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Simple Soaked Granola Bars :: Gluten, Egg, Dairy, & Refined Sugar Free With Nut Free Option

September 1, 2014

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Simple Soaked Granola Bars :: Gluten, Egg, Dairy & Refined Sugar Free with Nut Free Option
It is the first week of school where we live, and we are in full fall routine schedule mode!

To be honest, as much of a summer beach girl that I am, I just crave fall routine.

This type A list maker gets a little lost by the end of lazy summer days, and I am looking forward to a bit more structure in our days.

I’ll be packing lunches for my kindergartener and my husband this fall, and simple granola bars like these make that job super simple.

Simple Soaked Granola Bars :: Gluten, Egg, Dairy & Refined Sugar Free with Nut Free Option
I actually am not a big fan of a long drawn out process in the kitchen to get something like granola bars out. I don’t want to spend a bunch of time chopping nuts, or dehydrating certain ingredients. I want to dump it all in and be done with it. Otherwise, there is a pretty good chance I won’t be making them very often.

This is a quick recipe, and nice big batch lasts me a good month or so. They pack easy from freezer to lunchbox, thawing perfectly by lunchtime.

Simple Soaked Granola Bars :: Gluten, Egg, Dairy & Refined Sugar Free with Nut Free Option

Print Recipe
5 from 3 votes

Simple Soaked Granola Bars

This is a quick recipe, and nice big batch lasts me a good month or so. They pack easy from freezer to lunchbox, thawing perfectly by lunchtime.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time1 hour
Soak8 hours
Total Time1 hour 10 minutes
Course: Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: soaked granola bar recipe, soaked granola bars
Servings: 32 bars
Author: Renee - www.raisinggenerationnourished.com

Ingredients

Instructions

  • The night before you want to bake off the bars, put the oats, sunflower seeds, sea salt, and lemon juice in a large mixing bowl. Fill the bowl up with water to completely cover the mixture – enough that you can stir to combine. This soaking process will help the oats and seeds digest better.
  • After the oat/seed mixture has soaked 8-12 hours, add the rest of the ingredients and combine.
  • Spread the mixture onto silpat lined jelly roll pans – you will need 2. You could butter your pans if you don’t have Silpat.
  • Bake both sheets at 350 degrees an hour to an hour and 15 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through.
  • Use a pizza cutter (or knife) to slice into the size bars you want. Let them cool before removing from the pan.

Tips:

  • This batch makes just over 4 dozen granola bars, depending on how big you slice them. I store them laying flat in gallon freezer bags – no need to even individually wrap them. They pull out simple from the freezer straight to the lunch box and are thawed by lunchtime.
  • IF YOU ARE NUT FREE :: For the 2 cups blanched almond flour you could use 2 cups of a gluten free flour like rice flour. And instead of the peanut butter you could use sunflower seed butter – just watch the ingredients on those. This is a brand with a safe ingredient list.
  • A couple notes on the molasses. There is an organic unsulphured blackstrap molasses that I get locally, but this is a good one if you don’t have anything local. I don’t think the bars have a “molassess” flavor but if you are concerned the kids won’t like it, you could use pure maple syrup or honey, or a combo of those with a little molasses. I love the rich color of the molasses! The granola bars are plenty sweet for our palates, but taste the batter before you bake it off and add more if you need.
  • Be sure if you are gluten free that you get oats that actually that say gluten free on them to prevent cross contaminating.
  • Silpat liners are seriously my saving grace in the kitchen and work really well with this recipe. Clean up is so much faster and easier!

This post was shared at Fat Tuesday, and Allergy Free Wednesday!

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29 Comments

  • Reply Jacquelyn @ LittleOwlCrunchyMomma September 2, 2014 at 2:24 pm

    5 stars
    Wow. These look AWESOME. I definitely want to give them a try. Pinning for alter! Thanks. <3

  • Reply Jennifer Margulis September 2, 2014 at 2:31 pm

    THANK YOU! I’ve been wanting to make my own granola bars for a long time!!

