Mother Would Know

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Grown-Up Homemade Granola Bars

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These Grown-Up Homemade Granola Bars are great for an at-home treat. But they are also convenient snacks for travel and take-out.

I love baseball, but the food at ballparks not so much. French fries and an occasional hot dog or burger are fine, but when it comes to desserts, if you don’t like Dippin’ Dots, the pickings are pretty slim, at least at our local stadium.

The good news is that they let you bring in food. When we went to a Nats game on my husband’s birthday, I brought chocolate mega-muffins and had no trouble finding takers when I offered them to our companions. During Passover a few weeks ago, I brought fruit, baked vegetable chips, and chocolate, which complemented the sweet potato fries from one of the stands, just fine. As always, I offered goodies to my friends; they eagerly took the chips and candy, politely declining the grapes.

Today, I’m off to the ballpark with another homemade treat – grown-up granola bars. This time, I’ve mixed the fruit and chocolate, and I’m betting these will be snapped up. They are chock full of good stuff – chocolate, nuts, coconut and dried fruit, but not overly sweet – perfect whether you’re going to a ball game, watching a movie, or packing a snack for a break at work.

Although I have a wonderful granola recipe that I could have adapted, instead I went with a homemade bar recipe from Cooking with Erin. She (Erin) has school-aged 5 kids, so I felt confident that she knows how to make great snacks. Plus, she has a great sense of humor, so I was smiling all the way through the post. I don’t have to worry about making mine kid friendly, so I named them Grown-Up Granola Bars. 

Here’s Erin’s version. And here’s mine:

Grown-Up Granola Bars 

Servings – 24 (2 inches x 4 inches)   Cost – $6-7

Ingredients

  • 4 cups old fashioned oats (not quick oats)
  • ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
  • ½ cup chopped nuts (I used pecans, as Erin did)
  • 1 cup semi-sweet and/or bittersweet or darker chocolate chips or chunks
  • 1 cup dried raisins and/or cranberries
  • ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon (5 tablespoons total) coconut oil
  • ½ cup + 1 tablespoon honey
  • ¼ cup dark brown sugar
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt (a large pinch)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon

Equipment

  • Large bowl
  • Large fork or silicone spatula
  • Metal spatula or pancake turner
  • Rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment and oiled
  • Measuring cups
  • Measuring spoons
  • Small saucepan or microwaveable bowl
  • Large cutting board (as large as the baking sheet) or waxed paper
  • Wire rack
  • Large knife or cleaver
  • Ruler and toothpicks (optional)

Preparation

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line the baking sheet and either spray the parchment or spread about a teaspoon of canola or similar oil on the parchment with a paper towel.
  • Mix the oats, flour, coconut, chopped nuts, chocolate, and dried fruit in the large bowl.
  • Melt the coconut oil (which is solid, not liquid as you might think from its name) and brown sugar in the saucepan or microwavable bowl on a moderately low heat/setting, together with the honey and salt. Add the cinnamon and the vanilla, mix them into the liquid and cool it to room temperature so the chocolate won’t disintegrate when you mix everything together.

  • Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

  • Spread the mixture evenly on the oiled parchment-lined baking sheet and press it down with the backside of the metal spatula/pancake turner.
  • Bake for about 20-25 minutes.
  • Cool on a wire rack for at least 1 hour. Then flip the pan onto the cutting board or waxed paper and cut the baked bars. I find it easiest to use toothpicks and a ruler to guide me, but if you have a good eye for cutting a long, straight line, be my guest. For 24 bars, cut 4 long rows and 6 short ones. Some will crumble a bit on their edges. No problem – save those granola chunks for yogurt or ice cream. Besides, life sometimes has ragged edges, so why not granola bars?

  • Store in an airtight container. 

By the way, if you need any more convincing about why your granola bars should be homemade, check out the labels on the ones you find near the cereal aisle of your grocery store. I’ll bet most of them contain artificial flavoring, corn syrup, and maybe preservatives. Compare those ingredients to the ones in this recipe. Then go price the “natural, organic” granola bars in the store. You can make a boatload of these for a fraction of the cost of the store-bought type. And the taste comparison? Well, just munch on one of these and let me know what you think.  

