Healthy Chocolate Granola Bars

I love making healthier treats using whole food ingredients. These granola bars are no bake (I do toast oats and nuts in oven for best flavour), super chocolatey and delicious. They aren't overly sweet, which is how I like them.  The mixture is made up of toasted oats & nuts, dates, cocoa powder, tahini, maple syrup and a bit of coconut. (feel free to sub the coconut for some dried fruit). For a bit of extra sweetness and chocolate factor, I like to add a sprinkle of mini chocolate chips on top. I adapted the recipe from the Minimalist Baker.

 Yield: One 8x8 pan of granola bars

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups oats
• 2 cups nuts (I use either all almonds or half almonds and brazil nuts)
• 2 cups dates, soaked in hot water to soften 30 min, then strain & discard water.
• 3/4 cup unsweetened coconut (I toasted mine), or chopped dried fruit
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup tahini (or other nut butter)
• 1/4 cup maple
• 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips 
• 1 tsp vanilla
• few pinches of salt

Method: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Put oats and nuts onto a sheet pan and toast in the oven 10 minutes. Remove and let cool.
2. In a food processor blitz half of the nuts and oats to be fairly fine crumbs. Now add the remainder of oats and nuts and pulse. You want chunks of nuts and oats in the mixture.
3. Dump oats and nuts into a large bowl. Add cocoa powder and coconut and stir to combine.
4. Add dates to the food processor along with a splash of vanilla. Blitz to break up the dates, scraping down the sides as needed.
5. Add dates to the oats and nuts and use your hands to combine everything together. (This is messy so if you want you can use some gloves, but I don't bother)
6. In a small pan add tahini and maple and heat just to loosen the mixture. Season with a few pinches of salt.
7. Now add the tahini and maple to your bowl and again use your hands until mixture is combined. 
8. Line an 8 x 8 pan with parchment paper and then press the granola bar mixture into the pan.
9. Sprinkle the top with mini chocolate chips, pressing them onto the surface. 
10. Pop in the freezer for 30 min, then remove granola bars from the dish and cut into squares using a sharp knife.