If you’ve done much reading on this blog, you know that I love to cook and eat delicious foods. Unfortunately, they’re not all the healthiest choices, so my husband and I have decided to make more of an effort to plan healthy, lower-fat, lower starch, higher fiber, more veggie-filled meals. I also made a list of healthful snacks we should try to have on hand.
On the list was granola bars.
But do you know what??? They’re not all healthy! Some of the granola bars you can buy in stores may as well be candy bars, with the amount of sugar and “fluff” they include in their ingredients. And most of them (except Kashi) also have high fructose corn syrup as a main ingredient. Disgusting. While I love Kashi granola bars, the guy and I tend to go through a bunch of those, so it gets pretty expensive.
So I decided to take matters into my own hands. After reading tons of granola bar recipes (and throwing out the ones that sounded like disguised candy), I came up with my own mixture that works deliciously well to create healthful, filling granola bars. If I eat half of one of these and a small piece of fruit, I’m good to go for several hours. And it makes me happy knowing that I didn’t eat anything disgusting to feel full.
So here’s my recipe. Let me know if you try it out!
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Gather your ingredients:
- 2 cups oats
- 3/4 cup wheat germ
- 3/4 cup sunflower seeds
- 1 cup peanuts, crushed
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup honey
- 4 Tbsp butter
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
- approximately 8 oz. dried fruit
To crush your peanuts, put them in a plastic bag and smash them with a heavy mallet, measuring cup, or sauce pan.
Then, mix the peanuts, oats, wheat germ, and sunflower seeds in a baking dish with sides. Toast them in the oven for 10-12 minutes, stirring every few minutes so that they don’t get burned.
Meanwhile, prepare a glass baking dish (about 11 x 13 inches) for your granola by lining it with waxed paper lightly sprayed with a nonstick spray.
Put the brown sugar, honey, butter, vanilla, and salt into a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. (I forgot to take a picture of this step, but it looks so pretty!)
By now, your grains and nuts should be toasted, so mix everything together in a large bowl. The grains, the liquid “glue,” and the dried fruit. Oh, and turn off your oven, because you’re finished with it now.
Mix everything REALLY WELL because you want to make sure the “glue” gets all over everything. Now, dump your granola mixture into your prepared baking dish.
Spread out the mixture with a wooden spoon or spatula.
Now fold over the sides of the waxed paper or add a sheet on top, and PRESS HARD all over the granola. You want to compact it together so that your bars won’t fall apart when you cut them.
Wait 2-3 hours or until the granola has totally cooled.
Then, open the waxed paper …
And carefully turn the granola onto a large cutting board, peeling away the rest of the paper.
Now, firmly pressing down with a big knife (not sawing), cut your granola into whatever size bars you’d like.
I wrapped ours individually in plastic wrap, so that we could just throw one into our bag or lunch box in the morning. If you’d like to save on packaging though, you can store yours in an airtight container, between sheets of waxed paper (so they don’t stick together).
Enjoy!
Of course, you can mix up the recipe. I used peanuts because they’re what we had, but next time I’m going to make the granola nutless at first, but during the pressing-down part, I plan to press almonds into the top of the bars.
Another combo that would be fun to try is macadamia nuts, dried pineapple, and coconut flakes.
Or try dried cranberries, walnuts, and white chocolate chips (just a few).
I also plan to add flax seed to my granola mix.
Different flavors of honey would also probably change the final outcome too. Mmm…
So many options! Good thing we have time!
Hi! I'm Emily. I'm a Navy wife and stay at home mom of two beautiful children. I cook simple, delicious, grain-free recipes, do crafts, decorate my home on a budget, and keep a happy household. I tandem breastfeed, babywear, cloth diaper, practice elimination communication, homebirth, and co-sleep, but I'm not a hippie.
Okay…here’s the deal. Swapped out almonds for peanuts, added grape nuts (for fiber) and dried cranberries. Kept the sauce the same. Ohh-la-la. Taaaaaaasty. Headed back to make another batch
I love this recipe and have been making it since I found it in ’08! I just blogged about how I tweak it to make it more like a dessert
http://mamanloup.blogspot.ca/2013/03/custom-build-your-fantasy-granola-bar.html
[...] Homemade Granola Bar Recipe with step-by-step photos, http://www.joyfulabode.com/2008/04/11/homemade-granola-bar-recipe-no-high-fructose-corn-syrup-in-these-bars/ [...]
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[...] I love this recipe for no-high-fructose-corn-syrup granola bars! [...]
how can I print the recipe??
[...] I remembered a blog post I ran across a few months ago. I was looking for fast breakfast ideas for school. The chance to [...]
I have made these twice and are a huge hit at my house! I added some flax seed, sliced almonds and chopped dried apples. Thanks so much for the recipe! A new favorite!
Have not made them yet, but it looks good. I do a lot of hiking, and will make some for the hike this weekend.
I make these for my house as after-school and during work… and before dinner… or before breakfast snacks. I made them for today’s work potluck, and I can’t even tell you how many compliments they’ve gotten. I use Craisins and mixed nuts instead of just peanuts. I added mini semi-sweet chocolate chips to half a batch as well. I’m glad I made 2 batches because they are a HUGE hit. I’ve shared this page with everyone who has asked for the recipe. Thanks!
[...] (Taken from http://www.joyfulabode.com/2008/04/11/homemade-granola-bar-recipe-no-high-fructose-corn-syrup-in-the…) [...]
I’ve been looking for an easy, healthy granola bar recipe to send with my daughter for her school snack (she gets nauseous in the mornings so this is technically her breakfast so I want it to be packed with nutrition). Is there a way to decrease the brown sugar without altering the composition of the bars? I haven’t tried the recipe yet, so maybe I will just decrease the sugar by half and hope for the best.
Could you maybe add molasses, or maple syrup instead of the sugar ? I often use honey,or molasses or maple syrup instead of sugar. It should bind in the same way as melted sugar too.
I used agave nectar, it’s glycemic level is very low. Also, I substituted organic virgin coconut oil for the butter, and the bars are delicious! This is a fantastic recipe.
I used SPLENDA Brown Sugar, 5TBSP and 1 tsp = the 2/3 C the recipe calls for.
THESE are DELICIOUS!!! the first time i made them mine were dry and crunchy becasue i boiled the honey mixture i think too long as i was multi tasking so they went hard…second time i heated the mixture just till it started boiling and it was much better!! i think there like puffed wheat squared etc where if you heat the “glue” too long they are hard and crunchy!! THANKS for the recipe!
I made 2 batches of these for my college son to take back to school. I followed the recipe yet the bars came out very dry and crumbly. They have good flavor but they aren’t moist at all. Add more honey/butter? More dried fruit (I used dried cranberries)? Don’t pack it down so hard? I really want a good recipe for the family but they won’t eat it if it doesn’t look/feel like the store bought crap. haha
[...] Granola Bars From Joyful Abode [...]
Thank you so much for this great recipe! I made it for the first time today.. and being me.. changed things out. I only used the agave for sweetener, used natural peanut butter for the butter, threw in some Rice Cereal, and some coconut and hazel nuts.. added a small amount of chocolate chips at the end after they were “smooshed” together in the pan and starting to cool. IF I had left it alone after that I wouldn’t have swirls of chocolate over the top of my granola bars.. hmms… maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing anyway eh?
Delicious! They will definitely be on my list of “need to makes”
Wow! These are great! They are exactly what I have been looking for! No sooner did I have them cut into bars and my 4 year old son ate two of them! Thank you for sharing!
Great recipe, have been making it for the last 9 months or so, once a week like clockwork. Great snack to have, and usually cut the tray up into 15 individual bars, snacking on one or two every day. At this point, I no longer need to look at the recipe, and can make them quickly and easily in no more than about 25 minutes, which includes the 15 minutes I let the dry ingredients toast lightly for.
Over time, I have tweaked and and modified your original recipe a little, as per my own individual tastes. All dry ingredients remain the same, save for bumping the nuts and seeds up to a cup full, and the addition of coconut (about 1/4 of a cup). Aside from those two modifications, I also add just the barest and slight dusting of cinnamon, and the barest pinch of dried ginger, for an imperceptible, but little boost to the flavour, without ever tasting cinnamon or ginger in the bars.
With the wet ingredients, I halved the sugar from 2/3′s of a cup to 1/3 of a cup, in addition to bringing the honey down from 1/2 of a cup to 1/3 of a cup also. I also cut the vanilla from 2 teaspoons to 1 teaspoon. This I find gives me a lovely bar, which is not too sweet, yet far tastier than just eating toasted oats, nuts and seeds.
The above changes do not affect the cohesion of the bars for me, but I do two or three key things. Namely, mix the ingredients when they are just finishing cooking, as I usually time the toasting of the dry, and the melting of the wet, to coincide, as I mix the wet into the dry in the hot toasting pan. Straight into the tray lined with parchment paper, and I do some serious pressing down, to endure it is as compact as possible. To this end, I will use a smaller tray, and use this to move around, and press down on the mix as firmly as I can. Lastly, I will bung the tray of bars straight into the fridge for several hours (sometimes overnight if I am not waiting on cutting/ eating the bars until the following morning). This was I find when I cut the bars straight out of the fridge, they cut easily and cleanly, and much better than at room temperature. Then, I simply store all the bars in an air tight container at room temperature, where those 15 little square bars do not last long
Oh, will add to the above, I omit the dried fruit entirely, as I found it did not help in making a bar that held together well. At least that was my experience.
Will also add, to give me the best nutritional blend, I use a mix of sunflower, pumpkin, and then a little sesame seeds, for my seed mix. The sunflower and pumpkin will give you a nice mix of omega 3 & 6, rather than just one or the other. Re: nuts, I will usually use 2 different types of nuts, in my case flaked almonds and chopped hazelnuts, as they are easy to get here.
Lastly, I replaced the wheat germ with oat bran, when I was seeking to cut any gluten from my diet a while back, and it worked fine. The oat bran I have I find a little sweet though, so do not add much, maybe a tablespoon or two.
[...] too expensive to buy all the time, so I googled a recipe to try and make some at home. I found this recipe and tweaked it a little to come up with this granola [...]
I make these all the time!!! My family loves them. I’ve found that wax paper (even when greased) still sticks to the granola bars, so I use parchment paper instead. The parchment paper comes off easy every time.
Made mine with agave syrup and dark chocolate, turned out great !
I am looking for a less expensive way to ensure that my husband has his proyein bars everyday for work. I am wondering if i can add protein powder to these?
I made these last night and they turned out so great!! Thanks for the recipe.
I forgot to spray my wax paper with cooking spray-don’t forget this step unless you want to peel wax paper off the bottom of your bars.
This recipe was so easy! I’m waiting for mine to cool. I’m so excited to see how they taste. Thank you so much
I’m about to make another batch of these bars and every time I make them, I tweak the recipe a bit. Thanks for posting this! It made the first time I ever made my own granola bars so easy and tasty!
I have made this twice in a two week period. I add coconut, chocolate chips, and almonds or pecans to my mixture. Will never bring boxed granola again! Delicious! Great in yogurt, ice-cream, or just plain.
[...] opskrifter på “granola bars”), men jeg endte med at vælge Joyful Abodes opskrift på myslibar og forsøge mig med [...]
Hi Emily!
I first saw the photo of these Granola bars on Pinterest, they look so good that you just feel like eating them!
When I read your post, I can really relate to it. We use to buy bars, snacks, etc from the supermarkets but not that much anymore. It is just scary to see the amount of sugar content in each pack. I have never tried making granola bars before but will surely give it a go.
Thank you for sharing the recipe with us.
Rina
Fox In An Apron
I noticed your name and it made me think of one of my daughter’s children’s books, “Rina at the Farm”. Rina, it transpires, is a fox (who likes to make mischief)! Maybe it’s past my bedtime and my brains are scrambled, but I think that’s pretty neat!
Why is corn syrup so disgusting? It’s just sugar as are honey and brown sugar. The body doesn’t know the difference.
corn syrup YES, but its when they chemically modify it to become “High Fructose Corn syrup” that your body doesn’t recognize
corn syrup YES, but its when they chemically modify it to become “High Fructose Corn syrup” that your body doesn’t recognize it.
High fructose corn syrup is only processed thru the liver, unlike sugar & honey that glucose can be utilized by all the organs in the body. That is why high fructose corn syrup is so bad.
I’ve used this recipe twice now, and each time it has turned out amazing! I add a couple of scoops of chunky peanut butter to the “glue” mixture, and it tastes great with all the other flavors. I’ve also tried toasted coconut flakes, toasted whole almonds, dried cherries, currants and blueberries, and dark chocolate chips. The only problem is I can’t seem to keep these in the house for very long – my husband and son DEVOUR them. We will be making these bars for a long time to come!
Thanks for great recipe! I enjoyed making it, added other types of nuts & dates. It came to loads of bars! I will leave out the salt & vanilla next time, husband found those flavours bit overpowering. Cheers
I am making these again this weekend! I used Splenda Brown Sugar in place of brown sugar, coconut oil in place of butter, no salt, added pumpkin seed, chia seed, slivered almonds, fresh dehydrated cranberries, blueberries, strawberries, raisins, and I added some of my (no sugar) Whey Protein powder! They turned out perfect! I did use Parchment paper instead of wax paper because I was told it sticks to wax paper. I also doubled my recipe.
I also put sesame seed in as well. I dehydrated all my own fresh fruit so there wasn’t any added sugar except for natural from fruit itself! I also toasted for a couple minutes longer than the recipe calls for a more toasted taste.
Thanks Heather for the delish tips!:) I want to opt out sugar completely next time as bars are bit on the sugary side for me with both the honey & sugar. Hope mixture will still bind together well. I did use sesame, but went overboard I think as it overtook all the other nut flavours. I will keep making these, can’t keep my hands off them everyday after workout! Cheers
this recipe looks amazing! how long does it go in the oven for?
Try 300° for 20-25 minutes
just made these for the third time, I made a few adjustments,no fruit, and a layer of mini chocolate chips on top, and they are absolutely delicious
I make a batch, and have them for breakfast and lunch every day 
I love how simple the recipe is.
I made these last weekend and they are amazing! My kids loved them! I made them with dried cranberries and chopped dried peaches. When could I add mini chocolate chips? I tried after they cooled a bit but they still melted. Such a great healthy snack and easy to pack in a lunch! In my quest to buy less packaged “stuff” and to have more natural ingredients, this is exactly what I was looking for!
I like this recipe, but amn trying to make low glycemic bars. Has anyone tried using agave syrup for the sweetener?
These are setting up right now! I didn’t have any sunflower seeds, so I used a bit more peanuts and wheat germ than the recipe calls for and I also added some ground flax seed. I made everything else according to the recipe. my husband and I are going camping this weekend and I didn’t want to buy store bought granola bars, for both frugal and health reasons. these smell awesome and I can’t wait to try them!
[...] This recipe comes from Joyful Abode. [...]
Hey. Great recipe there. I was wondering can I successfully make a granola bar without the butter? Can I substitute it with olive oil instead or better still, totally oil free? I only afraid that if i omit the butter then the bar pieces wont stick and form a bar.
I substituted butter with exact amount of coconut oil and they turned out perfect and so much healthier!
Just made these, with a few substitutions… We are peanut and tree-nut free in our house, so I used a cup total of chia seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds and pepinos, and for dried fruit I used chopped apricots, dried cherries and raisins. Then after I cut the bars I drizzled some dark chocolate over the top. Yum! But next time I think I need more oats or less honey- my bars are very sticky and soft. Maybe they just need to dry out overnight before I wrap them.
Try 300° for 20-25 minutes. This recipes closely mimics Alton Brown’s that I make. They are crunchy for a while, but if you live in a humid climate like I do, they may need a little time back in the oven after a couple days. Drizzle the chocolate after they are cooled. Hope this helps.
How long will these last. Looking for something to snack on while traveling to spain in a couple of weeks. Looks yummy!!!
Can’t hear to hear back from you. Going to run to the health food store to get some wheat germ.
Thanks again.
I’ve forgotten about these and had them sitting around for two months and they were still good. That said, I made them with oil rather than butter, but I also like the taste better that way. I had the butter ones for up to 3 weeks before I finished them, and they were still good then.
I really enjoy making my own granola bars. I will give these a try… they look great!
Made these about 5 hours ago but I didn’t have any wheat germ and used fiber one cereal in it’s place lol but They taste wonderful. Will make these again for sure and pick up some wheat germ in the mean time.
Made these yesterday to take on a 10 day bike trip across Europe . Just wondering how long they will keep? Will take one on a practise ride today. Couldn’t find wheatgerm so just left it out- still tastes great. Thanks
Going to make those granola bars right now, I’ve been looking for a nice, easy and low-fat recipe (other recipes have much more butter and sugar) and finally I found one! Thanks a lot!
Hi there !! I just happened to find this fabulous blog through a random Google search for granola bar recipes …anyway, I forgot to add the butter and they turned out just lovely anyway !
I’ve substituted a variety of ingredients. For a sweeter taste, try adding vanilla sugar instead of extract. Also, by mixing toffee bits instead of dried fruit adds a nice way to get kids to eat it (especially if they don’t like “wrinkled” fruit).
I just made these. I did not have wheat germ on hand, so I used shredded coconut instead. I agree with not being able to get healthy granola bars and am excited for this recipe. They are setting up right now! You should add a Pinterest button so I can pin these
Just made the granola bars and they’re the best ones I’ve made so far. this is definitely a keeper, I’ll be making these again for sure. Might cut down on the honey or brown sugar those. They were a tad to sweet for me.
I cannot wait to try your recipe…we too just started noticing how UN-healthy the “healthy” granola bar section can be. Money saving green tip for you – save the bags from your cereal, use them wherever you would use waxed paper.
Excellent idea! Thank you!
how many does this serve?
Can these be frozen? Or at least refrigerated to keep more than a week? I don’t really LIKE to cook but more and more I’m making things from scratch since I have some minor heath probs that I don’t want to get worse and my kids are young and want to instill in them healthier eating habits than I had as a child– but I won’t want to spend every weekend making these if they won’t keep more than a week. (but if forced…I will
since they love the packaged kind and I need to stop buying them)
Thanks!
I’m sure you’ve since discovered your answer, but in case it helps others – I’ve kept mine in airtight containers for up to 2 weeks, when I’ve made 2 batches at a time. Am not sure about freezing them, and if in an airtight container, do not see the need to keep them in the fridge, at least if you only need them to keep for 2 weeks.