Chocolate-Almond-Strawberry Soft Granola Bars

Two completely new, completely delicious recipes created in the same day? What a great first day for EVE! Tonight's recipe was born of the necessity (okay, okay, the want) for granola bars during a long weekend trip. Store-bought granola bars can be really tasty, but sometimes expensive, and tend to have a higher sugar and oil profile than I would like. So, I decided to recreate the granola bar in my own kitchen! Tonight something chocolatey and almondy sounded good. (Does it ever not??) Right before I tossed the batch in the oven, I thought it needed something...something more. Aha! I needed some strawberry in these. Hence, the first batch of C-A-S Soft Granola Bars was made. The recipe:

**UPDATE** Tried adding in 2/3 cup of raspberries, and holy moly...I would never make them without again! Definitely go for it, if you have the raspberries on hand--just add 5 minutes more cooking time, total time of 20 minutes in the oven.

Ingredients:

1 cup quick-cooking oats

1/3 cup sliced almonds

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 tablespoon almond butter

2 tablespoons strawberry jam (I used sugar free)

Scant 3/4 cup almond milk (sweet or unsweet, depending on your taste)

3 Stevia/Splenda packets, or to taste

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

2/3 cup raspberries (optional, but trust me--do it!)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350

Combine first 3 ingredients in a blender or food processor, blend until a flour forms.

Pour mixture from the blender into a mixing bowl, and mix in remaining ingredients with a fork. This can be difficult to mash all together, the mixture should be quite thick. If making the recipe with the raspberries, it's a little softer and easier.

Grease a loaf pan (sizing about 8 x 4, if using 8 x 8 pan you'll need to double the recipe or the bars will be way too thin)

Pat the mixture down into the pan. It will be sticky and a little difficult to spread, but it's worth the effort to get it nice and even.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, be sure the top is firm when you take it out. Let cool at least 20 minutes before cutting, top with some strawberry jam just before serving (not necessary if you used the raspberries), and enjoy!

Notes:

The recipe above totals to about 500 calories, and makes 6 good-sized granola bars. If you top each with a tablespoon of sugar-free jam, each bar is still less than 100 calories. Nice way to squash a craving :)

If you're not going to top them with strawberry jam, I would recommend subbing a little more into the recipe, maybe taking out a little almond milk to keep the consistency thick. I don't like my granola bars overly sweet, so definitely add in sweetener to taste if you have a strong sweet-tooth.