  • Reply Rachel @ day2dayjoys September 2, 2014 at 3:56 pm

    This is great! My kids can’t have any nuts at their school co-op bc their is a child with an allergy. I bet they’d love these!

  • Reply Megan Stevens September 2, 2014 at 4:33 pm

    I’m always so grateful for sprouted grains recipes and this is one my kids will love. Fun food that other kids will recognize. (Some healthy foods look “weird” to kids who are used to eating packaged foods all the time.) We look forward to trying this recipe; my 13-year-old will love helping and my 5-year-old will lick the peanut butter spoon! LOL

  • Reply Jessica September 2, 2014 at 6:36 pm

    So simple and looks so good!! You rock, Renee!

  • Reply linda spiker September 2, 2014 at 9:02 pm

    I have never made a ‘soaked’ bar before. Beautiful recipe!

  • Reply Susanne Runion September 3, 2014 at 1:15 am

    5 stars
    These really look good. I have been wanting to make something like this for a while. I love the idea of making a big batch and freezing them. It just seems so easy.

  • Reply Tessa@TessaDomesticDiva September 7, 2014 at 4:33 pm

    I definitely want to try these! Thanks for sharing them with us, I will be featuring your recipe this week!

  • Reply 7 Lunches You Can Make and Freeze | Live Simply September 24, 2014 at 2:53 am

    […] GRANOLA BARS/ENERGY BARS: Once or twice a week I pull a simple granola bar or energy bar from my freezer right to the lunch box. They are thawed by lunchtime and a favorite […]

  • Reply A Nourished Halloween: Real Food Alternatives Your Kids Will Love - Live Simply October 3, 2014 at 12:40 pm

    […] carrot or cooked sweet potato to the puree and they won’t even taste it. Crumble granola or granola bar into their yogurt […]

  • Reply Real Food Baking Made Easy - Raising Generation Nourished October 19, 2014 at 7:49 pm

    […] Get some nice big jelly roll pans and a silpat for each one. Then you can make large batches of granola bars, biscuits, pizza dough, etc much […]

  • Reply Ultimate Fall Baking: How to Use Coconut Flour + Apple Carrot Muffins - Live Simply November 15, 2014 at 11:23 pm

    […] Simple Soaked Granola Bars from Raising Generation Nourished […]

  • Reply DIY Homemade Go Gurt-Like Yogurt Sticks - Live Simply January 22, 2015 at 11:55 am

    […] I have worked my way through some of the school lunch “staples” like granola bars and energy bars so she can feel a little less “crunchy kid” and a little more like her friends. […]

  • Reply DIY Coconut Milk :: No Gums, Fillers, Or Sweeteners - Raising Generation Nourished February 9, 2015 at 8:46 pm

    […] the leftover coconut shreds to use in your baking (granola bars, energy bars, etc), your smoothies, your oatmeal, or dehydrate and grind into coconut […]

  • Reply Andrea March 30, 2015 at 10:31 pm

    Do you have a volume measurement (approximate number of cups) for the oats and sunflower seeds? I don’t have a kitchen scale but would love to try this recipe.
    Thanks!

    • Reply Renee Kohley March 31, 2015 at 8:04 pm

      Hi Andrea! For my oats it is a whole container of oats – I’m really unsure of the measurement but I would say a good 4 cups – look on the side of your oat bag/container and see how many lbs it is. And the seeds is a good couple cups – it was the same thing with that they sell 1lb bags at our local health food store and I use a whole bag – you can look on the bag/container of seeds and see the pounds. Hope that helps!

  • Reply Melissa April 13, 2015 at 10:28 pm

    After you soak the seads and oats are you supposed to drain it or rinse it? I made it and it just came out tasting very very salty.

    • Reply Renee Kohley April 14, 2015 at 8:09 pm

      Hi Melissa! Yes I drain/rinse – I will make that more clear in the directions. I apologize for the confusion!

