dark chocolate granola bars

Despite living 10 minutes from a big grocery store, my father insists we buy our oatmeal in bulk from Walmart's website. Yes, we go that far to save on oats. The only problem is, every time, our oatmeal arrives smashed. Why? Because brown crumpled paper is, and never was, sufficient package cushioning. Now if only someone would let Walmart know.

Anywho. Now that we have a year's worth of oatmeal in the kitchen, I figured the logical next step was to make granola bars. Specifically - chewy, dense dark chocolate granola bars. They're packed with delicious energy-rich ingredients ingredients. You will need a glass of milk with these.

Yum!

chocolate granola bars
2 cups oats, toasted
2 cups dates, pitted
6 Tbs cocoa powder
1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 cup honey
3 Tbs peanut butter
3 Tbs chocolate hazelnut spread
Optional: 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp ginger, chocolate chips/carob nibs

Yields approx. 12 medium bars

1. Pour the oats onto a baking tray or piece of parchment paper, and toast the oats at 350 F for 10-15 minutes.
2. In a food processor, process the cocoa powder, dates and walnuts into small pieces. I recommend mixing the cocoa powder with a tiny bit of water, so the powder doesn't go flying everywhere (lesson learned); no one wants to inhale that stuff.

3. In a bowl, mix the processed mixture with the oats.
4. Heat the honey, chocolate hazelnut and peanut butter in a microwave at 10 second intervals, until warm and less viscous.
5. Pour the liquid mixture over the dry mixture. Mix well until ingredients are dispersed throughout and come together into a sticky clump. It may take a bit of arm power to thoroughly incorporate everything.












6. Pour the granola bar mixture into a 9x9 pan lined with parchment or wax paper (I re-used the parchment paper used to toast the oats), and flatten the granola evenly. Let it sit in the fridge for a few hours until firmed up.
7. Cut into bars, and enjoy! :)