I got this recipe from my friend Etown who lives down in Texas. Her boyfriend, B, is super into triathlons. Mostly because he’s super good at triathlons.
He recently took part in an Ironman Triathlon out in California. To fuel himself through the race, he made some of his own granola bars, the recipe for which he was kind enough to share with moi. They’re similar to Kind bars–all nuts, coconut, flax seeds and honey. Naturally sweet, grain-free goodness.
Homemade Ironman Coco-Nut Bars
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp flax seeds
1/2 cup raw honey
1 tsp sea salt
1 cup raw almonds
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup dried apricots
1 Tbsp goji berries
Preheat your oven to 350F. If you’re at my house, make sure that you have your water bottle fan handy. My kitchen gets H-O-T.
Grind your 2 Tbsp of flax seeds into a fine meal.
Pour the flax meal into a small bowl and add your sea salt and your honey.
I used some raw honey from Arizona that I picked up at the farmer’s market a few weeks ago. This honey is really high quality organic honey–I probably would have used some regular quality honey, but I was fresh out.
This stuff is amazing. “Premium raw honey produced sustainably by Dee Lusby.” Dee and her late husband Ed are basically the pioneers of sustainable, non-chemical bee keeping.
Mix your honey and your flax meal together and set aside.
Coarsely chop your apricots,
and your almonds.
Add them to a large bowl along with your coconut and goji berries.
There were no goji berries in the original recipe, but I decided to add them in for some extra antioxidants.
Coconut flakes are pretty gorgeous, huh?
Add the honey/flax mixture to the coco-nut mixture,
and stir until everything is evenly coated.
Then, press the mix into an 8×8 in baking pan that has been coated with oil. I used olive oil.
Bake at 350F for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the center is browned and the sides are crispy.
Now, this is the trickiest part. You have to let the pan cool a little before cutting, but you can’t let it cool too much. To quote the original recipe: “If they are too warm, they will not
stay together (though you can press them back together), but if they are too cool, you’ll have to chisel them out. Like Goldilocks, they have to be just right.”
I waited about 15 minutes until I cut them and transferred them to a cooling rack.
I waited another 30 seconds before I transferred one to my plate.
Dangerous.
The perfect mix of sweet and salty. I love the taste of baked coconut, so these are probably my favorite ever. They taste a lot like the granola I made a while ago, only stickier and more addictive. I can totally see how these could fuel you through a million mile triathlon!
Thanks Etown and B!
In addition to the apricots and almonds, I put some dried cherries, pistachios, and walnuts in the mix. Delicious. Nutritious. And the perfect breakfast when I am running (really) late. Keep up the good work. Your new program looks awesome… it’s just like hitting the reset button!
Dried cherries sound like they would be delicious! Thanks for the program feedback!!
I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes a week ago, would this be a good snack for me?
Hi mmtopp! Thanks for stopping by. While honey is a natural sweetener with more healthy benefits than refined sugar, it’s still a form of sweetener, which means it will still impact your insulin levels. Type II diabetes is a disease of poorly regulated insulin levels. Your best bet is to snack on foods without any added sugars– like nuts, unsweetened coconut flakes, or a piece of fresh fruit.
You could definitely have these bars as a sweet treat every once and a while, but it’s best to limit the amount of sugar (even natural sugars) that you ingest when you’re looking to cure diabetes. Of course, this is just some general advice– I encourage you to talk this over with your doctor. You could even print out the recipe and bring it to him/her to see what they think.
Feel free to email me at AllisonNichols.HC@gmail.com if you have any questions, or if you’d like some more guidance.
How many servings does this make, and how many calories/serving? My Fitbit wants to know!!! LOL They look delicious!!! Thanks for the recipe, I am dying to try it!
Hi Diana!
I made 6 bars with this recipe– they were rather large– about the size of a store-bought Luna Bar. I just plugged all of the ingredients into my Daily Burn tracker and here’s what I got.
For 6 servings, one bar = one serving
278 Calories
20g Fat
23g Carbs
6.5g Protein
If you were to make 8 bars, it would look like this:
208 Cal
15g Fat
17g carb
4.8g protein
Yes, it is a little higher in calories than other bars, but it’s because almost all of the ingredients are calorie dense. I hope that this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.
Wow this looks so delicious! I have to try it some day =D Great blog! x
Thanks, Asta!
Arre these chewie or hard? My girls live chewie
These are pretty hard–like Kind Bars actually. The nuts and coconut stay crispy, but they stick together in a chewy way…hope that makes sense!
I made these tonight with all intentions of them being for my husband, but I just might need to have one. I did not add the goji berries. With my ingredients they came to 144 calories each. From the taste I had from licking my fingers after taking them out of the pan….oh my gosh! Thanks for the great recipe!
After I recalculated they came to 203. ;o)
Hi Tami! Thanks for the information! I’m so glad you liked the recipe.