Paleo Granola Bars Recipe (Crunchy Energy Nut Bars)
These crunchy energy nut bars are easy to make and store well for when you need a quick, healthy snack on-the-go. I call them paleo granola bars, and the recipe is grain free and highly customizable to suit your taste.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF, using the fan setting if you have one.
Add all of the (pre-soaked and dried) nuts and seeds to a food processor. If you want to pre-soak the nuts, follow the instructions above.
Process the nuts and seeds until the bigger nuts have been broken down into smaller pieces, and the nuts and seeds have been well mixed together.
Add in the eggs, coconut sugar, cinnamon, and coconut oil, along with a pinch of salt. (If you have presoaked the nuts in a salt solution, you may not need to add any more.) Blend all of the ingredients in the food processor until well combined.
Taste the mixture for salt/sweetness. You can add more sugar, stevia, or honey if needed to suit your taste.
Spread the mixture out over the bottom of a greased rectangular pan or two square pans. The size of the pan isn't important, but you should try to get a thickness of somewhere under 1cm. The thinner the mixture is, the crispier the bars will be.
Bake the mixture for 20-40 minutes, depending upon the thickness of your bars. I start checking after around 20 minutes and turn the oven off after the bars turn a golden brown.
While still hot, unmold the mixture and cut into bars.
To further dry and crisp the bars, I like to place the cut bars back into the oven on a baking sheet, using the residual heat to help further dehydrate them.
To store them in a closed container, you should be sure that the bars are mostly dehydrated. You'll notice that they will be crispy and will give a clean break when you bend the bars. If they are chewy or bend and slowly break when you fold them, they have residual humidity that will allow mold formation if stored in a closed container. You can eat them that way if you prefer, but I'd store them in the fridge and try to use them up quickly. The fully dried bars can be stored in a sealed container for several weeks. (If they last that long!) :)
Notes
You can customize these bars by changing the nuts and seeds used, adding in chocolate nibs or chips, and or adding in some nut butter.