Gluten Free/Vegan Granola Bars

Even if you aren’t eating oats (which sometimes includes me) granola bars don’t have to be a forgotten pleasure of the past. This bar is a fusion between a ‘classic’ chewy granola bar and KIND bars, which are undoubtedly my favorite gluten-free bars available. This recipe replicates KIND bars nicely if the ingredients aren’t ground as finely as I’ve done here.

The flavor will depend wholly on what mix of nuts and dried fruit are used. I’ve used a combination of pistachios, walnuts, almonds, cherries, and cranberries, from a store-bought ‘trail-mix’. Sometimes I even add in a few chocolate chips; just because. This is definitely a recipe with much room for expansion and creativity.

While the original recipe called for an 8 inch square pan, I decided to use a larger pan, allowing me to adjust the thickness of the bars, as well as make for easier removal.

These can be made vegan if brown rice syrup or maple syrup are used in place of the honey. Granted, the maple syrup yields a slightly softer bar, so it might be good to use a 1/2 -scant- cup of maple syrup instead of a true 1/2 cup.

Gluten Free/Vegan Granola Bars

Granola Bars (kind of)

Adapted from The Edible Perspective and Peas and Thank You
Adapted by CinnamonQuill
*PDF Recipe*

1 cup cereal, such as cornflakes or ‘Chex’
1 1/2 cups mixed dried fruit and nuts in any combination
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
2 Tablespoons flaxmeal (ground flaxseed)
1/2 cup honey, maple syrup, or brown rice syrup
2 Tablespoons almond butter (or other butter)
1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
1/4 cup chocolate chips or chopped chocolate (optional)
*Parchment paper

Preheat oven to 350F.

Line a 9×13 inch pan with parchment paper.

In a food processor, combine all ingredients, until desired consistency has been reached. If you’d like larger pieces in your bars, pulse mixture a few times, then finish combining with a spatula.

Wet hands, then press mixture into prepared pan. The mixture will only cover about two-thirds of the pan. See a picture of this here.

Bake 10-12 minutes, until mixture starts looking a bit golden. Remove from oven, then, using a very sharp knife, gently cut bars into desired size. This is more like just ‘scoring’. I usually cut into about eight bars (as you can see, mine weren’t exactly even).

Return pan to oven for 10-12 minutes more, or until they are starting to get more uniformly golden. This could take longer, depending what ingredients you used. (See photo below of how baked bars look.)

Remove from oven, reinforcing any of the scoring, as needed.

Cool completely before removing; slice around each bar as you lift it from the pan.

Wrap each bar in plastic wrap/parchment/wax paper, then store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Yields about 8 bars.

Gluten Free/Vegan Granola Bars

Gluten Free/Vegan Granola Bars


Now, anyone have a recipe for Clif or Luna bars? They are an old favorite that I miss quite a bit.

PS Attention gluten-free food bloggers! Please check out my new project, Gluten Free Feed, where the concept of Tastespotting goes gluten-free; I am looking for submissions!