Homemade Granola Bars

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Hi Bold Bakers!

WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE: These Homemade Granola Bars will exceed your expectations! Enjoy a snack that’s flavorful, crunchy, and chewy, free from mystery ingredients. Once you try these, you’ll never go back to store-bought!

• Packed with Flavor and Texture: These homemade granola bars offer a delightful combination of crunch, chew, and rich flavors, making them an irresistible snack.
• Wholesome and Transparent Ingredients: Enjoy the peace of mind that comes with knowing exactly what’s in your food, as these bars are made with simple, nutritious ingredients.
• Easy and Versatile Recipe: This straightforward recipe is perfect for customizing with your favorite mix-ins, allowing you to create a snack that’s uniquely yours.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This recipe was improved and updated on 7/9/2024, to include NEW STEP-BY-STEP photography, explanations of key ingredients, answers to the most frequently asked questions, and Pro Chef Tips.

Table of Contents

• What are Homemade Granola Bars?
• Tools You Need
• Key Ingredients
• How to Make Homemade Granola Bars
• Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips
• Make Ahead & Storage Instructions
• FAQs
• More Oat-y Nutritious indulgences

What are Homemade Granola Bars?

Homemade Granola Bars are baked portable snacks made from oats, coconut, dried fruit, nuts, and natural sweeteners, offering a wholesome, additive-free treat.

Here are the unbeatable benefits of Baked Granola Bars Recipe:

• Enhanced Flavor and Texture: Baking brings out a toothy crunch and toasty flavor in the oats.
• Better Binding: Baking helps the bars hold together well without needing too much liquid sweetener.
• Wholesome Ingredients: Combines natural sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, and brown sugar with butter to create a delicious sticky syrup.
• Nutritious Add-ins: Includes oats, shredded coconut, dried raisins, and chopped almonds for a healthy and tasty snack.

Tools You Need

• Mixing bowl
• Measuring cups
• Measuring spoons
• Glass measuring jug
• Saucepan
• Whisk
• Parchment paper
• Baking pan
• Spatula
• Knife
• Wire rack

Key Ingredients

• Butter

  • Butter adds richness, and moisture, and helps create the syrup that binds the chewy granola bars together.
  • We use salted butter for the extra flavor but unsalted butter will also work.
  • Alternatively, you can also use coconut oil or plant-based butter for these easy homemade granola bars.

• Honey

  • Honey acts as a natural sweetener and helps bind the ingredients together with its sticky texture.
  • Use brown rice syrup or agave for a vegan alternative. It provides a similar sticky texture to help bind the ingredients together.

• Maple syrup

  • Maple syrup adds natural sweetness and a subtle maple flavor, also contributing to the binding process.
  • Use brown rice syrup as a substitution for a milder, less intense sweetness compared to maple syrup, maintaining the binding properties.

• Dark brown sugar

  • Dark brown sugar adds sweetness and a hint of molasses flavor, enhancing the overall taste and helping to create a sticky syrup.
  • If you only have light brown sugar, check out our recipe for Homemade Brown Sugar.

• Salt

  • Salt enhances the flavors of all the ingredients and balances the sweetness.

• Rolled oats

  • Rolled oats provide the base and main texture for the granola bars, offering a chewy and hearty component.
  • Note to choose “certified gluten-free oats” for those on a strict gluten-free diet.

• Unsweetened coconut

  • Shredded, unsweetened coconut adds a subtle sweetness, texture, and coconut flavor.

• Almonds

  • Almonds provide a crunchy texture and nutty flavor, adding nutritional value such as potassium with healthy fats and protein.
  • For nut-free substitutions, you can use sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds.

• Raisins

  • Raisins contribute chewiness, natural sweetness, and a slightly tart flavor.
  • If you don’t like raisins, you can use other dried fruits like cranberries, cherries, or apricots instead.

• Bittersweet chocolate

  • Bittersweet chocolate adds a rich, chocolatey flavor that complements the sweetness of the bars and provides a finishing touch when used for dipping or drizzling.

How to Make Homemade Granola Bars

Prep

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C), then butter and line a 9 x 13-inch (23×33 cm) baking pan with parchment. Set aside.

Make the oat mixture

2. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the butter, honey, maple syrup, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Heat gently, stirring frequently, just until the sugar is dissolved.
3. Remove from the heat and fold in the oats, coconut, almonds and raisins (or other dried fruit). Using a spatula, continue to fold everything together until evenly coated in the syrup.

