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.)