Are you tired of pumpkin yet? I’m not. I found a great pumpkin granola bar recipe, and I needed to try it. It was one of those recipes that I searched for on a couple sites, and they pretty much all brought me back to same recipe. I took that as a sign that this recipe is a good one. I like the recipe because it doesn’t have flour, eggs, or butter. Instead, just applesauce. The only thing I thought could make the recipe better would be protein powder. So I added some.
I added a “scoop” which is about 25g, so it only really added a few grams of protein to each bar. I was surprised, however, that the protein powder had a negligible affect on the taste and texture of the final product. Score!
Pumpkin Protein Granola Bars
Yields about 9 bars (one 8 x 8 square pan) adapted from Sweet Pea’s Kitchen
Ingredients
- 3 cups old fashioned oats
- 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup applesauce
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
Method
- Preheat the oven to 350. Cover an 8 x 8 square pan with parchment and/or nonstick spray.
- Combine oats, spices, protein powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside while you combine the brown sugar, applesauce, honey, pumpkin, and vanilla in different bowl.
- Pour the wet mixture over the dry and stir well to combine. Add the cranberries, chocolate chips, and pecans. Make sure the ingredients are well distributed.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake 30-35 minutes. Allow to cool and enjoy!
Packed up and ready for an adventure!
Sadie Dishes 
[…] I’m going through a little bit of a granola bar baking phase thanks to the fabulosity of the pumpkin granola bars, that I have made several times at this point. I decided to switch it up a little and try a […]