Quinoa & Ginger Granola Bars

As many recipes I have made for granola bars are never enough. It’s either my love for cereals and nuts, or my weakness in such snacks, and I’ve always some granola bars in a container. Aside from very tasty and nutritious “bombs”, they are probably the most practical take-away snack. A big hurray for granola bars that is! 🙂

One thing I notice when I look over for such recipes online is that many of them have a huge list of ingredients. I confess, I have done sometimes, but honestly I am really impressed by how many ingredients can fit in a granola bars recipe….  Of course all these materials can be really good, but no doubt you can make excellent bars with less than 18 ingredients!

This is how I came with this recipe. Cereal bars with quinoa and candied ginger (you know this spicy candied yummy delicacy!!), plums, sunflower seeds, oats and flaxseed, tahini, honey and cinnamon.

The bars are very rich in proteins, fatty omega-3, calcium, manganese and copper from quinoa, valuable fatty acids, minerals and lignans from flaxseed, plant sterols, folic acid, pantothenic acid, vitamin E and B, magnesium, iron, phosphorus and selenium from sunflower seeds and tahini, antioxidants and flavonoids from cinnamon and honey and dietary fibers. Are these enough?  😉

It is very simple and fast recipe. All you need is a bowl and a saucepan and 10-15 minutes to prepare them. In the list of ingredients I’m writing 1 cup of dried fruits. As I said I put 50% ginger and 50% plums. Of course you can make your own combination of fruits, while respecting the dosages.

Total time:   30 minutes

Servings:   16

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (7.9 oz.) tahini (preferably wholegrain)
• 1 cup (12 oz.) honey
• 1 cup (4.9 oz.) sunflower seeds
• 1 cup (5 oz.) dried fruits, chopped (1/2 cup candied ginger & ½ cup prunes)
• 1 ½ cup (5 oz.) rolled oats
• ½ cup (1.8 oz.) crushed flaxseed
• ½ cup (3.3 oz.) raw quinoa
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• a few drops of vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. In a saucepan, add the honey and tahini and heat over medium-low heat, stirring, for 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat.
2. Preheat the oven to 170 ° C.
3. In a bowl mix the remaining ingredients.
4. Pour the lukewarm mixture of honey-tahini in the bowl of solid ingredients and stir thoroughly.
5. Moisten a piece of greaseproof paper with water, drain well and lay it on a 9X9in baking pan. (In this way, the paper softens and fits better in the pan.) Spread the mixture into the pan and press it well. Bake for about 18-20 minutes, until lightly browned.
6. Leave to cool completely, and then cut into pieces.

Note: You can also use and oblong cake pan. The thickness of the pieces depends on the size of the pan.

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