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Cherry Cashew Granola Bars are simple, vegan, gluten free, and loaded with cashews, almonds, healthy seeds and dried cherries.

Cherry Cashew Oat Bars

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  • Author: Bailey Sissom
  • Yield: 12 bars 1x

Description

These Black Cherry Walnut Bars have the perfect amount of sweetness and crunch.  Decadent enough for dessert, but healthy enough to stand in as a grab and go breakfast option.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 egg
  • 2 1/4 cups walnuts, divided
  • 2 cups rolled oats + extra for topping garnish
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 2 TBS maple syrup
  • 1 TBS coconut oil, melted
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp. fine grain sea salt
  • 1 cup dried cherries
  • 1 cup of medjool dates, pitted
  • 1 TBS cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp. cloves
  • Juice and Zest of 1 lemon

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

For the Crust:

  1. Cover a rimmed baking pan with parchment paper. Place 2 cups of chopped walnuts on pan and place in oven (reserve 1/4 cup of walnuts). Heat oven to 350 degrees. (The pan should be in the oven while it is pre-heating. Bake walnuts until they are lightly toasted, about 5-10 minutes. Keep your eye on them... they burn fast! Remove from oven, and allow to cool.
  2. Lightly oil a 9×9 pan and line with parchment paper (to avoid bars sticking to pan).
  3. To the base of a food processor, add 2 cups of oats and process until consistency is similar to flour. Add toasted walnuts, and blend until mixture has the consistency of rough sand.
  4. Add egg, applesauce, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla. Pulse until fully incorporated.
  5. Take 2/3 of the crust "dough" (reserve the other 1/3) and press it into an 8 inch square baking pan. Wet your hands a little to help prevent the dough from sticking.

For The Filling:

  1. To the food processor, add cherries, dates, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and lemon juice and zest. Blend on high until the mixture is smooth. Spread mixture evenly over crust. It will be very thick (think loose peanut butter). If the filling is too thick to spread add 1 TBS of water and pulse on high.

To Assemble:

  1. Crumble the remaining crust evenly over the filling layer. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of walnuts and some extra rolled oats over the top. Lightly press the pie crust crumbles and nuts into the filling. Bake 25-30 minutes or until the topping is golden brown. Allow bars to cool completely before slicing.

Notes

  • Make the recipe gluten free by using gluten free rolled oats.
  • Make the recipe vegan by subbing 1 Tbs chia seeds mixed with 3 Tbs of water
  • Store the baked bars in the refrigerator... they don't have any preservatives, and thats a good thing!
  • If you can't find black cherries.. you can use a different variety or swap them for your favorite dried fruit.