Ginger & Date Granola Bar

I thought I’d write up and example of my Granola / Muesli Bar formula as part of my WWND (what would Nana do?) quest in limiting the amount of convenience food we buy.

I made these yesterday for part of my son's snack at school and they were good, although if they were for me I would up the spice quite a lot - you could double the amount of ginger and that would add a pep to them. As is they are quite mild, so great for fussy kids, but still nice. I had a whole lot of leftover white chocolate from a cake I made last year, so I did a white chocolate drizzle. You could drizzle it with a half portion of the icing I make in my ginger crunch recipe - now that would be delicious but up the sugar content quite a bit!

They don’t take long to mix up, about 15 minutes, and they make 24 bars. You can put them in an airtight container and pop them in the freezer and take one out when you need them.

Ingredients

Base:

125gms /4.5 oz butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp molasses

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

2/3c oats

2/3c crushed weetbix

1/3 c ground flaxseed

1/3 c unsweetened desiccated/shredded coconut

1/2 c chopped dates

1/2 c chopped crystallized ginger

Chocolate drizzle

1 cup white chocolate chips

1 tbsp coconut oil

Getting ready

Grease a 20cm x 30cm / 9 inch x 12 inch pan and line with baking paper. Preheat the oven (normal bake) to 180C or 360F. Chop the dates and the ginger.

Mixing

Base

Put the butter, sugar and molasses into a large pot and melt gently. Take off the heat once melted, stir in the chopped fruit. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and spices. Add in the other dry ingredients. Tip the dry ingredients in the bowl along with the egg into the butter mixture and mix well. It will take a little bit of effort to come together and will be quite sticky!

Press the mixture evenly into the prepared baking pan and bake for 20 minutes until firm to touch in the middle.

To Serve

Cool the base for at least 15 minutes and then drizzle with chocolate if you wish. Once the chocolate has set, pull the entire base out of the pan using the baking paper and place with the paper on a cutting board. Use a sharp knife to cut into bars. I usually cut a grid of 3 x 8 making 24 bars.

Chocolate drizzle

Put the white chocolate and oil into a glass bowl and microwave in 30 second blasts, mixing after each time with a silicone spatula until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Don't overcook! Spoon the chocolate mixture into a small ziplock bag and cut a small hole in a corner of the bag. Drizzle the chocolate over the base.