Super Easy to Make Kinako Granola Bars  – The Japanese Protein Bar

Vegan, Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free Granola Bar Recipe

Kinako is a roasted soybean flour that has a sweet taste and powdery texture. It is a common ingredient and topping used in Japanese desserts. In fact, Japanese people used Kinako before sugar arrived in Japan in the 16th century. Kinako is commonly used in ice cream, candy and mochi rice cakes.

Kinako is not sweet like refined sugar. As a result, this Kinako granola bar has a pleasantly mild sweetness and nutty flavor.

Kinako is like a protein powder without crazy ingredients! It is also well known to have weight loss benefits. It includes soy saponin for blocking fat, soy isoflavone for your skin, soy peptide for your metabolism and contains many vitamins and minerals!
This recipe is a delicious addition to a healthy, happy day!

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes

Makes a 8×8 tray of granola bars

Ingredients

• 2 cups of nuts, seeds, grains, dried fruit of choice. The following are the ones we chose for this particular recipe:
  -Sliced almonds
  -Puffed Quinoa
  -Hemp hearts
  -Sunflower Seeds
  -Dried cherries (chopped)
  -Chia seeds
  -Whole grain rolled oats
  -Pumpkin seeds
  -Sesame seeds
  -Flax seeds
  -Pistachios (chopped)
• 4 tbsp Kinako (roasted whole soy flour)
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
• 1/4 c Avocado oil
• 1/3 c Brown rice syrup

*optional-extra Kinako and Matcha (green tea powder) for decoration

Directions

1. Mix all wet ingredients. Set aside.
2. Mix all dry ingredients.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry mix well.
4. Line a 8×8 inch pan with parchment paper.
5. Scrape mixed ingredients into the pan and press flat gently
6. Bake for 20 minutes at 375 F
7. Cool Completely and cut into preferred size
8. Sift Kinako and Matcha on top (optional)

*If you’d like it to be a little sweeter, you can drizzle some melted Matcha chocolate (green tea white chocolate)
*They freeze great and make a fantastic grab and go snack/breakfast!
*You can also break them into smaller clusters to make it granola cereal!

Don’t miss out on our other desserts!