Comments

  2. Cyrus says

    Both Erin’s and your versions look so good! I’m probably going to add a few more chocolate chips to my batch, but that’s because I’m a bit of a chocolate fiend 🙂

    Reply

    • motherwouldknow says

      Kim – Thanks. They are delicious, she says, eating one and dropping crumbs all over her laptop:)

      Reply

  5. Manila Spoon says

    These granola bars look delish! I may attempt to make a gluten-free version out of this as some of my family members are gluten-intolerant. Thanks for sharing. 🙂

    Reply

    • motherwouldknow says

      Abby, It should be easy to make these gluten-free. Although they have a bit of flour, another type of flour should work, In fact the person whose recipe I adapted is gluten-free, so you might check her blog too.

      Reply

    • Fay says

      Im wanting to know if I can substitute the Honey with Maple Syrup and the Brown sugar with Monk fruit golden? Thanks

      Reply

      • Laura says

        Fay, You could try it but I think the consistency of the substitutions (particularly the substitution of maple syrup for honey) will prevent the granola bars from sticking together. Perhaps if you add something stickier than maple syrup of add something to the maple syrup to make it more viscous.

        Reply

    • motherwouldknow says

      Barrett, I think adding peanut butter would make them softer, but I haven’t tried it.

      Reply

  9. Brandy M says

    This is a great idea! We are going camping this summer and these granola bars would make the perfect take along. Great taste, healthy, homemade and portable great combination!

    Reply

    • motherwouldknow says

      Brandy, Definitely a great idea – if you can keep yourself and the rest of your family from eating them all at the beginning of the trip.

      Reply

  10. Gin says

    Oh wow, with the chocolate in there? These wouldn’t be safe in a room with me! I love trying new granola bar recipes and these sounds delicious. Pinned!

    Reply

    • motherwouldknow says

      Gin – Thanks for the compliments. I kept a few in the freezer, but my husband found them and now they are gone. Boo Hoo.

      Reply

    • Laura says

      Nanay, If you take out all the fat, the granola won’t hold together in bars. Also, you need some fat to bake into the granola, so the oats will bake through in granola (unlike oatmeal where the oats are ground up and mixed with liquid.)

      Reply

  12. Michael says

    These granola bars are something else
    They are so tasty and full of natural goodness.
    I would recommend anyone to try this recipe.
    So simple to make.
    Thank you

    Reply

  14. Dar says

    Hi, your recipe looks great however I am confused. You indicate 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon and then say 5 tablespoons total when1/2 cup is actually 8 tablespoons. Could you please confirm whether you mean 1;4 cup plus 1 tablespoon which is what 5 tablespoons or 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon which is 9 tablespoons.
    Much appreciated.

    Reply

    • Laura says

      Eugenia, To maintain the same consistency (and hold the bars together), you’ll need some kind of flour. Doesn’t have to be wheat flour though. If you’re gluten free maybe a nut flour would work? I haven’t tried that substitution, but it would make sense to me.

      Reply

      • Eugenia says

        Thank you!!! I made them yesterday, but they crumble when I cut them 😔, I did the recipe as you said, I don’t know what went wrong but I’m going to try again 😊

        Reply

    • Eydie says

      I made these again yesterday & I completely forgot the flour & they turned out great. The same as with the flour, maybe I was just lucky?
      (I just realized today that I forgot to add the flour)

      Reply

  17. Eydie says

    So Good!!!
    They turned out perfectly, very similar to my favorite “Kashi” bars but homemade-so much better!
    I used w/w pastry flour for the a/p and dried cranberries for the raisins, I skipped the chocolate, (just because I prefer to reserve that for dessert)
    Homemade granola is so easy & delicious & so are these, thank you for the recipe.

    Reply

    • Laura says

      I’ve never tried the bars with something other than coconut oil but I would imagine that any fat with similar consistency should work. Definitely not an oil. Maybe butter (dairy or plant-based)?

      Reply

  19. MARY says

    I like the this recipe for Granola bars. I shall make them as written, they sound gorgeous. THEN I shall hide that particular box!! Just mine!! :))

    Reply

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