  • Reply 6 School Lunch Ideas *Besides* Peanut Butter & Jelly! - Raising Generation Nourished April 26, 2015 at 6:02 am

    […] About once a month I take an hour or 2 and make large batches of energy bars, apple bars, granola bars, or blueberry bars and freeze them flat in freezer bags. They pull from freezer to lunchbox faster […]

  • Reply Italian Diakon Radish Salad - Raising Generation Nourished May 9, 2015 at 7:00 pm

    […] I tend to under-eat, or just eat the “quick” stuff like a few bites of cold leftovers, a quick granola bar from the freezer, or a banana from the fruit […]

  • Reply Antioxidant Rich Berry Gummies - Raising Generation Nourished May 9, 2015 at 7:56 pm

    […] Granola Bars […]

  • Reply Katie Mae @ Nourishing Simplicity August 9, 2015 at 10:33 pm

    These look so good! It’s been a LONG time since I had a granola bar.

  • Reply 100+ Real Food Lunchbox Ideas - Recipes to Nourish August 23, 2015 at 11:34 pm

    […] Simple Soaked Granola Bars from Raising Generation Nourished  […]

  • Reply Prep Day: How to Make and Store Homemade Soup In Advance + 10 Simple Soup Recipes - Live Simply December 31, 2015 at 10:15 pm

    […] and create a whole meal, you can add a piece of fruit, a protein like whole yogurt, a granola bar (soaked or protein) or energy bar, cheese, tuna salad, hummus or refried beans, or a shredded chicken […]

  • Reply From Scratch Basics - The Foods That You Should Make Instead of Buy! - The Pistachio Project January 15, 2016 at 5:57 pm

    […] Soaked Granola Bars – Raising Generation Nourished […]

  • Reply Denise Urich February 5, 2017 at 4:22 pm

    I think you would find this information on phytic acid very important, especially regarding oats (from http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/living-with-phytic-acid/). “OATS

    Oats contain very little phytase, especially after commercial heat treatment, and require a very long preparation period to completely reduce phytic acid levels. Soaking oats at 77 degrees F for 16 hours resulted in no reduction of phytic acid, nor did germination for up to three days at this temperature.63 However, malting (sprouting) oats for five days at 52 degrees F and then soaking for 17 hours at 120 degrees F removes 98 percent of phytates. Adding malted rye further enhances oat phytate reduction.64 Without initial germination, even a five-day soaking at a warm temperature in acidic liquid may result in an insignificant reduction in phytate due to the low phytase content of oats. On the plus side, the process of rolling oats removes a at least part of the bran, where a large portion of the phytic acid resides.

    How do we square what we know about oats with the fact that oats were a staple in the diet of the Scots and Gaelic islanders, a people known for their robust good health and freedom from tooth decay? For one thing, high amounts of vitamin D from cod’s liver and other sources, helps prevent calcium losses from the high oat diet. Absorbable calcium from raw dairy products, consumed in abundance on mainland Scotland, provides additional protection.

    In addition, it is likely that a good part of the phytase remained in the oats of yore, which partially germinated in stacks left for a period in the field, were not heat treated and were hand rolled immediately prior to preparation. And some Scottish and Gaelic recipes do call for a long fermentation of oats before and even after they are cooked.

    Unprocessed Irish or Scottish oats, which have not been heated to high temperatures, are availabile in some health food stores and on the internet. One study found that unheated oats had the same phytase activity as wheat.65 They should be soaked in acidulated water for as long as twenty-four hours on top of a hot plate to keep them at about 100 degrees F. This will reduce a part of the phytic acid as well as the levels of other anti-nutrients, and result in a more digestible product. Overnight fermenting of rolled oats using a rye starter—or even with the addition of a small amount of fresh rye flour—may result in a fairly decent reduction of phytate levels. It is unclear whether heat-treated oats are healthy to eat regularly.”

  • Reply Danyelle July 30, 2018 at 11:05 pm

    5 stars
    A new go-to for us! These really are perfect for pulling out with breakfast. We swap 1 cup of raisins for chopped prunes to reduce sugar and it works well. It took two batches to nail the texture we like – balance between how much liquid to use for soaking and bake time – so maybe a half batch if it’s your first round. Having experience with restricted dietary needs, I rate these really high for being “free” of so much and still packing in nutrition, flavor, and staying power. Thanks, Renee!

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