Gifts and Granola Rounds...

Bill came home from work the other day with a surprise! Debbie, a friend of ours, found out about my decorating our little camper with a beach theme and couldn't resist buying these for us.

I can't wait until it is in our driveway and I can start putting our finishing touches on it. Thank-you so much Debbie! We will think of you when we use these.
A few days ago, my sister-in-law, Melissa, shared a recipe on Facebook for "No Bake Energy Bites". Bill thought they looked good, so I bought the ingredients to surprise him. I thought these might be something he could bring along with him for a snack while he pedals. When he saw the ingredients, he said, "Why don't you bake oatmeal raisin cookies instead?" Since the Energy Bites had a laundry list of ingredients, I didn't want to waste them so looked online to see if there was a recipe for oatmeal cookies with coconut in them. There was and with that as a starting point, I made lots of changes and here is what I came up with.
                                           Bill's Granola Rounds
1 Cup Butter, softened                                  1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 1/4 Cups packed Brown Sugar                     1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 Cup Coconut Sugar                                  3 Cups Rolled Oats
2 Eggs                                                          1 Cup Semisweet Mini Chips
2 Tablespoons Milk                                        1 Cup Shredded Coconut
2 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract                         1/2 Cup Raisins
1 3/4 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
2 Tablespoons Chia Seeds
3 Rounded Tablespoons Ground Flaxseed

Directions:  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and coconut sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs then stir in the milk and vanilla. Combine the flour, chia seeds, ground flaxseed, baking soda, and salt; stir into the sugar mixture until well blended. Stir in the oats, chocolate mini chips, coconut and raisins until evenly distributed. I do the last bit of mixing with clean bare hands to get it nice and mixed. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

The parchment paper makes for easy cleanup. These came out a little darker with the whole wheat flour. After a minute, remove to a wire rack and cool completely before storing in airtight containers.

Of course, these trash your kitchen, but the cleanup is quick and these are very tasty!

When Bill called on his way home today, I told him the first batch of cookies was just coming out of the oven. He said, "What! Cookies! You are so bad!" I said, "No, I meant to say "granola rounds". LOL!" These are delicious and the coconut sugar has less effect on your glycemic levels, the chia seed provides protein, fiber and antioxidants, and the ground flax seed is a good source of omega 3 oils and fiber. The eggs come from a local farmer and the whole wheat flour is from wheat I grind myself so I feel like these can compete easily with store-bought granola bars. I think I will make a bunch of these in April and freeze them to take with us when we leave in May. I will be searching for more recipes for meals and healthy snacks. If you have a good recipe, feel free to share it with me. Thanks for reading and give these a try!

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