Sweet Potato Pie Granola Bars

Hello. My name is Amy, and I have a homemade granola bar obsession.

I dreamed up these little morsels while trying to figure out what to do with the leftover half of a baked sweet potato that I could no longer convince the Little Dude to eat.  I hate to throw away food.  And boy am I glad I didn’t throw out the sweet potato today, these puppies are tasty!

Start out by measuring out a cup of oats.

…my kid is easily amazed.

Next, add in whole wheat flour.

Then, a little wheat germ.

Do we need to think up a little bit more appetizing sounding name for this stuff? Yes.

Do you still need to eat it anyway in the meantime? Yes. Because it is good for you

….I can sense that you are impressed by how quickly I can turn on the Mom-mode.

Next up: Milled flax seed!

Uh-oh…you are getting scared now aren’t you? You don’t want to make these because I am putting too many healthy things in it, and you are afraid it might taste bad. I promise these are yummy…just stay with me. It is about to get real good…

…here we go. Here comes the stuff that makes it taste like pie.  Brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, ground ginger, allspice, and some freshly grated nutmeg. You feeling a little better now? Goood.

At this point, I said a little prayer and handed the bowl and a spoon over to the Little Dude and let her go to town stirring it up while I worked on the wet ingredients.

I am proud to tell you that she spilled very little. 🙂 …quite the little sous chef.

In a separate bowl (and I urge you to be classy like me and use the tupperware that you were storing it in), start mashing up that sweet potato. If it is coming out of the fridge like mine did, you may want to nuke it for a few seconds to soften it or add a little bit of water so you will have an easier time of it. Once you have it pretty soft, crack in the egg and add in the vanilla. Then stir them up until it is smooth and no longer lumpy.

How gorgeous is this?!?! You know you are getting excited about these granola bars now.

Now pour this into a mixer with honey and apple sauce and blend until well combined.

Then, get your dry ingredients from the Little Dude and note the tell-tale bits of dry ingredients all around her mouth. Then ask her if she ate any of it while she was stirring.

Does this face look innocent to you?

Yeah, me neither.

So anyway, next pour your batter into a well greased 8×8 pan and pop it into the oven for about 30 minutes.

Amazing. Delicious. Nutritious. Homemade. Sweet Potato Pie. Granola Bars. Yes!

Sweet Potato Pie Granola Bars

1 cup oats

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup wheat germ

2 tablespoons milled flax seed

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon allspice

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 baked sweet potato

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup apple sauce

1/4 cup honey

Mix dry ingredients together.

In a separate bowl, mash sweet potato. Then stir in egg, and vanilla. Mix well until smooth and lump free.

Add honey and apple sauce to the sweet potato mixture and stir until well combined.

Stir in dry ingredients until well moistened.

Pour into a well greased 8×8 pan, and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Cut into bars immediately out of the oven.