Thursday, June 22, 2017

Puffed quinoa granola bars with dark chocolate ganache and coconut flakes

A few weeks ago I shared with you my latest granola obsession, made with puffed quinoa and rice, dried fruits, nuts, peanut butter and grape molasses. Well guess what? I turned that granola into bars and they’re fantastic. We can’t stop munching on them.




It’s that same addictive flavor of the granola but in bar form, topped with a rich dark chocolate ganache flavored with coffee liqueur and topped with dried coconut flakes. To me, the flavor combination is heavenly.




Essentially, you take the recipe for the granola, which makes two trays, so you can have a big batch of granola to eat for breakfast, about two large jars, and you turn the second tray into twenty big chocolate ganache bars to have either for breakfast or a special treat.




As bars, they are a bit crumbly at the bottom but heck, I don’t mind and wouldn’t change a thing in the recipe because they taste fantastic. The granola is made with puffed rice and quinoa, walnuts and almonds, dried figs, apricots and raisins, with the sweetening agents being petimezi (grape molasses) and soft dark brown sugar. There’s some butter in there and also peanut butter to hold everything together and some ginger and cinnamon for a heady, aromatic kick.




You bake it in the oven until it takes on some color and one tray is reserved for the regular granola which you can break up in chunks or smaller pieces if you prefer, whereas the second tray is for the bars. Or you can just make two batches of bars, the choice is yours. You don’t break that up because you need the whole tray to be in one piece, so once it has cooled, you cover it with a rich dark chocolate ganache which I chose to flavor with Khalua. You could substitute with Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur) or Amaretto (almond liqueur) depending on your taste, or just add some vanilla extract if you don’t want to add any alcohol. Oh, and the dried flaked coconut on top is key.




They are light even though they contain a lot of ingredients, they’re not too sweet and they’re nutty, with crunchy and soft textures, little sticky from the dried fruits and gooey from the rich, smooth chocolate ganache. The combination of flavors is quite special and the topping of the coffee-flavored chocolate ganache and dried coconut flakes is like the cherry on top.




Hope you enjoy them! Tag me on insta if you make them so I can see them.









Puffed quinoa granola bars with dark chocolate ganache and coconut flakes

The recipe makes two trays of granola. You can either keep one tray for regular granola and turn the other one into bars, or do two trays of bars. The recipe for the chocolate ganache is for one tray of granola. If you want to make two trays, double the ganache recipe.




Yield: 20 bars

Ingredients

Ingredients and recipe for the granola recipe here


Ingredients for the ganache
360 g dark chocolate (at least 55% cocoa solids)
70 g cream, full-fat
Pinch of salt
1 Tbsp coffee liqueur (I used Kahlua), or you could use Amaretto or Frangelico or 1 tsp vanilla extract

A big handful of dried coconut flakes for the top


Preparation

Make the granola
Make the granola following the instructions in this post, BUT after you bake it, don’t break it up into pieces. As you will read below in the instructions of the bars assembly, you must let it cool completely in the pan and then pour the ganache on top. As mentioned above, the recipe makes two trays of granola. You can either keep one tray for regular granola and the other one make it into bars, or do two trays of bars.

Make the ganache
While the granola is cooling, make the ganache. The recipe for the chocolate ganache is for one tray of granola. If you want to make two trays, double the ganache recipe.
Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water (bain-marie) and melt, stirring often. The bottom of the bowl must not come in contact with the simmering water otherwise the chocolate may burn. Once the chocolate is smooth and melted, remove bowl from the top of the pan.
Heat the cream until warm (be careful not to boil it) and add it to the hot melted chocolate together with the salt and the Kahlua. Mix well with a spatula until you have a smooth and glossy ganache. Don’t use a whisk to mix because you’ll create air bubbles which will make the ganache less smooth and glossy.


Assemble
Once the granola has completely cooled, pour the hot ganache on top and spread it evenly with a spatula to cover the granola completely. Break up the dried coconut flakes in your hands and scatter them on top. Set aside and let the ganache set. Then place in the fridge, covered with plastic wrap. Once it has hardened, pick up the whole piece from the overhanging baking paper and place it on a cutting board. Using a long, sharp knife, cut into 20 bars.

Keep the bars either in the same tray covered with cling film, or transfer to airtight containers and keep in the fridge for a week.




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