Chocolate Granola Bark

Earlier this week a small group of ladies from our iZōsh group met together to watch and discuss a portion of the Half the Sky documentary.  I’d already seen most of the documentary, but I learn so much from being with these other women, and watching parts of it again reminded me of a world that’s so far away from my own.  It makes my heart heavy, but I also find it keeps me grounded and helps me shape a better perspective on life.   “Chocolate and Chat” was the title of our evening and each of us brought a fair-trade chocolate bar to share.  Our collection was impressive.  I do try to buy fair-trade whenever I can because it empowers small farmers and artisans to improve their own livelihoods by building sustainable businesses; it also connects us with other cultures and gives us the opportunity to directly support their economies.  And goodness, there are so many great varieties of high-quality fair-trade chocolate out there.

I melted my favorite fair-trade dark chocolate and smoothed it over a thin sheet of granola bark for this crisp mix of oats, seeds, nuts, and chocolate. The inspiration came from Tieghan’s recent Chocolate Quinoa Bark post, which you should take a look at because her photos will make you want to drop whatever you are doing and go make chocolate bark instead.  No stirring for this granola, you want to press it tightly in the pan to bind it all together and achieve that gratifying crunch.  A couple things about the ingredients- there’s a bit of milk powder which may sound strange at first, but it helps with the binding and also helps the texture to be a bit chewy and crunchy at the same time.  Although it will work with maple syrup, honey is a bit stickier and also helps with the binding.  A light dusting of shredded coconut and flaked salt gives it a finishing touch.  Once it’s fully cooled, have fun breaking it up into irregularly shaped pieces and enjoy.

Chocolate Granola Bark

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon dark molasses
• generous pinch of kosher salt
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 3 tablespoons sunflower kernals
• 3 tablespoons quinoa
• 2 tablespoons pepitas(shelled pumpkin seeds)
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 1/2 cup chopped mixed nuts (I used walnuts, pecans, cashews, and almonds)
• 2 tablespoons milk powder
• 7 ounces dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• unsweetened shredded coconut and flaked salt for finishing

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9×13 baking pan with parchment paper.
2. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the coconut oil. Whisk in the honey, molasses, and salt. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. In a mixing bowl, combine the oats, sunflower kernels, quinoa, pepitas, sesame seeds, nuts, and milk powder. Pour honey mixture over the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until evenly coated.
4. Transfer granola to prepared pan and press firmly with a spatula to form an even layer. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until golden brown.
5. Set a small glass mixing bowl over a small saucepan of simmering water and place the chocolate in the mixing bowl. Stir until chocolate is completely melted and smooth.
6. Pour chocolate over granola bark and smooth with an offset spatula. Sprinkle with shredded coconut and flaked salt. Put in the refrigerator to set, about 30 minutes. Use the sides of the parchment paper to carefully remove bark from the pan. Break into irregularly shaped pieces to serve. Store in an airtight container.

Notes

inspired by Half Baked Harvest