Sunflower Granola

I've been in a granola daze lately... Granola, chocolate, fruit, and peanut butter. It seems like my diet has been based around those four things for the past couple of days. Perhaps not the healthiest diet, but it's better than what most eat, right?

I hadn't actually made granola for some time, and after doing some experimentation with granola bars (with a couple successful recipes, which will come soon!), I wanted just simple granola, so... that's what I did! :D

Sunflower Granola
2 C rolled oats
2/3 C sunflower seeds
1/3 C coconut
1/3 C grapeseed oil
¼ t salt
1 t ginger
½ C sunflower seed butter
½ C maple syrup
A few spoonfuls of brown sugar, if a sweeter granola is desired...

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix everything together in a bowl, and bake for about an hour or so, or until it's the level of crunchiness you want. Stir every 10 to 15 minutes while it's in the oven, and enjoy! :)

Granola Bars

Granola bars are amazing. There's no doubt, whether it's an elaborate bar, or a simple, raw, nut & date bar.
But the store bought stuff can get a little expensive... So why not make your own?
My mom likes having granola bars (or cereal bars) around to bring to work or have as a snack. The only bad thing was she would buy Kashi. I do have to hand it to Kashi for getting more people into eating organic, relatively healthy things, but Kashi is just a branch off of Kellog's- one of the largest buyers of palm oil there is. Not to mention the long list of ingredients on those bars, which also includes milk from dairy cows raised on CAFOs (if you would call mass producing a living animal raising...).
To get her to stop buying them, I promised I would make my own granola bars for her.

The first couple of tries did not work. But then I discovered the glory that is parchment paper!

Basic Granola Bar Recipe:
2 C rolled oats
1/3 C oat flour
½ tsp salt
1/3 C nut/seed butter (I like using a mix of different ones)
1/3 C vegan brown sugar
2 T rice syrup
¼ C safflower/sunflower or grape seed oil
¼ C agave syrup


~ Preheat oven to 350 degrees
~Mix all the ingredients together, and press into a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Bake for 20 minutes, or until edges are golden brown.

These are delightful with some melted chocolate on them, or with chocolate chips. And it's so easy to add any type of whole nut, seed, dried fruit, or whatever floats your boat.

Thin Mint Cookies! (with a yummy peanut butter variation)

Girl Scout cookies were no doubt the best part of being a girl scout. Sad, I know, but those darn cookies could be eaten by the box they were so good. I loved them all, Tagalongs, All Abouts, but of course, the best of them all, the Thin Mint.
What could beat a chocolate mint cookie with a catchy name like that?

A vegan version, of course!!!

This Mint Cookies:
~1 C white whole wheat flour (or all-purpose)
~ 2/3 C vegan sugar
~ 1/2 tsp salt
~ 1 Tbsp baking powder
~ 1/4 C + 2 Tbsp cocoa
~1/4 C grapeseed oil (or any mild flavored oil will do)
~1/4 C applesauce
~2 Tbsp agave
~2 Tbsp water
~ 1 tsp peppermint extract

~ Choclate for melting


1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2) Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cocoa. Add the oil, applesauce, agave, water, and peppermint, and mix until combined.
3) Mold the dough into small round patties and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or to get them to be crispy when they cool. The time will vary depending on how big you molded the cookie.
4) Once the cookies are cool, melt the chocolate in a double boiler*. Dip the cookies in the choclate and get them well coated. Transfer them onto parchment paper (I like If You Care brand) to cool. Store once the chocolate has hardened (...or eat them)

* You can also use a metal bowl over a pot of simmering water, although the bowl can move around, so it's easier to burn yourself by doing that.

Peanut butter variation:

The one combo that is better than chocolate and mint, in my opinion, has to be choclate and peanut butter. But what about all three?
I blended about 1 C of peanuts with 4 dates and a few spoonfuls of store bought peanut butter (unsalted), blended in my food processor, and got a stiff, tasty, peanut butter that could be easily molded into a patty to fit ontop each cookie.
This peanut butter stayed on the cookie when being dipped in the chocolate, and stays in shape when you take a bit of the finished Thin Mint.

My sister likes them a lot, and I'm very happy with how they came out too! I'll be working on a dehydrated raw version, and hope I can get something like that to match up.
Tomorrow, these lil' cookies will be bagged up and placed in a handknit (by me) bag with little knitted bunnies for my mom for Mother's Day,and here's hoping she'll like them too!