Bake the granola bars

4. Transfer the oat mixture to the prepared baking tray and spread into an even layer, pressing down with the spatula to pack everything together.
5. Bake the granola bars for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown and toasted on top.
6. Let cool for 10 minutes, then, while still warm, use the parchment to help lift the bars out of the pan. Cut them in half lengthwise and then each half into 1 ½ inch (3 ¾ cm) wide bars. You will get 9 for each half. Allow to cool completely.

Serving suggestions

1. If you wish you can dip the bottom half of each bar in melted chocolate, then place it, chocolate side down, on the prepared baking sheet.
2. Drizzle the remaining chocolate over the top for garnish, then allow the chocolate to set for about 1 hour or until completely hardened before removing from the parchment paper. (To set the chocolate faster, refrigerate if 30 minutes.)

Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips

• Get creative with your favorite add-ins! Customize your homemade granola bars with flavor variations such as peanut butter chips and banana slices, coconut and mango, cranberry, orange and walnuts, apple cinnamon and cashew, mini chocolate chips and cherry, maple pecans, blueberry and chia seeds, and lemon poppy seeds. NOTE: all add-ins have to be DRIED, fresh fruit will not work. 
• For something simpler than dipping these baked granola bars in chocolate, you can instead stir in 1 ½ cups (9 oz/255 g) of bittersweet chocolate chips into the oatmixture.
• Add ½ to 1 teaspoon vanilla extract for a mild floral taste if you wish.
• Cut these into bars while they are still warm or they will be too crumbly to cut.
• After dipping in chocolate, the bars will easily lift off the parchment once it sets. If the bars are sticking, it just means that the chocolate has not hardened yet. You can refrigerate the bars to set the chocolate faster.
• For other granola bars recipes, try our Healthy Granola Bars (Sugar-Free, Grain-Free)No-Bake or No-Bake Granola Bars (Nut & Raisin, Peanut Butter & Jelly, Double Chocolate)!
• These bars make great lunchbox snacks along with our Homemade Goldfish and Animal Crackers!

Can I Make This Granola Bar Recipe in Advance and How to Store Baked Granola Bars?

Make-Ahead Instructions:

1. Prepare and Bake: Follow the recipe instructions to prepare and bake the granola bars until golden brown.
2. Cool Completely: Allow the baked bars to cool completely at room temperature on a wire rack.
3. Cut and Store: Once cooled, cut the bars into desired portions. Store them in an airtight container or wrap each bar individually in plastic wrap or parchment paper.

Storage Instructions:

• Room Temperature: Store the granola bars in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
• Refrigerator: For extended freshness, store the bars in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. This is especially recommended if your kitchen tends to be warm.
• Freezer: You can freeze granola bars for up to 3 months. Thaw individual bars in the refrigerator overnight or at room temperature for a few hours before enjoying.

FAQs

Why are my granola bars sticky?

This can happen if you don’t allow the syrup base of the bars to properly come together.

• To avoid this, we suggest letting the butter melt all the way, then add in the brown sugar, honey, and maple syrup. Don’t be tempted to over stir this mixture, either. Just allow the sugar to naturally dissolve.
• After the sugar has dissolved, allow this to simmer over low heat for just a few minutes. This should yield the perfect result!
• If your granola bars are coming out a bit sticky, it may also mean they need to be baked longer, as after baking they should be crunchy on the outside and hold together on the inside.

Why are my granola bars too crunchy?

While on the one hand, you don’t want your homemade granola bars to be too sticky, you also don’t want them to be too crunchy either.

• To make sure they come out just right, we suggest you bake them for the exact time in the middle rack of the oven, allowing them to toast up evenly.
• Another trick to getting them to the perfect texture is to press the oat mixture down into the lined pan before baking the bars. This will compact the oats and all the mix-ins, making sure that the whole mix bakes and toasts up evenly from corner to corner.

What can I use instead of coconut?

If you’re looking to substitute coconut in granola bars, you can consider using one of the following ingredients:

• Chopped nuts (such as almonds, walnuts, or pecans)
• Seeds (like sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds)
• Dried fruit (such as raisins, cranberries, or chopped apricots)
• Rolled oats (to increase the oat content without adding coconut)

Each of these substitutions can offer a different texture and flavor profile to your granola bars while keeping them delicious and satisfying.

More Oat-y Nutritious Indulgences

• Gemma’s Best-Ever Oatmeal Cookies
• Chocolate & Oat No-Bake Cookies (Vegan)
• Traditional Irish OatFlapjacks
• No-Fuss Flourless OatPancakes
• Healthy Overnight Oats

IMPORTANT NOTE: This recipe was improved and updated on 7/9/2024, to include NEW STEP-BY-STEP photography, explanations of key ingredients, answers to the most frequently asked questions, and Pro Chef Tips.

Full (and printable) recipe below!

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