Microwave Gluten Free Granola Bars

With so much going on these days, finding things that are easy to bake at home is a must! I love these granola bars because they simply use the microwave to cook. The hardest part is waiting for them to cool. And let’s be honest - my kids hardly ever do! You just need to set aside about 10 minutes to get these done.

Ingredients

DRY:

2 cups gluten-free large flake rolled oats

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (dairy-free)

1/2 tsp salt

WET:

1 flax seed egg (1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp hot water, mix together, let sit 10 minutes & cool) or 1 egg

1/4 cup liquid honey (or corn syrup or agave syrup if vegan)

1/4 cup vegan margarine or butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

1. Line an 8” x 8” square microwave-safe glass baking dish with parchment paper, ensuring the paper reaches above the edges of the dish.

2. Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

3. In another bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients until you have a homogenous mixture. Add the wet mixture into the dry and mix well until all of the oats are coated with the wet mixture.

4. Turn into the parchment lined paned and flatten out evenly with a spatula.

5. Microwave for 5-7 minutes (start with 5 minutes and add 30 seconds at a time if required)

6. Remove from the microwave and let cool on a rack. When completely cooled, remove from the pan by lifting out with the parchment paper, and place on a cutting board. Using a large knife, cut the square in half and then 4 times in the opposite direction to produce 10 bars.

7. These can be stored at room temperature for up to one week either in a sealed container or individually wrapped.

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Tips:

• If your mixture looks too wet, you can add some extra rolled oats

• You can reduce the brown sugar to 2 tablespoons if you want them less sweet

• If you measure the melted margarine first, them the honey in the same cup, the honey won’t stick!

Your mixture should look like this.

It should be sticky, but not wet

Cutting your bars

Cutting the bars into 10 pieces will give you about the same size as a commercial granola bar.

Mix It Up.

For a healthier version, you can replace the chocolate chips with nuts, raisins, sunflower or pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, chia seeds, dried fruit, coconut, you can try so many combinations!