When I first started this blog, I reached out to my readers on Facebook and asked what kinds of recipes people wanted to see. Since it’s important to me to deliver top quality recipes that you all love, I really wanted to hear what you were hungry for.
The best answer came from one of my dear friends, Kimya: something that doesn’t taste like cardboard.
Needless to say, Kimya had had a few negative run-ins with vegan/gluten-free recipes.
Kimya: this recipe is for you 🙂
These Cranberry Chocolate Ginger Granola Bars have been fueling our snack cravings for the last week in our house.
My husband, Salar, has been enjoying them in his lunches at work, while I’ve been munching on these for breakfast/lunch/snacks/dessert…pretty much whenever the mood strikes.
They are made of simple, wholesome ingredients and are vegan and gluten-free. So, basically, they’re amazing and you should make some for yourself – I know you’ll love them.
Truthfully, I don’t know why I haven’t made my own granola bars sooner. Yep, that’s right, these are the first granola bars I have ever made. And let me tell you, they were super easy to make!
As I just mentioned, they use simple, whole ingredients: oats, almonds, cranberries, chocolate chips and just the right amount of ginger powder are the stars in this recipe and the combination of flavours is a serious home-run. The ginger provides this warm, soothing, homey flavour, while the bright tangy-ness of the cranberries really plays off well with the sweet, bitterness of the chocolate. These are way better than any store-bought granola bar you’ve eaten!
These Cranberry Chocolate Ginger Granola Bars are refined sugar free, use less than 10 ingredients and under 30 minutes to prepare. Win-win-win! Plus, they’re:
Sweet
Tangy
Chocolatey
Spicy
Chewy
Melt-in-your-mouth
Portable
Snackable &
Super Yummy!
Yup, I think that basically sums up these Cranberry Chocolate Ginger Granola Bars in a nut-shell.
Making these Cranberry Chocolate Ginger Granola Bars has really opened up my eyes to just how simple gluten-free, vegan cooking can be. All too often, people fall into this belief that preparing foods that are vegan and gluten-free requires all this special effort and time. Well guess what? That’s just simply not true!
When you can pull together a delicious, healthy and simple snack like these Cranberry Chocolate Ginger Granola Bars, it’s hard to understand how anyone could ever think that wholesome, nutritious eating could ever be difficult!
So, try out these Cranberry Chocolate Ginger Granola Bars for yourselves – we can be granola bar making masters together! Make sure to let us know what you think of this recipe: leave a comment below, rate it, share it on social media and snap some pictures and tag them #glutenfreeveganpantry.
Thanks, friends!
- 2½ cups large flake oats, gluten-free
- 1 cup almonds, roughly chopped
- 1 tsp ginger powder
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- 1 cup enjoy life chocolate chips
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup natural peanut butter
- ¾ cup brown rice syrup
- ⅓ cup agave syrup
- In a large bowl, mix together oats, almonds, ginger, nutmeg, chocolate chips, and cranberries. Set aside.
- In a small sauce pan, mix peanut butter, brown rice syrup and agave syrup over medium heat, stirring constantly. After about 3-5 minutes, the peanut butter will begin to melt into the syrups, providing you with a caramel of sorts, continue to stir until melted and well mixed.
- Pour caramel mixture over dry ingredients. Stir to combine.
- In a large 10x12 baking dish lined with parchment paper, pour granola mixture and press firmly and evenly into dish.
- Place in refrigerator to set for at least 30 minutes.
- Once firm, cut into evenly sized bars.
Savanna is the photographer, food stylist, head taste-tester and she-brains behind Gluten Free Vegan Pantry. 
Hi! I’m allergic to rice… Can I sub honey, maple syrup or more agave for the rice syrup? Or do you have any other suggestions (that aren’t corn syrup… 🙂 )
Hi Tracy,
You can try honey or more agave nectar but they are not as thick as the rice syrup, unfortunately, so they may result in a less firm granola bar. If you’re okay with that, then sub away! 🙂
we LOVE granola bars here too, they ARE so easy to make! I love the look of these!
Thanks, Kristina. I will never buy store bought again!