These bars, which Bella Coola Mountain Lodge serves to visitors on their grizzly bear floats on the Atnarko River in Bella Coola, are chewy and delicious with a lilt of lavender. They’re also filling and keep well, so they make a great dessert or snack to take along on a hike or picnic.

When we joined Bella Coola Mountain Lodge on one of their half-day bear floats, we enjoyed these bite-sized bars with a cup of herbal tea. I know I wanted about a dozen more of them!

Mix together dry ingredients.

Recipe courtesy Bella Mountain Lodge 

Makes 32 bite-sized bars

3 cups whole oats
2 cups shredded coconut (Not wanting our bars to be too sweet, we used half sweetened and half unsweetened coconut and they came out great.)
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup sunflower seeds
½ cup dried fruit of your choice (we often use cranberries)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (Optional- This isn’t called for in Bella Coola’s recipe, but we love chocolate and chocolate and cranberries make a great combo.)

Melting the butter, honey, lavender, and brown sugar gives the lavender a chance to soften.

¾ cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
½ cup honey
1 Tbs. dried lavender
Zest and juice of 2 lemons

Method:
Combine oats, coconut, flour, and sunflower seeds and dried fruit in a bowl.

In a saucepan, melt brown sugar, butter, honey, and lavender, bringing to a boil and stirring.

In large bowl, mix melted wet ingredients with dry ingredients.

Spay a large tray with cooking spray. Press the mixture into it with your hands.

Bake at 350 degrees. F. for 10-15 minutes or until slightly golden. (In testing, our recipe took 25 minutes to set up and turn golden.)

Cool, cut, and serve.

Dough will be stiff and sticky, necessitating pressing it into the baking pan.