Cranberry Apple Granola Bites

Granola bites are the perfect grab and go snack to keep on hand this summer and into the school year! They are super easy to make and take only a handful of ingredients. The best part is they are totally customizable! 

This is a sponsored conversation on behalf of Jif and the Mom it Forward Blogger Network. All thoughts and opinions are, like always, my own.

It’s not quite soccer season yet here in Portland, but my four (almost five) year old is suuuuuper excited to be playing in the fall. She played her first season last fall and is a total rock star on the field. As in, she can dribble rings around her sweet sister (8 years) who clearly inherited her athletic abilities from me. <— I never said that.

As you well may know, there are many people on this green earth that have much more finesse on the soccer field than I or my amazing daughter do, and some of those people are part of the 2015 “Kick It” Tour, the world’s largest 3v3 soccer tournament. Jif To Go is excited to announce the launch of its new Halftime Heroes Photo Promotion as part of their sponsorship for the tournament and I’m going to give you the run-down here before we jump into the recipe today.

Christie Rampone, U.S. Captain of The Women’s National Team and mother of two has teamed up with Jif and the “Kick it” Tour for the program to help raise $25,000 for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Until August 9, Jif is encouraging families to attend a Kick it Tournament (game schedule here) and share a picture of how they “get going” as part of the Half Time Heroes Promotion.

To enter, families will be asked to take pictures with their Jif samples at the Jif tent and post a photo on their Twitter and Instagram pages using the hashtags #JifToGo and #PromoEntry. The best part is, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America will get a $1 donation from Jif for every entry using the hashtags, up to $25,000! It’s pretty cool. Take a pic, hashtag, and know you contributed to the fun!

BUT…

Even if you can’t make it to a tournament game to try samples and take pictures, you can still get set up with some sweet gear from Jif! I’ll pick a winner from the comments on this post so keep reading to enter. 🙂

I decided to share this recipe for granola bites along with the Jif post because they are a great thing to have on hand to grab and go when you’re busy and need something filling. I actually love to dip them in peanut butter and the Jif To Go packs makes packing peanut butter super easy. I just throw some cranberry apple bites into a baggie, grab a few Jif To Go and I’ve got a snack ready to go in my purse that will keep bellies full much longer than fruit leather.

Ready to make some Granola Bites? Let’s do it.

Oats, sliced almonds, sunflower seeds and wheat germ. Spread them on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes until they are nice and toasted.

You can go crazy with mix-ins. I chose a simple combination for dried apples and cranberries for this batch.

The glue that holds the bites together is a mix of honey and maple syrup, a little brown sugar, vanilla, and salt. My computer decided to eat the picture I had of this step, so let’s all take a second to imagine what it might look like.

When you pour it over the oats and fruit your mixture will look something like this and you’ll want to eat it all.

At this point you could just press it all into a 9×13″ pan, bake and cut into bars, but I love turning them into “Bites” by baking them in my mini muffin tin. Make sure to grease your pan well and then use a cookie scoop to portion the mixture into the wells.

You want them to be pretty compact so they’ll hold together after baking so I press them in tightly with the back of the scooper and then again with my finger tips. If you lightly wet your fingers they won’t stick to the granola.

Bake in a low oven (300 degrees) for about 15 minutes. The edges of each bite will be golden. DO NOT try to remove them from the pan until they are completely cool or you’ll end up with a crumbled mess. It will be a delicious mess but a mess nonetheless.

Once they are cooled you can pop a knife into the side of each bite and they’ll pop out pretty easily. Store in an airtight container for up to a week or in the freezer for a month.

Giveaway!

Jif is going to send out a fun goody bag to one of you lovely people. It will include a  JIF-branded sport bag, JIF-branded soccer ball, JIF-branded water bottle, and assortment of JIF To Go products. It adds up to $75 and all you have to do is share this post on your favorite social media account (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest) and then come back here and leave a comment with a link to where you shared it. I’ve even made it super easy to share from this post! Just scroll over any of the pictures and you’ll see a little box pop up in the upper right hand corner of the picture. Just click on the icon for where you want to share it and  you’ll be guided to share it. Easy peasy.

Cranberry Apple Granola Bites

Serves 36 bites     adjust servings

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Ingredients

• 2 1/2 C Rolled Oats
• 1/2 C raw sunflower seeds
• 1 C sliced almonds
• 1/2 C wheat germ
• 1/4 C honey
• 1/4 C maple syrup
• 1/4 C dark brown sugar
• 1 oz butter
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 1/2 C dried fruit, chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Spread oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, and wheat germ out on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. Remove from oven and pour into large mixing bowl.
3. In a small saucepan heat syrup, honey, brown sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt and stir until smooth and sugar is dissolved.
4. Immediately pour over the oat mixture and stir until combined. Scoop into greased mini muffin tin and press firmly into each well.
5. Reduce oven temperature to 300 and bake for 15 minutes or until the edges of the bites start to turn light golden. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Pop out the bites with a butter knife inserted in one side of each well and store in an airtight container for up to a week, in the freezer for 1 month.

by Heather Cheney

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