Peanut Butter Chocolate Granola Bars

I was making Terrell Mullins wonderful Banana Cream Pie and thought that I could use his recipe in a different way to make homemade granola bars. These are chewy and moist, although you could probably crunch them up in a dehydrator, if you like them crunchier.

The base:

½ cup almonds

½ cup pecans

Process in a blender until they are a fine meal. Add:

1/3 cup shredded coconut

1 tsp vanilla

½ tsp sea salt

½ tsp cinnamon

1 cup dates

Process until mixed well. Place in a medium bowl.

The extras:

I cup oatmeal

1 T hemp seeds

½ cup coarsely chopped raw peanuts

½ cup cacao nibs

The extras are where you can determine the flavor of your granola bars. Some of the other things we add are: sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, raisins, cranberries or other dried fruit, flax seed, chia seeds, coconut, other coarsely chopped nuts and rolled grains. You can add up to about 2 cups worth. Put in bowl and mix well with base. Mixture will be very dry.

The glue:

2 cups of cashews (soaked)

½ tsp sea salt

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp lemon juice

¼ raw agave

¼ cup water

Blend in blender until very creamy. Put ¾ - 1 cup of the glue mixture into the bowl to bind all the ingredients together. Mix well. You will have some left-over. We find it makes excellent pudding. We like to top it with sliced bananas.

Pour mixture into any pan to mold. Cut the mixture into bars and wrap with plastic wrap. The recipe usually makes about 12-14 bars. Refrigerate till needed for school lunches or snacks.