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Homemade Chewy Granola Bars

September 29, 2019 by Laura Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Our Homemade Chewy Granola Bars recipe has been one of our most popular ever since I originally posted way back in 2010! So I decided it was time to bring it back, update it, and put it back on your radar as we all enjoy a new school year.

The beauty of this recipe – besides the fact that it uses only real food ingredients and NO corn syrup – is that you can add any of your family’s favorite ingredients. Leave out anything your family doesn’t like, add what they love! I love versatile recipes like this!

Homemade Chewy Granola BarsYum

Homemade Chewy Granola Bars
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • ½ cup peanut butter, almond butter, or sunbutter
  • ⅓ cup honey
  • ¼ cup coconut oil (or another oil of your choice)
  • 1 cup oats
  • 1 cup total of any combination of: sesame seeds, coconut flakes, sunflower seeds, dried fruit, mini chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. In a medium sized saucepan, melt together peanut butter, honey and coconut oil.
  2. Remove from heat and add one cup of oats.
  3. Choose your favorite combination of coconut flakes, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, dried fruit and mini chocolate chips, to equal a total of ONE CUP. (I just got out my one cup measuring cup and poured in the ingredients until the cup was full.)
  4. Pour in and stir well.
  5. Spread mixture into a 8x8 or 9x4 pan.
  6. Chill for two hours, then cut into bars.
3.5.3229

 

We often bag these individually to take on the go. I usually make them with whatever we have on hand, but I always have chocolate chips on hand, so it is a given that I always add them to these granola bars. Is there really any other way? (Well sure. Another way is to skip the chocolate chips and instead add chocolate chunks. I am nothing if not flexible.)

What are your favorite Granola Bar add-ins?

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Homemade Crunchy Granola Bars

July 30, 2019 by Laura 7 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I’m sure you’re wondering: Why did Laura decide to make Homemade Crunchy Granola Bars?

Oh, you weren’t wondering? You’re just so used to me sharing recipes that you never question what inspired the recipe? And really, you probably don’t even care too much as you really just want to take a peek at the recipe to see if it looks easy and good enough to try.

It get you. I’m a “scroll to the bottom of the post and just read the recipe” kind of a gal too. But still, I wanted to tell you the question I asked myself before I looked up ideas for how to create Homemade Crunchy Granola Bars. The question was this:

What is a better use of my time – going to the store or making these at home?

It wasn’t really about money, even though making these homemade is going to save a buck or two. It wasn’t about the ingredients, even though making these homemade is going to ensure we only eat the best of the best. What was it about then?

See, now that we have little ones in the house again (currently a 5-year-old and an 8-month-old), along with our teens and college guys home for the summer, I am questioning my best use of my time for EVERYTHING. Not one minute can be wasted, you know?

We’ve been on a bit of a Nature Valley Granola Bar kick, because God is bigger than store-bought granola bars when you have a lot of people to love on. But then we ran out of the bars, and quite a few other staple snacks too. I mean, I did add them to the grocery list, but on that particular day and week, I was trying to avoid going to the store for as many days as possible.

We had fresh produce from our garden and milk from the farm. So all other meals and snacks could be made from what we had so that I wouldn’t have to mess with lugging babies to the store. Can anyone else relate to this?

So while Boy Babe was napping, Bonus Boy and I mixed these up after looking up a few ideas online. He had fun, I had fun, and you can bet that this recipe is super simple because if I’m too lazy to go to the store, I’m certainly not willing to make a difficult recipe, right?

