Pistachio Cranberry Flax Seed Granola Bars and Monday Mornings !

Mondays are healthy bake days in the Roy household. After all the good comfort food overdose on the weekends , I am ready for a healthy start to the week. That includes the rushy morning breakfast . Sugary cereals are the evil we reserve for "certain" days only ..so I am eternally in a quest for finding healthy breakfast items which are easy on the taste buds too. Be it the spinach egg muffins or banana oatmeal muffins , the emphasis is on wholesome nutritious breakfast choices.Here's another one to add to the list - Pistachio Cranberry Flax Seed Granola Bars !

Who doesn't love granola bars ? They are simply irresistible . Granola bars are  guilt free snack packed with the wholesomeness of oats , dried food and nuts. Already tempted to give them a try , are you ? I was and with a well stocked pantry , set about doing them early in the morning. I love baking at that time, the house is quiet and the peace of the early morning really enhances the bake. Baking is all about passion ..it flows into your bake ..so a quiet calm atmosphere really works wonder.

This recipe for the pistachio cranberry flax seed muffins has been adapted from here . 

Ingredients-

2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1 cup chopped sweetened dried cranberries

3/4 cup chopped roasted pistachios

1/3 cup shredded sweetened coconut 

2 tbsp flaxseed meal

1 oz unsweetened chopped chocolate 

1/2 cup peanut butter

6 tbsp honey

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1/4 tbsp salt

Method -

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 8 inch glass pyrex dish .

Spread the oats in a baking tray and keep them in the oven for 10 minutes till they turn a little brown.

Once the oats are a nice brown , mix them with the cranberries , pistachios , coconut , flaxseed meal  and chocolate. Keep the bowl aside for now.

Meanwhile , take a small saucepan and on medium heat mix the peanut butter ,oil, salt and honey. Make sure to constantly stir it and keep it on the flame till it boils for 1 minute.

Time to pour the peanut mixture in the oats mixture that we had set aside earlier. Make sure it coats the oat mixture well.

Now ,transfer the whole mixture into the greased dish and press it down as firmly as you can.

Bake it in the oven for 15 minutes . Take out and let it cool completely . The original recipe says to cut it after it cools down but I found it wasn't that firm still, so kept it in the freezer for 20 -25 minutes. That really helped to form it up and made the cutting easier.

Cut into desired shape and enjoy this delicious treat !