These breakfast bars are sweet, crunchy, and incredibly satisfying.
Prep Time35 minutesmins
Cook Time35 minutesmins
Total Time1 hourhr10 minutesmins
Course: Breakfast, Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: avocado, breakfast bars, chocolate snack, granola bar
Servings: 12bars
Author: Valentina K. Wein
Ingredients
2cupsoats
½cupalmond meal
½cupshredded unsweetened coconut
½teaspoonsea salt
¼cupcoconut oilmelted, plus 2 teaspoons
3tablespoonsamaranth"popped" (see note)
½pounddark chocolatefinely chopped
½ripe avocadomedium-large
3tablespoonshoney
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375°F, and line an 8x8-inch) baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside. (Use a large piece that will cover the sides and cut slits in each corner so that it will lay flat.)
Add the oats, almond meal, shredded coconut and salt into a large mixing bowl. Drizzle with the coconut oil, mix until everything is evenly coated, and then pour the mixture onto a baking sheet and roast in the preheated 375°F oven until it's golden brown, about 20 minutes. (Do not wash the bowl you mixed in -- set it aside for later.)
Pour the melted chocolate into the saved mixing bowl and add the mashed avocado and honey. Mix until smooth.
Once the oat mixture is out of the oven pour it into the chocolate-avocado mixture, along with the popped amaranth.
Stir until everything is evenly blended and pour it into the parchment-lined baking pan. Use your hands to firmly press down, spreading it evenly into the corners of the pan. Then use a large, flat-bottomed metal spatula to press down again, to flatten it evenly.
Cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, and ideally overnight, before cutting it into 12 evenly sized bars.
Notes
To pop amaranth:Heat a dry, large, deep skillet -- that has a lid -- over high heat until extremely hot. Carefully add about 1 teaspoon of amaranth grains, cover the pot, and allow them to pop while shaking side-to-side constantly. If they don't start popping within about 5-10 seconds, the pan isn't hot enough.As soon as the popping slows, quickly and carefully pour into a large bowl. The goal is to get as many to pop as possible, but not to let them burn - if there are some unpopped ones, that's okay. Repeat the process, 1 teaspoon at a time, until all the amaranth is popped.