Cocoa-Coconut Granola Bars

Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Servings: 12
Yield: 12 servings

Description

Why buy granola bars when you can use this recipe to get crisp, chewy, and chocolate-y granola bars straight from your own oven?

Ingredients

2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup flax seed meal
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup chia seeds
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions

1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9-inch square baking dish.
2 Spread rolled oats, flax seed meal, sliced almonds, shredded coconut, and chia seeds onto a baking sheet.
3 Toast oats mixture in preheated oven, stirring every 5 minutes, until lightly toasted, about 15 minutes.
4 Reduce oven heat to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
5 Combine honey, brown sugar, coconut oil, vanilla extract, coconut extract, ground cinnamon, and salt together in a saucepan over medium-low heat; cook and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved, about 3 minutes. Stir cocoa powder into the honey mixture until dissolved.
6 Mix toasted oat mixture and the honey mixture in a large bowl and stir until the dry ingredients are coated; spread into the prepared baking dish and press into an even layer.
7 Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes.
8 Cool bars in pan for 10 minutes, immediately cut into squares, and remove from pan.