S’mores Granola Bar
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If you’re looking for the perfect portable camping snack this summer, look no further than these S’mores Granola Bars!
We had been out exploring northern Arizona when a late spring storm rolled through – and decided to stick around for a week. So rather than sit in a muddy puddle in the desert, we hightailed it over to Durango, CO to see Michael’s little sister. It was raining there, too, but at least we were inside a house. And like always, the moment we had access to a full kitchen with an oven, we immediately started baking.
We were looking through our camp kitchen pantry and kicking around ideas for granola bars when we discovered we were still holding on to a package of vegan-friendly Dandies Marshmallows. They were the mini-sized marshmallows, which are great for putting in hot chocolate but could also be used for baking. From there, it was obvious. And our minds gravitated towards something we couldn’t believe we hadn’t thought of already: S’mores Granola Bars!
Since we were starting with a vegan marshmallow, we figured we could make an effort to keep the recipe vegan the whole way through. Finding vegan dark chocolate wasn’t a problem at all, however, the graham crackers presented an interesting challenge. Nearly all graham crackers are made with honey. But a little research revealed that (while we are sure the homemade variety would be far healthier) Nabisco Original Graham crackers are actually entirely vegan. Just like how Oreo cookies are also inexplicably vegan, we suspect this wasn’t done intentionally but was rather a happy accident. Either way, we’ll take it.
Put all those ingredients together with some toasted oats, add in dates and chia seeds to help bind it all together, and you’ve got yourself a delicious chewy “s’more on-the-go” granola bar.
Perfect for your next day hike or for a little camping-inspired snack to get you through the workday.
Ingredient Notes
We’ve found Dandies at Whole Foods, well-stocked grocery stores, and on Amazon. We’ve also discovered that the marshmallows at Trader Joe’s are vegan. If you don’t care if these bars are vegan, you can easily substitute regular mini marshmallows and whatever graham crackers you want.
Looking for more? You might like these trail mix ideas, PB& J granola bars, these fruit leathers, or our roundup of vegan camping food ideas.
Vegan S’mores Granola Bar
Ingredients
- 6 dates, pitted and roughly chopped
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons chia seeds
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup oats
- 1 cup crushed vegan graham crackers, about 10 sheets
- ½ cup mini vegan marshmallows
- 1.5 oz dark chocolate, chopped
- 1 tsp coconut oil or Earth Balance butter, (optional if greasing pan)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Place the dates, water, maple syrup, chia seeds, and salt into the bowl of your food processor. Let it all soak for 5 minutes, then process until fairly smooth (it’s OK to have some pieces of dates remaining, but you don’t want any big chunks).
- Toast oats over medium heat in a heavy bottomed skillet until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Stir frequently to ensure even toasting and prevent them from burning.
- In a medium mixing bowl, add the oats, graham crackers, marshmallows, dark chocolate and the date mixture. Mix well with a spoon until all the dry ingredients are completely covered in the date mixture.
- Line a 8.5″ x 4.5″ loaf pan with parchment paper, or grease the pan with coconut oil or Earth Balance butter. Spread the mixture evenly into the pan, then press down on it to really compact it (I used the bottom of a glass for this).
- Bake for 20 minutes. Cool completely, then remove from the pan and cut into 6 bars.
- To make these portable, wrap them in parchment paper, plastic wrap, or small ziplocks, then throw them in your pack and go!
