I love me some Nature Valley bars, but sometimes I risk some cross-contamination on the allergen front. Instead of playing snack roulette, I decided to make a batch of my own where I could safely control the ingredients! Check out this copycat dupe that’s gluten free and vegan, yum.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup Gluten Free Rolled Oats

• 1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds

• 1/4 cup Gluten Free Flour (King Arthur is my recommendation)

• 1/4 cup slivered almonds

• 1/2 cup finely shredded organic coconut, unsweetened

• 2 tablespoons vegan butter such as Miyokos

• 3 tablespoons agave nectar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract

• 1 pinch cinnamon or cardamom

DIRECTIONS

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a 7"x5" baking dish and line it with parchment paper.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients together.  Melt the vegan butter and mix with agave nectar and vanilla.  Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and mix well.

Press the oat mix into the parchment lined baking dish and press down to pack it firmly.  Make sure you push this into the baking dish really hard to get it as flat and packed as possible.  

Bake granola bars in the oven for 18-20 minutes.  After removing from oven, gently press the bars down again with the back of a spatula. 

Let cool for 20 minutes before slicing into bars.  Cool completely before removing from pan and serving. Fair warning, these bars are a little bit crunchy and crumbly akin to the Nature Valley Granola bars.

Store in an airtight container between layers of waxed paper.

(Makes 8 squares of granola bar snacks.)

Recipe adapted from "Copycat Nature Valley Granola Bars"originally posted by chocolatecoveredkatie.com