Pumpkin Trail Mix Granola Bars

Name: Pumpkin Trail Mix Granola Bars
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: 4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats; 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut; 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds; 1/4 cup chopped pecans; 1/2 cup golden raisins; 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips; 1 tablespoon wheat germ; 1-1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice*; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/2 cup coconut sugar; 3/4 cup pumpkin puree; 1/2 cup honey; 2 large eggs; 1 tablespoon coconut oil; 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

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October 14, 2014

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Enjoy all the flavors of fall AND trail-mix in the form of chewy pumpkin granola bars. —These healthy bars make an ideal grab-and-go breakfast and an excellent post-workout snack!

Or get-in-my-belly-STAT bars.

Pretty accurate description.

The last last pumpkin recipe I shared with you guys was pretty dang indulgent, so I figured a somewhat-healthier pumpkin treat was in order today.

Seriously, I don’t even know HOW anyone could call these bars healthy, just ’cause they’re soooo dang good…

No questions asked, though. Imma’ just shove ’em in my face as fast as humanely possible.

Pumpkin granola bars have been on my to-do list pretty much since last fall. Sadly, I never got around to making them at all last year, so you can bet it got bumped up to the tippy-top of the uber-important-fall-must-make list.

Seriously, that’s what I titled that notebook page.

And boy, should you be glad that I did give these bad boys a go—The BEST kind of granola bar is right here in front of your face, folks.

And IN my face at the moment. 🙂

The chewiness factor of these bars is mind-blowing—you wouldn’t BELIEVE what pumpkin does to granola bars. It multiplies the soft and chewy forces by like 1.9 billion.

Which then brings the “perfect” level of these bars up to about a 20 out of 10.

When I was deciding on the extra add-ins to throw into the mix along with the pumpkin I just could NOT decide between the vast array of ingredients I had to choose from: Pumpkin seeds or pecans? Raisins or chocolate chips?

SO. It only took me 0.99 seconds to figure out how to solve this terrible dilemma—I threw ’em ALL in.

And my already-perfect granola bars got even MORE perfect.

Only now they weren’t just granola bars. They were TRAIL-MIX granola bars, which is what happens when you go crazy-crazy with the add-ins.

Crazy is good. Also, pretty tasty.

These granola bars are SO versatile—they’re simple and healthy enough for a quickie grab-and-go breakfast, but they also make a kick-butt pre/post workout snack. Instantaneous energy boost in the tastiest way imaginable.

My family has even gone so far as to crumble these bars up and enjoy it with milk like cereal.

Rachel? She prefers to just chow down on these bars plain All. Day. Long.— And I’m not joking either.

Guys, I feel as though we must discuss the pure addicting-ness of these granola bars. As in, I reaaally need someone to volunteer to take all the extra ones I currently have sitting in my freezer before I end up eating them all.

I seriously think I’m gonna too. I’m munching on one as I’m typing and getting crumbs in between the keys…

And now I’m finishing it off and looking at these photos and reaaally thinking I need another one now….

But ya’ know what? I just realized something.—I TOTALLY can. These granola bars have OATS in them along with plenty of other nutritious stuff, so I can eat however many I fancy.

Do you get the feeling I’m just trying to convince myself?

In the end, I think my pumpkin-addicted side is always gonna win. 😀

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