Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Homemade Granola Bars in 15 Minutes


Raise your hand if you have a box of granola bars in your pantry right now!!!  For me, granola bars were a staple growing up.  My mom always had some on hand for a quick snack or as a meal replacement because I was an extremely picky eater.  In college, granola bars were in my dorm room.  When I became a wife, they were always on my grocery list!  Then I turned that box of "healthy" granola bars over and <shock> there was a list of at least twenty ingredients...definitely a few "unhealthy" sounding ingredients.

At this point, I knew that I wanted to make my own homemade, healthy granola bars.  So I googled and went on Pinterest.... And I did find lots and lots of recipes for homemade granola bars.  But those recipes all called for a lot of ingredients too!  They also had a long list of directions.  They also, almost always, called for peanut butter, peanuts, or tree nuts!  We avoid peanut butter like the plague in our house!  We also use very limited amounts of tree nuts in our cooking because it is so hard to find nuts that are not cross contaminated with peanuts!

So I had to make my own recipe for granola bars!

6 ingredients!!  That is all you need to make my healthy, peanut free, school friendly granola bars!  Out of those six ingredients, you really only need 4, the other two are optional (or can be switched out to include an ingredient of your choosing)!  Did I mention that these granola bars do not require you to turn on the oven!

What You Need to Make the Granola Bars:

  • 1/2 cup to 1 cup honey (it really depends on how sweet you want these to be...I use closer to 1/2 cup)
  • 1 cup sunflower seed butter (use any type of nut or seed butter that works for your family)
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil (you can use veggie or canola oil if you prefer)
  • 3 cups rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup raisons (optional) 
  • a handful of mini chocolate chips (optional) 
Now Let's Make the Granola Bars
  1. Grease a 8x8 or 9x9 pan and set aside (you can also line with foil or parchment paper)
  2. Stir honey and sunflower seed butter in a sauce pan set over low heat on the stove
  3. Once combined and slightly "liquified" add in coconut oil and stir
  4. Remove from heat and add in raisons (if using) and rolled oats
  5. Press mixture into prepared pan, spreading evenly
  6. Sprinkle mini chocolate chips (if using) over top and press down (they will melt slightly and "stick")
  7. Set pan aside for several hours, or overnight, to set up
  8. Cut into "bars" and wrap individually to store

Now when I was describing these bars, I did share that you could make them with only the honey, sunflower seed butter, coconut oil, and rolled oats.  I did that the first time I made them, and they were very plain but still delicious.  Lacie ate them up!  However, I thought they needed more which is why I added the raisons and the mini chocolate chips.  Please feel free to switch the raisons for a different ingredient, like dried cranberries!  Play with flavor combinations and figure out what you and your family like best!  

Don't forget to share what you put in your granola bars! 

2 comments:

  1. These look really good! Not to time consuming which is great! Will have to try these.
    Stopping by from the Bloggy Moms October blog hop. Following you on G+, Twitter, and Facebook. Looking forward to reading more of your posts.
    Have a great weekend :)
    Bismah @
    http://simplemamaathome.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not time consuming at all which is why I make them! I hope you enjoy making and eating them! I look forward to checking out your blog!

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