Pumpkin Seed Granola Bars

One of the things I have an abundance of in my pantry that needs to be used up are seeds and nuts... walnuts, pecans, sliced almonds, sliced almonds, pepitas, pistachios, sunflower seeds... it's too much so I imagine you'll be seeing a few granola, granola bar, nut bar type things on this blog over the next month or so.

After making this recipe my pantry is lighter one can of pumpkin puree, all the chia seeds, all the flax seeds and half of the pumpkin seeds.  (Seriously, what is it going to take to get rid of all these freakin' pumpkin seeds? It's like Mary Poppins carpet bag over here.)

All in all these are relatively healthy.  They're packed with nutrient rich nuts and seeds.  I even used coconut oil which I'm still not on board with for all of my cooking but is supposed to be a healthier fat than most.  There's also pumpkin puree in here which is high in vitamins and fiber.

I tried to cut back on the sweet ingredients a little bit here but I know that those are what make granola bars stick together.  Without enough sugar the bars won't harden up and will just crumble into pieces when you try to cut them into bars.

Granola bars are actually pretty easy to make.  You simply mix up all the ingredients to form a uniform gooey mess.

You don't even need a mixer, you can definitely do this by hand.  I used to make granola when I worked in the bakery and we mixed it all by hand and we made HUGE batches!  Every time I made it I would be up to my elbows in granola... literally.

The gooey mixture gets pressed into a pan and baked at a low temperature for an extended period of time.  The low temps and long time help dry all the moisture out of the granola bars so that they are crunchy and stick together when you slice them up.

These didn't dry out exactly as much as I wanted to and they were still a little bit crumbly.  In hindsight I probably should have baked them a little bit longer to dry them out a bit more.

Overall these were pretty good.  I actually have a bunch of coworkers who are pretty health conscious and I think they were grateful that I finally brought something into work to share that wasn't laden with butter and sugar and/or chocolate.

Pumpkin Seed Granola Bars
Adapted from Heather Christo

Ingredients

1/2 cup Coconut Oil

4 cups Oatmeal

3/4 cup Honey

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

3/4 cup Pumpkin Puree

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Salt

1/4 cup Chia Seeds

1/4 cu Flax Seeds

1 cup Pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

Instructions 

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a 9"x13” pan with a sheet of parchment paper.

Place the coconut oil in a small heat proof bowl and microwave for 20-30 seconds, until melted.

In a large bowl, combine the oats and the coconut oil and mix until the oats are well coated.  Add the honey and the brown sugar, pumpkin and cinnamon and salt and mix to combine.  Add the chia seeds, flax seeds and pepitas and mix in.

Transfer the granola to the prepared pan and spread it out over the pan evenly, pressing it down with the spatula.

Bake the granola bars at 325 degrees for 30 minutes and then press down hard with a spatula.  Bake the granola bars for another 20 minutes.

Let them cool completely (I left mine out overnight) before slicing them into bars.

Enjoy!
Julie