Oh goodness these granola bars are so good. I hope you decide to try them out because they taste almost like a yummy oatmeal chocolate chip cookie to me and the first time I made these I just couldn’t stop sneaking bites. The kids begged to have these in their lunchboxes which is a huge win because they are much healthier then the regular bars you pick up at the store. And I thought these tasted so much better!
These are not loaded with a bunch of junk so you can even use them for quick on the go breakfast options for the little ones.
These only take a few minutes to make and you can customize them with any flavors you like- chocolate chips, raisins, dried fruit, nuts., coconut… anything will work.
Here is the recipe and if you do decide to try these please come back and let me know what you think! I’d love to hear the flavor combinations you choose as well.
- 2 cups rolled oats
- ⅓ cup brown sugar (optional for a sweeter bar)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ½ cup of dried fruit, nuts, coconut, chocolate chips etc...
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 egg lightly whisked
- ½ cup coconut oil
- Place parchment paper or foil in a 9 x 13 casserole dish (or just butter it generously) and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Add flour, brown sugar, oats, cinnamon, salt to a large bowl and mix well.
- Next add honey, egg, coconut oil, vanilla and stir well.
- Finally add in your toppings of choice- chocolate chips, raisins etc...
- Stir well to incorporate throughout the mixture.
- Press the mixture evenly in the casserole dish. You want to press it down just a bit to get a nice even bar that will stick together nicely.
- Bake for about 18-20 minutes until golden brown on the edges.
- Careful not to overbake!
- Pull up the parchment paper or foil once you remove the dish from the oven so they stop baking and let cool on the counter.
- Slice into bars and enjoy!
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You should get roughly 10 servings from this recipe and you can store your bars in an airtight container for a few weeks. They should stay soft.
If you are watching sugar I find these bars plenty sweet without the brown sugar (especially since I usually use chocolate chips) so you can play with the amount of sugar you add in. Oh and if you do go the chocolate chip route– we love Ghiradelli milk chocolate chips. I always find buying a higher quality chocolate chip makes a world of difference in baking.
One last note- I find these hold together fairly well with just a little crumbling apart. If you want a more solid and crunchy bar, you might increase the amount of honey to 1/2 cup. If you do add more honey you might consider cutting the bars before they are completely cooled.
And if you like these bars, you might also check out the following recipes:
Overnight Apple Cinnamon Oats– so fast and simple and really delicious!
Banana and Chocolate Chip Monkey Cookies
Rainbow Fruit cups. Fun for parties or sports teams!
These look amazing! Any idea how many calories are in one?
Susan- I don’t count calories myself- I just try to eat real food and not processed foods. This is all real food :).
You can add up the ingredients here to see for yourself:
http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php
Roughly 280 calories without extra brown sugar and with 1/2 cup chocolate chips and 10 servings.
I normally don’t count calories either, but I’m in a health challenge competition right now so I have to be extra strict! Thanks for the info!! (-: