Hello Lovelies, don't know about you, but I'm always looking for healthy and delicious snack ideas for "on-the-go", the kids lunch box or just something to have in between. We eat lot of fruits, but sometimes you just need something that is more filling and also satisfies the sweet tooth. Its important for me that these snacks are still healthy and come without (or very littleI' refined sugars.
Homemade blueberry granola bars have been on my list for some time now and since the girls asked for them more often lately I decided to finally make them. The girls always like to take something like it to pre-school. Sweets are of course forbidden there, but homemade things packed with nuts, seeds and fruits are perfect to give the kids some extra energy for the morning. And it's also a perfect snack for grown-ups as well, I like to have one just before workouts, after sport or even in the morning when I have to rush out of the house and have no time for a proper breakfast.
The bars turned out so good with the blueberries and also the texture was just perfect. Gooey and fruity but also firm enough, to pack them for on the go. On the day I made them - 6 already magically disappeared - my girls both had 2 and 2 went to the girl next door and they all loved them which made me really happy.
Blueberries
To give the bars their pretty colour and fruity flavour, I use a double dose of berry: a third of the mixture gets blueberry powder for the intensity, plus a handful of lightly defrosted frozen blueberries for the juicy little bites. That way the bars stay beautifully purple-layered and actually taste of blueberry – with no artificial flavouring at all.
The frosting is optional of course, and yes it contains some sugar, but since it is such a small amount I'm fine with that. You could also make your own icing sugar with birch sugar or also coconut sugar, that's what I often do as well. You will get ca. 16-18 bars out of the ingredients and if you store them in an airtight container in the fridge, they will last at least 1 week, but I'm sure even longer, I just haven't tried that yet. You can also exchange the nuts in the recipe if you prefer others, the same goes for the seeds and fruits. That's what I really like about those recipes, they are so versatile and you can experiment as well. I think the next thing I'm making will be tropical bars with dried mango and pineapple pieces - mmhm I'm getting exited just thinking about it.
What do your kids like in their lunchboxes? Always the same or are they asking for different things every day (like mine :-). If you love these blueberry granola bars, my snack and breakfast kitchen has more of them waiting for you: for the chocolatey version I adore my banana-chocolate granola bars, to spoon straight from the jar there's my crunchy chocolate orange granola, and if you prefer something creamy you have to try my autumnal Bircher muesli. I'd be so happy if you bake these bars – let me know in the comments how you liked them.
