Quinoa Granola Bars

Jessia's Note:

The preparation time is long, but you can prepare the recipe in steps and can leave things unattended. There isn't much actual work involved. *recipe adapted from quinoa.com*

• Total Time: 5 hrs 15 mins
• Prep Time: 4 hrs
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 15 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 40 bars

Granola

• ½ cup soaked quinoa (1/4 cup dry)
• 2 cups rolled oats
• ¼ cup wheat germ
• ¼ cup slivered almond (optional)
• ¼ cup sunflower seed
• ¼ cup sesame seed
• ¼ cup coconut
• ¼ cup cooking oil
• ¼ cup honey

Granola Bars

• 2 cups cooked quinoa (3/4 cup dry)
• ½ cup mixed dried fruit (I used apricot, pear, apple, and cranberry)
• ½ cup raisins
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• ½-1 banana
• granola cereal
• ½ cup chopped dates or ½ cup other dried fruit
• ½ cup raisins

Directions:

1. Soak dry quinoa in 1/2 cup of water for two hours.
2. To make the granola, mix all dry granola ingredients, including the soaked quinoa, in a bowl.
3. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
4. Heat oil and honey in a small saucepan until thin; stir into dry ingredients until mixed.
5. Pour the granola mixture into a jelly roll pan and toast for 1 hour at 250 degrees, stirring occasionally.
6. Store in a plastic bag until ready to use.
7. Cook mixed dried fruit with 2 cups water at a simmer half the water has evaporated (about 45 minutes).
8. Add 3/4 cup dry quinoa and enough water to cover plus a quarter inche and cook over medium heat 20 minutes, adding more water as needed.
9. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
10. Set aside 1 cup cooked quinoa; pour the rest of the quinoa with cooking liquid and fruit pieces into a blender.
11. Blend until large fruit pieces are chopped up.
12. Add 1/2 cup raisins, the salt, lemon juice, vanilla, and banana.
13. Blend.
14. (Mixture will be thick; stop the blender and push with spoon if you have to, adding water if needed) Spoon blender mixture into a bowl, stirring in granola, 1/2 cup dried fruit, and 1/2 cup raisins.
15. Press into a greased and floured glass baking dish and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.
16. Cool.
17. Cut into desired number of bars.

Reviews

[Narshmellow]

This is a good recipe for using quinoa. I only made the granola. I really enjoyed this and have made it a part of my breakfast cereals. The taste of the quinoa, seeds and grains is wonderful. I gave it four stars because I had to add a few things to give it a little more spice flavor. I added 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp vanilla, and 1 tsp cinnamon. I would also recommend you watch as your granola toasts, about every 7-10 minutes because with tiny seeds and quinoa it can brown really fast and you won't suspect it's done until it's REALLY browned.

[chinadoll]

The flavor of these bars wasn't bad, but they weren't at all like granola bars as I think of them--more like very dense cake or bars. The quinoa was hard to work with, I was disappointed in how these bars turned out after seeing such great ingredients go into them.

[Ms*Bindy]

I decided to make only the granola for now, and maybe make the granola bars another time. This was easy to make, and everyone in the family is liking it. My wheat germ was 'missing'....still have not found it, so I had to make without the wheat germ. The granola is rather fine, not 'chunky' I'm not sure if the wheat germ would have made it stick together a little more, or if this is just a finer textured granola. Either way, it's great. Thanks for posting this recipe.