We are very pleased with how these turned out! They include only simple, real food ingredients. They are great for breakfast or for a snack. And they pack well in the diaper bag to, you know, take to the store with us should we ever decide to go again. :)

Homemade Crunchy Granola BarsYum

5.0 from 1 reviews
Homemade Crunchy Granola Bars
 
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Author: Laura
Serves: 15
Ingredients
  • 3¼ cups rolled oats
  • ⅔ cups flour (I use freshly ground soft white wheat)
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar or sucanat
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ⅔ cup honey
  • ⅓ cup melted coconut oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, mix oats, flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt.
  2. Add honey, coconut oil, and vanilla, stirring until well combined.
  3. Press mixture down into a parchment paper-lined 9x13 pan.
  4. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
  5. Remove pan from oven, and press the bars down with another piece of parchment paper so that they stay nice and tight while cooling.
  6. After 15 minutes, remove the bars from the pan to cool for a few more minutes.
  7. Cut them into 12 bars or break into snack-sized bites.
  8. Allow approximately 2 hours for the bars to become crunchy.
3.5.3229

In your current season of life, what is your preference? Buy most food store-bought or make do with what you have at home so you don’t have to mess with a grocery store run?

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Low Sugar Almond Fudge Bars

May 31, 2015 by Laura 15 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Low Sugar Almond Fudge Bars

almond butter fudge bars 1

I hadn’t spoken to my friend Emily in weeks. This is not because we aren’t getting along (because, grown adults, hello?). This is because I was in the thick of finishing a tough semester with my kids and preparing for graduation for our oldest, not to mention we had to finish our bathroom remodel before all the grad company came (and try to squeeze in this thing called blogging). Emily, as well as many of my dear friends, recognized that if I happened to have any spare time on my hands I should use it to take a shower or scrub the crusted bits of leafy greens off the bottom of my crisper drawer – not answer emails, talk on the phone, or answer questions in the church foyer.

But here and there, I would get a meaningful email or card from Emily. She would start it by saying something like “don’t answer this right now” or “I’m praying for you” because she knew. She knew. (Oh, look at me, tearing up just a little.)

Well one such email – actually – I think it was a quick holler across the church foyer conversation went something like this:

Emily: You know your Coconut Fudge Bars? I really like them but it would also be fun to figure out how to make them a little less peanutty. I wonder if almond butter would work?

Laura: {blank stare}

Emily: Carry on. Maybe I’ll play with it and get back to you.

It’s actually amazing that I remember that conversation at all. God bless all my friends who put up with me during this school year. I am not even kidding. (And all of them nodded in unison as if to say, “Really. She is not even kidding.”)

Not many days after that conversation, I got this email from Emily with the subject line, “Stop the presses!” Here’s what she said,

Okay, you really don’t have to stop anything but I was really excited about this. I felt like it was my DUTY to test out the coconut fudge bar recipe using almond butter instead of peanut butter. Technically I’ve only licked the spoon so far but oh my goodness, it is so good! It really does taste a little like a crunchy almond joy, but more grown up since it’s not too overly sweet. Can’t wait to have one after lunch!

How great is it that she did my recipe experimenting for me? Our family tried the almond butter fudge bar idea on a morning I hadn’t made anything for breakfast and we needed to eat quickly. I mixed these up and found that Emily was very right. These are awesome!

Almond Fudge BarsYum

Low Sugar Almond Fudge Bars
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Ingredients
  • ½ cup almond butter
  • ¼ cup honey
  • ¼ cup coconut oil (or another oil of your choice)
  • ½ cup cocoa powder
  • 1½ cup rolled oats
  • 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
Instructions
  1. In a medium sized saucepan, melt together almond butter, honey, coconut oil, and cocoa.
  2. Remove from heat and stir in oats and coconut flakes.
  3. Spread mixture into a 9×9 inch pan.
  4. Chill for 2 hours before serving.
  5. Makes 8-16 bars, depending on how big/small you cut them.
3.4.3177

Honey Sweetened Almond Fudge Bars

Hooray for great friends, hooray for a snack/breakfast/treat that can be made in about five minutes, and hooray…just hooray.

How excited are you over this almond butter version of Coconut Fudge Bars? Leave a comment to tell Emily “thank you,” because I can take no credit for this (except for the fact that she’s my friend, which is, of course really because of God, so be sure to tell Him “thank you” as well.)

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