Cocoa & Almond No-Bake Granola Bars

I'm back to the granola bars...

This time it's my mom I'm trying to please. She's been on her own quest for the perfect granola bar—crunchy and chewy, but low in fat. After at least 4 different recipes, she still couldn't find one she liked, so I thought I'd try my hand at the old granola bar game...again.

She dictated to me what she wanted in the bars (cocoa, chocolate chips, wheat bran...) and I decided a no bake version might be worthy trying, since all our previous failures have been with baked granola bars.

I couldn't eat a full granola bar, because of the sugar in the chocolate chips, but I tasted a small bit of just the goo and granola—yum. Mom loves them, and so did Dad (I couldn't believe it...after all those granola bars...). I only made them this morning and they are half gone already.

Cocoa & Almond No-Bake Granola Bars
(makes 12 bars; inspired by Rachel Ray's No-Bake Chewy Granola Bars & Megan's Cooking' No-Bake Granola Bars)

Ingredients:

• 225 grams (2 ½ cups) oats, toasted
• 160 grams (1 cup) almonds, toasted
• 160 grams (8) Medjool dates
• 21 grams (1½ Tbsp) virgin coconut oil
• 160 grams (½ cup) honey
• 1 Tbs vanilla
• 10 grams (2 Tbs) cocoa powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
• ½ tsp ginger (optional)
• ½ tsp fine sea salt
• 45 grams (¼ cup) mini chocolate or carob chips (optional)
• 60 grams (1/3 cup) raisins
• 30 grams (½ cup) wheat bran

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. On a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, toast your almonds and oats, separately, until golden. Allow to cool.

2. Soak your dates until soft. Drain and reserve the water.

3. In a food processer, combine dates with honey, oil, vanilla, cocoa, salt and spices. Process until smooth, adding date water to achieve smooth consistency, if necessary.

4. In a separate bowl, combine almonds, oats, wheat bran, raisins and chocolate chips.

5. Mix date paste into dry ingredients until oats are thoroughly covered. Press into an 8 by 8 pan lined with parchment paper and refrigerate/freeze until firm—a couple hours.*

*We froze ours at first, then put them in fridge to keep them firm.