart-health hazards.

Looking around the kitchen, I racked my brain for what to use as a binding agent.  I was out of eggs, and I didn't want to use too much honey, as its glycemic index is nearly as high as that of white "straight to your food belly" sugar's.  I spotted some over-ripe bananas and my agave nectar & decided to make the best of it.

Now, while I know that there's sugar in dried fruits and carob chips that I've added, and that there are plenty of carbs in oats, I truly believe that this recipe is one of the healthiest you'll find for a still-tasty granola fix.  Free of oil (aside from the natural oil in the nuts) and added sugar, here's what I came up with, modified from A's recipe:

To have: 
dry components:
3 cups quick oats
1/3 cup flax seeds
1 cup chopped dried mango (requires muscle mass)
1-1/2 cups dried cranberries
1-1/2 cups pumpkin seeds (unsalted)
1 cup Brazil nuts, chopped finely or ground
1-1/2 cups carob chips

wet components:
2 small overripe bananas, mashed well
3-4 tbsp agave nectar/syrup (plus extra for drizzling)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp lemon juice

To do:
Set the oven to 400 degrees F.
 
In a super-large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients, adding more or less of each type, depending on how many additions you have.

Mixing the wet into the dry

In a separate bowl, whisk together the bananas, 3 tbsp agave nectar, and 1 tsp cinnamon until the mixture is fairly uniform.  Add in the lemon juice (to prevent the bananas from blackening further) and mix in well.

Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring to be sure that all the dry ingredients are coated.  If necessary, add more agave to be sure that all the oats have some moisture.

Making the "sheet" of granola

Using at least a 9 x 13 inch baking sheet/pan lined with parchment paper, spoon the granola mixture out of the bowl onto the pan.  With each spoonful, try to flatten the mixture, making a "sheet cake" of granola in the pan.  This part is messy, yes.


After you have achieved your sheet cake of granola, use a spoon or a spouted bottle to drizzle agave nectar/syrup diagonally back and forth across the sheet.



Bake for at least 20 minutes, longer if you'd like the granola to be crunchier.  Remember, kitcheneers:  the longer you bake it, the drier you make it.

Sheet of granola, 
ready to bake

Wait until granola has completely cooled to cut into bars, or break it up into pieces to crumble onto yogurt.

Try to eat only one.  The rationale here is that, though it's health food, it's only healthy if you don't eat 10 at a time, as I usually do.  Yeah, good luck with that.

Slimmed-Down Granola Bars