My sister-in-law initially introduced me to soba noodles; she like preparing them simply with tamari and green onions. They’re great in all types of vegan recipes, but I particularly prefer using them in crisp salads with rich dressing. Buckwheat, a gluten-free grain used to make soba noodles, is available in Chinatown or the Asian department of most supermarkets. Make the dressing ahead of time if you can because it will taste better the longer it rests.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 31 mins |
| Additional Time: | 5 mins |
| Total Time: | 46 mins |
| Servings: | 16 |
| Yield: | 16 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 cups quick-cooking oats
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup pecan halves
- ½ cup ground flax seed
- ½ cup milk chocolate chips
- ¼ cup wheat germ
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- ½ cup honey
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line an 8-inch square baking dish with parchment paper or waxed paper.
- Mix oats, cranberries, pecans, ground flax seed, chocolate chips, and wheat germ together in a bowl.
- Stir brown sugar, honey, vegetable oil, and salt together in a large microwave-safe bowl; heat in microwave for 30 seconds. Stir mixture and heat in microwave again until smooth, about 30 seconds more. Stir vanilla extract and cinnamon into brown sugar mixture.
- Stir brown sugar mixture into oats mixture until evenly mixed and chocolate is melted; pour into the prepared baking dish.
- Bake in the preheated oven until edges are golden brown, about 30 minutes. Lift bars out of pan by pulling by the parchment paper; cool for 5 minutes before cutting into bars.
- If the bars are too crumbly even though you mixed the dry and liquid ingredients well, add a little more honey to your liquid mixture.
- If the bars turn out to be too hard, reduce the baking time.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 283 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 43 g |
| Cholesterol | 3 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 85 mg |
| Sugars | 32 g |
| Fat | 12 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Very tasty. I added a whole cup of honey and it was less crumbly and had a great texture.
Good flavor but bars came out very thick and needed longer baking time to hold them together. Next time I’ll bake in a jelly roll pan so I can spread the mixture thinner.
This recipe is very good and I made it as is. I however having experience making granola, used a bit of my acquired wisdom. Always depending on how hot your oven tends to be, reduce the baking time by 10 minutes. Technically you want your granola to be hardened but not too hard as the consistency of your bars develop after the baking time and as the bars cool off. I baked mine for 25 minutes and by the time they were cold, they were a bit hard for my taste but still to my liking. Next time, I will bake them 20 minutes only and will probably not use the chocolate. I had to add a bit more honey too but that is all the adjustment I did. Will make it again and given the versatility, I will make more combos with other dried fruits like coconut in place of the chocolate or chopped peaches instead of the cranberry. Great recipe!
Good healthy snack…
I modified it a little bit. I used almonds and walnuts, a little extra oil and honey, a pinch of flour instead of flax seed, and made them in a greased mini muffin pan for only 20 min. Tasty and healthy.
A flawlessly perfect recipe!!! Huge hit at our house!
Very tasty! After reading previous comments on consistency, I added 1/4c more honey. I also made it without chocolate chips.
I like the simplicity of this recipe. I added a lot more honey then the recipe calls for, but overall it’s fantastic!
12.4.15 I liked the taste of these bars, but they are crumbly and falling apart. I read the Cook’s Notes, but I don’t think you can tell what the consistency is going to be until you bake them. I packed them firmly into the dish and actually baked them an additional 5 minutes. Followed the recipe except for using white chocolate chips (what I had on hand) and roughly chopping the pecans. Good, but the fact that I can’t just pick one up and eat without crumbs all over the place is a disappointment.