Monday evening, I had wanted to make some granola to sprinkle in my Greek yogurt in the mornings. I remembered this recipe that I had found, and decided to use it. However, it wasn’t until I was mixing up the batter that I realized I had made a protein bar recipe instead of granola. I was obviously not thinking. Turns out, though, that when I crumbled and toasted it, it was perfect granola!

Homemade Protein Bars (E, N, GF)
adapted from this recipe
Makes 10 bars

Ingredients:
– 3 cups oats (I used organic – why not?)
– 1/2 cup ground flax seeds (again, use organic if you can)
– 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut (optional)
– 1 tsp. cinnamon
– 1/2 tsp. salt
– 1/4 cup brown sugar
– 1 1/2 cups non-fat Greek yogurt
– 1/4 + 2 tsp. honey
– 1/2 cup sunflower seed butter
– 1 tsp. vanilla extract
– 1 cup raisins
– 1/2 cup Craisins

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F.
2. Combine oats, flax seed, coconut (if using), cinnamon, salt, and brown sugar in a large bowl.
3. Mix  Greek yogurt, honey, sunflower butter, and vanilla extract in a medium bowl.
4. Pour wet ingredients into dry, mixing thoroughly.
5. Fold in dried fruit.
6. Spread into buttered 8×11 inch baking dish, and bake for 15 minutes.
7. Remove from oven, allow to cool for about 10 minutes, cut into bars, and place bars on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
8. Bake for another 15 minutes.
9. Allow to cool on a wire rack. Store in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

Notes:
– If you would like to make these bars into granola, simply crumble them up, and bake at 350*F for another 15 minutes, or until the coconut is toasted, and the bars are crisp.
– To make these even more protein-y, follow the original recipe more by adding vanilla protein powder (up to a cup). The reason I didn’t was because I just wanted to try them without it, and also the only protein powder we had was chocolate, and my brother doesn’t like chocolate.
– If you are not allergic to nuts, you could add a cup of chopped nuts, and/or use peanut butter instead of the sunflower butter.
– If you are allergic to nuts, you could put sunflower or pumpkin seeds into the mix.
– You could also add 1 cup of chocolate chips to the mix!
– My bars did not stay together too well – I think next time I make these I’ll add more yogurt or sunflower butter to the mix.
– If you noticed, the original recipe calls for making them in a 9×13 inch dish. I don’t know why I didn’t. Next time I definitely will – these are a little too thick. Still good, though!

Nutrition (for 10 bars – it would obviously be different if you make these in a 9×13 pan):