One of my favorite sweet recipes on my blog is the SCD "caramel" sauce. It has a wonderful deep flavor, so creamy and (in my opinion) very rich. I use this sauce as the base in my SCD "granola" bars. The sauce works great, as it really holds everything together quite nicely. I figured this sauce would also work great with oats, and it sure did. Last month I made Shirley's granola cookie bites. She inspired me with these little morsels. I like how she made bites instead of bars. Bars can be hard to form sometimes and often don't stay together. And it all tastes the same, so why not make it easy. So I gathered some of my favorite dry ingredients and added it to the caramel sauce and voila, healthy little granola bites were born. My husband is addicted to these. My kids love them too. They are almost too sweet for me, but I have a very low tolerance to sweet, so I prefer these with cranberries instead of chocolate chips. These are the perfect mid-afternoon snack for us mommies (you know, around that 3:30 time when the tummy starts rumbling for a little something). The ingredients are simple and healthy. I hope you'll give these little granola bites a try. They will satisfy mommies...and kids alike.
Ingredients:
-4 ounces seeded Medjool dates (7 dates), soaked for 3 hours*
-3 tablespoons honey (vegans, maple syrup is a great sub here)
-3 tablespoons cashew butter
-3 tablespoons melted coconut oil
-1/4 cup full fat canned coconut milk
-1/2 teaspoon vanilla
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1 1/2 cups gluten free oats
-1/2 cup sunflower seeds
-2 tablespoons chia seeds
-2 tablespoons hemp Seeds
-1/2 cup mini chocolate chips or dried cranberries
How To:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
1. To a food processor, add soaked and drained dates, honey, cashew butter, coconut oil, vanilla, and salt. Blend for 90 seconds. While the food processor is running, drizzle in the coconut milk. Blend until everything is well incorporated.
2. In a bowl, add the oats, chocolate chips, sunflower, hemp, and chia seeds. Mix.
3. Add the wet ingredients from the food processor to the dry ingredients. Mix well and let sit for 5 minutes.
4. With a spring scoop, make little balls and place on a baking sheet with a non-stick surface. Make sure to really pack the mixture in the scoop. Use your hands. Get a little dirty. It's fun.
5. Bake for 15 minutes. Immediately transfer the bites to a cooling rack.
Makes 24 granola bites. I recommend making two batches at a time. Enjoy.
Notes:
*I've made these using soaked and dehydrated oats and sunflower seeds. They are equally tasty. The color is more gray-ish and the texture is softer.
*Please soak dates for the time recommended. I cannot guarantee the same results if the soaking time is not as noted in directions.
Shared on: Melt in your Mouth Mondays, Motivate Me Mondays, Mealtime Monday, My Meatless Monday, On The Menu Monday, Mix It Up Monday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Allergy-Free Wednesdays, Gluten Free Wednesdays, Real Food Wednesdays, Whole Foods Wednesdays, Wellness Weekend, Whole Food Friday Fresh Bites Friday, Show Off Friday,
That sauce just sounds amazing, I can't imagine anything tasting bad coated in that beauty! Perfect fuel for a busy lady like you!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Gabby. And yes, it does make everything taste fab.
DeleteThis is a stunning recipe Amber and the pictures are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteOh thanks, Vicky. You're too sweet. :-)
DeleteThis is one scrumptious snack Amber! It's 2pm here...this Mom wants a few of these right now :)
ReplyDeleteHi Laura. Come on over, I'll have a few ready for you with some homemade walnut milk. Perfection. :-)
DeleteHi Amber. Firstly, thank you for this awesome recipe—I can't wait to try it! But just curious why you wouldn't choose to dehydrate these gems of yumminess, rather than baking them so as to keep them raw? Perhaps it's the wet ingreds. that would make them difficult to stay in form unless baked (?).
ReplyDeleteAlso, I have to share (I hope you don't mind). I thought this was funny. I only have a very tiny Cuisinart mini-prep plus that chops and grinds—you can hardly call it a food processor—but I AM grateful to have it (I think the only real reason I wanted it so badly, way back when, was because it was pastel pink!). I've known for a while, that I am really needing a "big girl" food processor (lol) and as I'm looking at your recipe, I'm wondering, "Hmm, I wonder what kind of food processor Amber uses?" And sure enough, with my detective's eye, I notice the make and model of yours ON your blade (the center plastic piece). How perfect was that? So thank you for such close-up pics of your creations, that was a huge help (lol).
So sure enough, I went on Amazon and lo' and behold, there it was. At least the Cuisinart DLC-10S Pro Classic 7-cup. Yours doesn't have the "S" so maybe yours is slightly dif. Nonetheless, it has great reviews. Do you love yours or would you actually recommend another?
Thanks for reading and thanks for all that you do and share! And by the way, your little boy is so precious! What a cutie! :)
Amber, I looked at your post title and said to myself "oh, those are me." Then I saw the photo and said, "yes, definitely." Then I read your post and saw you were inspired by my granola bites. Super, super cool! I think you did far better than I did as these babies are packed with goodness and nutrition. LOVE that you use your caramel sauce, too! I'll leave out the chia seeds (they're not my friends lately), but I'm on board with these yummies otherwise. :-)
ReplyDeletexo,
Shirley
Hi Shirley. Well, we all loved your granola cookie bites. And I've mentioned before that my husband takes granola bars to work with his lunch everyday. So I am always experimenting with new bar/bite recipes. So, yes, chia seeds are not for everyone. I would just omit the chia and add in an extra 2 tablespoons of hemp seeds (and maybe a few teaspoons of psyllium husk) for binding. :-) Thanks for the inspiration.
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