Coconut cranberry granola bars

It's almost summer time and that means my kids get up at 6am, are outside by 8am (would be 7, but I try I consider my neighbours) and typically don't come in until they're hungry, which is every 10 minutes.

I have a love/hate relationship with granola bars. On the one hand, so easy to grab and go, on the other holy sugar batman! 

I am in the midst of a house clean, freezer included and found a half bag of frozen cranberries from Christmas when I made cranberry sauce. Both kids love cranberries, so away I went.

I used apple sauce and mashed bananas so the bars are plenty sweet, but have that lovely burst of tartness to. They're chewy if you keep them sealed in an airtight container and you could easily add in flax or chia seeds if you had them. (Mine had spoiled, so next time).

3 1/2 cup rolled oats

3/4 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut

3 ripe bananas mashed (think banana bread bananas)

2/3 cup applesauce (unsweetened)

3/4 cup cranberries (fresh, frozen or dried)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/5 nutmeg

You can add a couple of tablespoons of ground flax or chia seeds too, for that added health punch!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Spread the oats, pecans and coconuts evenly on the sheet and bake about 10 minutes or so until everything is lightly toasty. Flip the mixture around a few times to get everything even.

In a good sized bowl mashed the bananas together with the applesauce, cinnamon, nutmeg and optional chia/flax/ sesames.

Bring the toasted mixture out of the oven. Carefully lift the parchment off of the sheet and dump into the apple/banana mixture.

Fold the mixture together until it begins to come together.

Add in the cranberries and dump back onto the parchment lined cookie sheet. Press the mixture down evenly and make it as square as possible with your spatula.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until bars are golden.

Remove from heat and let stand 15-20 minutes until slightly cooled. Transfer to a wire rack to cool and cut into bars.

Store in an airtight container.