introduction:
Not to toot my own horn but these homemade granola bars nail that chewy texture that we all know and love in a classic granola bar. I guess fourth time was the charm during my recipe testing last week. Granola bars are the perfect portable snack and these chocolate chip granola bars
that are dotted with lots of little mini chocolate chips are the perfect balance between sweet and salty. All you've gotta do is whip these up on a Sunday and you or your kiddos will have a healthy snack to enjoy throughout the week. So let me show you how to make 'em.
Ingredients:
| Ingredient | Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Rolled oats | 2 cups | Use certified gluten-free oats |
| Almonds | 1 cup | Chopped or sliced |
| Dried fruit | 1 cup | Such as cranberries, raisins, or apricots (ensure they're gluten-free) |
| Honey or maple syrup | 1/2 cup | |
| Nut butter (almond, peanut, or sunflower) | 1/2 cup | Ensure it's gluten-free |
| Coconut oil | 1/4 cup | |
| Vanilla extract | 1 tsp | |
| Chia seeds | 2 tbsp | |
| Flaxseeds (optional) | 2 tbsp | Ground or whole |
| Sea salt | 1/4 tsp | |
| Dark chocolate chips (optional) | 1/2 cup | Ensure they're gluten-free |
How to make Granola Bars
Preheat oven and line a pan with parchment paper.
To get started, pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and then line an eight inch square pan with parchment paper. There's a few ways you can line your pan. I know everyone seems to have their favorite method but here's two ways that I frequently use. For the first method, I'll trace the pan on a piece of parchment paper. And by the way, precut parchment paper sheets are such a convenient item in the kitchen. I'll link the ones I use below. Then I'll use scissors to cut out the corners of the parchment paper that hit the corner edges of the pan line.
It's super easy and then all you have to do is place it in the pan and you've got perfect little handles that come out the side. But for an even easier method you can take one parchment paper sheet and fold one edge over then just line up the pan next to it and eyeball about the width of the pan and fold over the other edge. When you place it in the pan just make sure the folded edges are on the underside. And I should have also mentioned on the previous method to make sure any pen or pencil markings are on the underside as well. And that's it, an easy peasy way to line your pan.
Mix the dry ingredients together.
To make the granola bars add two cups of quick cooking oats and not rolled oats to a large bowl. Along with one cup of puffed rice. Puffed rice is a single ingredient and puffier than rice crisps, which often have added sugar and other ingredients added to them. Now both will work in this recipe but I just wanted to let you know that there is a difference between puffed rice and rice crisps and the latter of which would be something like Rice Krispies cereal.
1. So as always do make sure to read labels. Next step is a half a cup of chopped nuts and you can use your favorite nuts. Today I'm using a combination of pecans and almonds and to get about a half a cup of chopped nuts I'll use about three quarters cup or so of whole nuts. You can chop these by hand with a knife or use a mini food processor. And I'm opting for the food processor today as I somehow managed to injure my pointer finger being the klutz that I am which makes chopping a bit more difficult.
2. You can chop the nuts as fine or as rough as you'd like. I usually like a mix of textures. So it looks about so, and then add those nuts to the bowl. Add half a cup of mini chocolate chips and mini chocolate chips just means more little pieces of chocolate scattered throughout. Plus a quarter cup of flax seeds, or you could sub in chia seeds and a quarter teaspoon of kosher salt. Those are all of the dry ingredients. So give that a stir and then set it aside.
Mix the wet ingredients together.
In a separate medium bowl add one third cup of drippy and creamy almond butter. You can use any nut or seed butter in this recipe so feel free to switch it up with something like peanut butter, cashew butter, or even sunflower seed butter. Then add half a cup of honey, a quarter cup of coconut oil, and two teaspoons of vanilla extract. Stir all of the wet ingredients until they're fully combined and you've got a thin drippy texture.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients, then scoop into pan and press firmly.
Now you'll combine the two by pouring the wet ingredients on top of the dry ingredients and stirring everything together one last time. The more you stir, the more all of the dry ingredients will get coated in that sticky, sweet, honey, nut butter glue, and that's what you want. And once you feel like the oats and puffed rice are fully coated, go ahead and pour the mixture into your parchment paper-lined pan. Use the back of a spoon to flatten the granola bar mixture into the pan. And if you'd like, you can sprinkle a few more chocolate chips on top for good measure.
I mean, who's gonna say no to that? But a super important tip to make sure your bars do stick together properly is that they need to be really, really compacted down in the pan. So take a small piece of parchment paper and then use your fingers and hands to really press the mixture tightly into the pan. You can do this without parchment paper if you'd like to coat your hands in a little oil. I just prefer the parchment paper so that my fingers don't get all sticky. Place the pan in the oven and bake the granola for about 20 to 25 minutes for chewier bars and 25 to 30 minutes for crunchier bars.
Bake the granola bars until lightly golden on edges.
You'll know they're done when the edges have barely started to turn a light golden color. Once they're done, remove them from the oven and let them cool a bit to room temperature then place them in the fridge for an hour to firm up. Letting them chill completely is also important to ensuring the bars stay together so don't skip that step. Then once they've properly chilled, you can simply pull up on your parchment paper handles to remove them from the pan and place them on a cutting board.
Slice the granola square into 12 individual bars.
The last thing you have to do is simply slice the big granola square into 12 bars. I usually start by slicing the square in half then each half into thirds. And lastly, one perpendicular slice across the middle for 12 evenly-sized granola bars. You'll feel good eating these healthy, homemade granola bars knowing there's no processed sugar, artificial flavorings, caramel colorings
or other completely unnecessary ingredients like what you'll find in store bought packaged versions. And to be honest, you guys, an ingredient list like this, which is from a very popular packaged granola bar is just insane. Nope. All you need are these Sargodharecipes granola bars filled with simple wholesome ingredients. I hope you enjoyed today's post. And if you did give it a thumbs up,
