Peanut Butter & Chocolate Granola Bars

If you are anything like me, then you will agree that the pairing of peanut butter and chocolate is one of life’s greatest treasures! Do you remember the “How to Eat a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup” commercials? I specifically remember the one that said, “Have one now. Save one for later…It’s later!” Yup, that just about sums it up! Is there really anyone out there that could actually eat only ONE when offered two, and save the other one for a later time? If so, they deserve a medal or something. I can’t do it, trust me. I’ve tried. I think about five minutes is the longest I’ve ever made it without reaching for that second one. And, that was just plain torture!

With my love for this truly divine combination—and the need to satisfy my nutritional needs on long bicycling days—I wanted to come up with my own nutritional bar that not only tasted good, but that was also good for me. I was really getting tired of buying pre-packaged bars from the grocery store. Not only were they just “okay” tasting, they were also costing me between $1-1.50 per bar. At the time, I was buying at least 5 bars per week. That comes out to be about $360 per year! That’s a lot of money I could be spending on other things related to my hobbies that I enjoy. Things like maybe, some new pretty cycling jerseys!

Once I realized how much money I was wasting, I started thinking about how I could make my own nutrition bars. I knew it couldn’t be that hard to make something on my own that would be healthy, nutritious, and have enough calories to sustain me. So, with a little trial and error, I came up with a granola bar recipe that I think is pretty good! They do say, “Variety is the Spice of Life,” so instead of creating just one kind of bar, I came up with three: a Triple Berry bar; a Chocolate Covered Cherry bar; and a Peanut Butter and Chocolate bar. All which can be made, put in a small plastic baggie, and then could be carried in my back cycling jersey pocket! Perfect!

I am going to share with you today the recipe for the bar that I get asked to make the most by my cycling friends: the Peanut Butter and Chocolate Granola Bar. These granola bars are great for not only endurance athletes, but also for kids’ snacks, after school sports games, or just for the heck of it. They make a great healthy snack for anyone, at anytime. They keep for about a week if stored properly in an airtight container…that’s if they last that long!

In comparison to a purchased nutrition bar at the supermarket, these peanut butter granola bars cost me only $8.15 to make, which comes out to only .50 per bar! That’s a savings of more than 50%! Where can you buy a gluten-free nutrition bar for .50!?
I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.
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Peanut Butter and Chocolate Granola Bars

1.5 cups Udi’s Pure and Simple Au Naturel Granola (or your own favorite granola)
2 cups Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Oats (or other GF oats)
½ cup Jules™ Gluten Free all-purpose flour (or any GF AP flour)
¼ cup organic maple syrup
½ cup unsweetened organic applesauce
1 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
¾ cup Hershey’s Special Dark chocolate chips, plus ¼ cup additional, set aside

Preheat oven to 325°. Line a 8”x 8” pan with parchment paper. Set aside. In a large bowl, first mix all dry ingredients together until combined. Then, add all of the wet ingredients, stir until well combined. Fold in ¾ cup of the dark chocolate chips until incorporated. You should end up with a thick paste that you can spread. If the mixture seems too wet, add more rolled oats and/or granola until the desired consistency is reached.

Spread mixture into prepared pan. Bake at 325° for 30 minutes, or until slightly browned.

When the bars are done, remove from oven and let cool for about 15 minutes. Don't let the bars cool all the way; they will be harder to cut. Remove bars from the baking pan onto a cutting board, discarding the parchment paper. Cut into 16 bars using a pizza cutter.

Once you have cut all the bars, put remaining ¼ cup dark chocolate chips into a small microwave safe bowl. In 30-second increments, heat and stir chocolate until smooth making sure not to burn chocolate. Drizzle chocolate over the bars with a spoon.

Leave bars out until chocolate has set. Serve warm, or pack them up in a tightly sealed container.

Serves 16 (big bars) or 32 (bite size bars).
This recipe is gluten-free and can easily be made vegan and/or dairy-free by substituting the chocolate chips for a vegan/non-dairy variety.
Nutritional Information Per Serving:
Calories: 294
Carbohydrate: 42g
Fat: 13g
Protein: 7g
Sodium: 93mg
Sugar: 16g
(Nutritional Information based on 16 bars using reduced fat creamy peanut butter.)