Granola bites

These granola bites are gluten-free, dairy-free, and are nut-free as well – you could make them nutty if you'd like, though.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/2 cup brown rice syrup or raw organic sugar cane syrup (maple syrup and honey are usually too runny here)
• 1/2 cup sunflower seed butter (or almond/cashew butter if you're not nut-free)
• 1 1/2 cups (gluten-free) rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cups rice crisps or rice puffs (the puffs will give the granola bars a more toasted flavour)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut shreds
• 1/4 cup hemp + chia + sesame seeds (you can pick one of the seeds or do a mix of 2 of them or a mix of all of them)
• 1/4 cup sunflower and/or pumpkin seeds (if you're not nut-free, you could add in chopped nuts – just make sure the total amount stays the same)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/2 tsp salt (you can forego this if you have salted pumpkin or sunflower seeds)
• 1/2 cup raisins, dried fruit of choice, or chocolate chips
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Optional: 1-2 tbsp additional syrup for sweeter bars

Instructions

In a saucepan, bring the coconut oil, syrup, and nut/seed butter to a light boil and remove from heat. Add in the vanilla extract.

While this mixture cools down, you can combine all the dry ingredients except for the dried fruit or chocolate together in a bowl.

Now, pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Fold in your dried fruit and/or chocolate chips. Caution: Make sure the wet mixture is not too hot as to melt the chocolate chips (if you're using any).

Mix well and spread the mixture onto a wax-paper covered baking sheet, pressing the mixture flat.

Place the sheet in the freezer for 10 minutes, take the solidified granola rectangle out and cut into squares or bars.

You can wrap them individually or store them in an airtight container in the fridge.