Savory Pumpkin Curry Granola Bars

I've been trying to cut back on sweets a bit and have been wanting to have more savory breakfasts and snacks instead of sweet ones. I came up with a few ideas for savory granola bar flavors and this is my first attempt at making them.

This was truly an experiment. I wasn't sure what to use for the liquid component of the bars, since I normally use honey, brown rice syrup or some other liquid sweetener when I make granola bars. I decided to go with a small amount of brown rice syrup along with some pumpkin and an egg. These turned out more cakey and less chewy than I expected, but still pretty tasty and definitely worthy of further experiments!

Dry ingredients

Wet ingredients

I love the yellow color from the curry powder!

Cakey, chewy, seedy

Savory Pumpkin Curry Granola Bars

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups oats
• 1 cup cashews
• 1 cup almonds
• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds
• 1/4 cup hemp seeds
• 1/4 cup chia seeds
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/3 cup brown rice syrup
• 2/3 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup tahini paste
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1-2 teaspoons curry powder (I used 1 tsp, which resulted in a very subtle curry flavor. Go with 2 tsp if you want a stronger flavor or if you just love curry!)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a 9"x13" pan with parchment paper.
2. Roughly chop the cashews and almonds. Mix all of the dry ingredients (oats through chia seeds) in a large bowl.
3. In a small saucepan (or in the microwave), heat the olive oil and brown rice syrup over medium heat for a few minutes until the mixture is very runny. Remove from the heat and stir in the pumpkin puree, tahini, salt and curry powder.
4. Lightly whisk the egg in a small bowl. Add a spoonful of the pumpkin mixture to the egg and stir (to gently heat up the egg without "cooking" it), then add the egg to the rest of the pumpkin mixture and mix well.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and spread evenly with a spatula. Bake for about 25 minutes until the edges are golden brown.
6. Let cool completely before cutting into bars.

Nutrition facts:
I cut these into 24 snack-sized bars, about 2" squares. One of these bars contains less than 4g sugar, more than 4g fiber, and nearly 8g protein! I know that both pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds (and tahini) are high in calcium, too, so I want to look up exactly how much calcium these provide (I'm usually low on calcium so I'm always trying to add more). They are a bit high in fat, but it's all super healthy fats, lots of omega-3s, and after all, higher fat means a more satisfying snack.

Question: Have you ever eaten or made a savory snack bar? What flavors would you like to see?