I have a great granola bite recipe but they crumble easily. what can I use as a binder?

I found a great recipe for granola bites that uses mainly oat flour, coconut oil, and honey with various seeds and dried fruit added in. they are delicious, but crumble and fall apart when you eat them. What can be used as a binder keep them from falling apart? I found this recipe and a vegan website, so if there is a way to bind these granola bites and still keep this recipe vegan that would be preferable.

Kylie Goo
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6 Comments

Posie (. October 16, 2014
Try a chia seed + water mixture maybe? Often vegan recipes use that to replace an egg and that should help bind.
 
Liza's K. October 16, 2014
I make this recipe almost weekly and they always stick together. I mix up the ingredients a bit (I don't use crisped rice and I add a ton of dried fruit) but the binder works perfectly. As someone mentioned earlier, if the recipe has honey in it, it isn't technically vegan, but if that doesn't bother you that's perfectly fine.
 
Liza's K. October 16, 2014
Ha, forgot to add the link - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/granola-bars-recipe.html
 
HalfPint October 15, 2014
I don't think this recipe is vegan if it has honey in it. I think maybe using a brown rice syrup could help with the binding. If you aren't too strict about it being vegan, eggs whites might also help with the binding. I also think that you can replace the sweetener (honey) with some pureed dates (?).
 
drbabs October 15, 2014
I think I'd use a nut butter in place of the coconut oil. (The oil is probably what makes them crumble.). If you want the coconut flavor, add in unsweetened coconut chips. (I like them toasted.)
 
boulangere October 15, 2014
I use peanut butter, but any other of the nut butters, such as almond, would work just as well.
 
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