Aside from my wonderful husband, Mr Kipling might be my ideal man. Yes, I like to bake cakes at home, but I find it hard to walk past the cake aisle at the supermarket without drooling over the Viennese whirls, mini battenburgs and of course the bakewell tarts. I saw those family-sized bakewell tarts on offer at the shop a couple of weeks ago and despite only being in there to pick up a bottle of water, I came out with TWO of those icing-covered, jammy pastries-from-heaven. Eaten before the day was out, they were definitely a contributing factor to me joining Slimming World! I’m not even sure if Mr Kipling exists. Probably not. He’s probably just some high-tech computer sat in the corner of a cake-filled test kitchen, analysing probability statistics for flavours that are likely to induce catastrophic will-power failure in people like me. Oh dear, my beautiful cake daydreams went downhill pretty quickly there. Anyhoooo… My son Lewis asked me to make some granola bars for him to take to school. I’d usually go for my blueberry-Greek-yogurt version, but I was dreaming of bakewell tarts at the time, and that led me to this creation.
I’m not going to lie here – this is no slimming-world-friendly recipe. I made these No Bake Berry Bakewell Granola Bars for the kids (and only had a small nibble off a couple of corners). They do contain honey and sugar for sweetness, but they also contain lots of goodness like oats, berries, almonds and coconut oil. My kids loved them. They don’t need any baking – which means you can throw them together in a matter of minutes – followed by a short stint in the fridge. To guarantee that they won’t fall apart though, you have to really squash the mixture down in the tin. I like to place another tin on top of the one with the granola bars in and stand on it. My little UK size 5’s just about fit in the baking tin diagonally. I also like to do a little bit of tip-toe pirouetting whilst I’m at it. So yes, I look ridiculous whilst making granola bars, and I do put my feet in cake tins (but I wash them afterwards 😀 ).
If you like this oaty recipe, you should check out my friend Jane’s best flapjacks. Jane is a fellow Neff cookaholic winner, she’s totally awesome, and her flapjacks are made with a layer of dates - which I LOVE the idea of! Gotta try this one (or maybe I’ll just ask her to make me some…..).
The No Bake Berry Bakewell Granola Bars Recipe:
