Granola Bars

I’ve always been a fan of granola bars, but tend to find a lot of the packaged ones a bit too sweet in my old age! So, when I started doing more baking for school snacks for Leighton (and for all of us to enjoy at home, too!), I began experimenting with different recipes. Pinterest has a never-ending supply of variations to try, so even though there are some recipes we really like, I am often trying out news ones!

Below is a collection of many I have made in the last few years. If you have any favorites that you make, I’d love you to share the recipe with me so I can try it out!

Apple Breakfast Bars

This was the first recipe for a homemade granola-style bar I ever tried out. And it was the only one I made for a couple of years, I think! I haven’t made it in ages because I had lost the recipe when my computer died last year, but after some obsessive searching I found it in an old email from 2009 that I had sent to a friend! I will be making these very soon, for sure, especially since we’ve recently been reminiscing about apple picking season and the beautiful changing leaves in the fall in NYC.

The first time I made the recipe, I followed it exactly as I found it:

1 1/2 cups quick rolled oats
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup orange juice
1 1/2 cups raw apples, shredded

Combine all ingredients. Let stand 10 minutes. Press mixture into 8″ x 8″ baking dish. Bake at 375 until lightly browned, about 25 minutes. Loosen with spatula, and cut into bars while warm. Serve hot for breakfast or snack. **FREEZES WELL**

They were ok, but something was definitely lacking and/or not working for me. Right away I knew the orange juice had to be switched to apple, and there needed to be a little bit of added sweetness. And possibly more salt. So I experimented and came up with this version, which became my go-to:

1 1/2 cups quick rolled oats
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 – 1 teaspoon salt (depending on the day and how closely I was paying attention to the recipe!)
1 tsp cinnamon (sometimes more, sometimes less, rarely ever measured!)
1/4 cup APPLE juice
1 1/2 cups raw apples, shredded
1/3 cup golden raisins (approximately, I don’t think I’ve ever measured it)
2-4 Tbsp ground flax seed
maple syrup, for brushing over the top with a pastry brush

Combine all ingredients. Let stand 10 minutes (you are wanting the juice to soak into the oats a bit). Press mixture into 8″ x 8″ baking dish (I use a silicone one or I line my metal ones with parchment paper). Bake at 375 until lightly browned, about 25 minutes. Eat hot or at room temperature or straigh out of the fridge. Wait until they cool to cut for ‘cleaner’ cuts, but feel free to cut them when they are fresh out of the oven if you’d like. These freeze well if you don’t eat them all before they make it to the freezer!

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Pumpkin, Coconut, and Cranberry Granola Bars

Recipe >> Homemade, Nut-free Granola Bars @ Mealtime Mayhem

A friend shared this recipe with me, and we were all very glad she did! I had a few changes to the original recipe, but I can pretty much guarantee that the original and/or any little changes you make will yield a tasty result! The first time I made them I realized I was a little too overzealous in my clearance shopping at Target and grabbed pumpkin pie filling (ick!) instead of pure pumpkin, so I had to work around that little issue. I also only had sweetened coconut. So, I skipped the honey and used a little extra of the pumpkin for moisture. I omitted the vanilla and cinnamon as well. And I didn’t use the chocolate chips, either. The next time I made these, I followed the recipe more closely because I used pumpkin instead of pumpkin pie filling.

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Sweet Potato Breakfast Bars with Coconut and Cranberries

Recipe >> Sweet Potato Breakfast Bars with Vanilla Coconut Butter Icing (Vegan, Gluten-Free) @ Oatmeal with a Fork

I was hoping to like these more than I did. They weren’t bad, but not amazing. I think I could do some mixing and matching with another recipe to make them something I’d enjoy more. Roy and Leighton really liked them, but Riley wasn’t interested.

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Sweet Potato Breakfast Bars with Almonds and Apricots

Recipe >> Sweet Potato Breakfast Bars with Vanilla Coconut Butter Icing (Vegan, Gluten-Free) @ Oatmeal with a Fork

Like the version above with coconut and cranberries, these were ok. I didn’t make the icing, but it would probably taste good on them!

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Apple Peanut Butter Oat Bars

Recipe >> Apple Peanut Butter Snack Bars @ Happy Healthy Mama

I wasn’t crazy about the flavor of these ones – it was just a bit too mild for me.

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Soft Oat and Nut Bars with Pecans, Cranberries & Coconut

Recipe >> Soft Oat & Nut Bars @ Budget Bytes

I appreciated the difference in texture of this recipe. The flavor was really good, as well.

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Peanut Butter and Coconut Granola Bars

Recipe >> Peanut Free “Peanut Butter”, Banana, Chocolate Chip & Oat Bars @ Mealtime Mayhem

These ones were great tasting but I would prefer them a bit thinner so will bake them in a larger pan next time. I also didn’t need to worry about using a peanut butter substitute so used the natural peanut butter we always have in the house.

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Banana Coconut Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

Recipe >> Back to School Healthy Granola Bars @ Undressed Skeleton

These tasted really good, but I did make a few substitutions in the recipe to use ingredients that I had, including using regular milk instead of almond milk. Because this meant less sweetness being added with the milk, I increased the ‘sweetener of choice’ amount.

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Baked Banana Bread Oatmeal Bars

Recipe >> Banana Bread Oatmeal @ Budget Bytes

We really, really like these, and made them regularly for school snacks last year. The first time I made them, I accidentally forgot the milk. They baked up well, and I liked the texture to serve as a snack, so I usually only use a little milk in the recipe when I make it now. This blogger has a really amazing selection of other baked oatmeals that I always mean to try out, but I haven’t yet. I am aiming to try out a few more this fall.

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Frozen, No Bake Granola Bars

Recipe >> Frosty No-Bake Granola Bars @ Food Doodles

These need to be eaten straight out of the freezer, so they are an at-home snack and wouldn’t work for school snacks and lunches. I had the kids help me mix these up one afternoon, and we did one version pretty similar to the original recipe and used raisins as our dried fruit. The other version we left out the peanut butter and cocoa and used dried cranberries, white chocolate chips, and coconut chunks. I did find them too sweet. I think next time I will use less white chocolate chips in that one and I’d reduce or eliminate the maple syrup in both. The bananas are plenty sweet, especially with the chocolate chips and dried fruit added in. As soon as these were gone from the freezer, the kids asked to make more. I need to remember to put that on my to-do list.

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Fruit & Nut Granola Bars

Recipe >> Thick, Chewy Granola Bars @ Smitten Kitchen

These were recommended to me as a similar-to-store-bought granola bar, and with the corn syrup for texture and all the sweetness, I’d definitely say they are. If fact, they were so sweet that I made a note to cut the liquid sugars in half the next time I made them. For my ‘add ins’ I used dried cranberries, pecans, almonds, and white chocolate chips.

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Cranberry Chocolate Oatmeal Bars

Recipe >> Cranberry Chocolate Oatmeal Bars @ Mennonite Girls Can Cook

When making these, I cut the sugar in half and used cranberries, mini chocolate chips, some coconut, and some sunflower seeds. Unfortunately, I was rushing and didn’t pay attention and the sunflower seeds were a bit rancid, so once these baked up, they smelled and tasted horrible! A baking fail! I still need to try these again!

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Healthy Strawberry Oat Bars

Recipe >> Healthy Strawberry Oat Squares with Homemade Jam @ Oh She Glows

These were absolutely delicious. Not exactly a granola bar but not exactly a sweet treat either, so I figured I’d include the recipe here. I have made them for brunch snacks and play dates and they’ve been a big hit.

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Homemade Cereal Bars

Recipe #1 >> Fruit-filled Mini Cereal Bars @ Food & Whine
Recipe #2 >> Fruit-Filled Mini Cereal Bars, Revisted @ Food & Whine
Recipe #3 >> Homemade Fruit Bars @ Food & Whine

I ate far too many cereal bars in university and haven’t been able to eat another since! These homemade ones, however, are a different story!

I have made these a few times with different fruit fillings. I have never used dates, but have always used prunes instead. While consulting the different versions Megan at Food & Whine had posted (1, 2, and 3 above), I have done this and have been very happy with it:

Filling
3/4 cup prunes
1 1/2 cups strawberries
1/3 cup apple juice

Dough
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 Tbsp baking powder
2 Tbsp ground flax seed
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup cold butter
2/3 cup applesauce

350 degrees for 22 minutes (next time I will bump to 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes, I think – in addition to being indecisive, I am also impatient!)