Homemade Granola Bar Recipe - (No high fructose corn syrup in these bars!)

11th April 2008

Homemade Granola Bar Recipe - (No high fructose corn syrup in these bars!)

posted in Recipes, Food, How-To |

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.

homemade granola bar recipe

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.

crushing peanuts

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.

toasted grains and nuts

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.

granola bar recipe

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.

granola bar recipe

Spread out the mixture with a wooden spoon or spatula.

granola bar recipe

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.

granola bar recipe

Wait 2-3 hours or until the granola has totally cooled.

Then, open the waxed paper …

granola bar recipe

And carefully turn the granola onto a large cutting board, peeling away the rest of the paper.

granola bar recipe

Now, firmly pressing down with a big knife (not sawing), cut your granola into whatever size bars you’d like.

granola bar recipe

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).

granola bars individually wrapped

Enjoy!

granola bars - homemade

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!

This entry was posted on Friday, April 11th, 2008 at 10:12 am and is filed under Recipes, Food, How-To. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On April 11th, 2008, Becca said:

I am going to have to try these. They look good!

posted on April 11th, 2008 at 11:10 am

2 On April 11th, 2008, MrPuffy said:

They look wonderful. Thank you for sharing what looks like a great recipe!

posted on April 11th, 2008 at 12:18 pm

3 On April 11th, 2008, Kris said:

Any idea what to use instead of oats in this? (I can’t help it, I love the concept of granola bars, but I cannot stand the texture of oats in anything other than proper oatmeal.)

posted on April 11th, 2008 at 1:22 pm

4 On April 11th, 2008, Mrs. Maze said:

This is the best idea! I’m so doing this for me and my husband! Thanks for posting this!!!

posted on April 11th, 2008 at 1:30 pm

5 On April 11th, 2008, Joyful Abode said:

Becca - let me know how you like them!

Mr.Puffy - You’re so welcome

Kris - I’m not sure, but I was thinking about (for the next batch) reducing the oats and using some puffed rice cereal (like rice crispies) in its place. Probably anything similarly textured would work though.

Mrs. Maze - I hope you two enjoy it!

posted on April 11th, 2008 at 1:43 pm

6 On April 11th, 2008, ctmott said:

What a great recipe..Will have to copy it down..I’m all about good food and no junk in it..Thanks.

posted on April 11th, 2008 at 2:32 pm

7 On April 11th, 2008, RobinSue said:

Ok- I am so glad to see this recipe. I always have problems with the baked granola bars because they seem to burn on the edges while the center is still “raw”. So I can handle the toasting part and heating the other things in the saucepan. I will have to try these. We have nut allergies so I am happy that this can be modified. Nice pictures too!

posted on April 11th, 2008 at 2:44 pm

8 On April 11th, 2008, Caroline your sister said:

Mmmmmm….. The boy and I were thinking of getting some nice granola bars for breakfasts but I think I’ll try this instead. I think I can get some lovely bulk ingredients including flax probably at the Food Co-op. Love that place. Is it really cheaper in the end?

posted on April 11th, 2008 at 10:34 pm

9 On April 12th, 2008, Jenn S. said:

Thanks for the great recipe! I’ve been making my own granola for ages, but I’ve never made bars! I just whipped up a batch, which are now cooling, and it is taking alot of willpower to wait for them to cool!

I added 3T of unsweetened fresh ground peanut butter to the wet ingredients as well as a tsp of cinnamon. I also used cashews in place of peanuts, unsweetened coconut, and for dried fruit - cranberries & apples. YUM!

Thanks for the recipe!

posted on April 12th, 2008 at 7:33 am

10 On April 12th, 2008, LSKcrochet said:

Very nice! Looks very yummy!

Your blog is wonderful! Best Wishes!

posted on April 12th, 2008 at 10:51 am

11 On April 12th, 2008, Dave said:

Kris: How about using puffed wheat instead of oats? Or a mix of puffed rice and puffed wheat. The puffed wheat is a bit more tender than the puffed rice so they wouldn’t crumble, but they might crush a bit…

I’ve got to try these, I guess I know what I’m going to be doing tonight!

posted on April 12th, 2008 at 3:29 pm

12 On April 12th, 2008, Claire’s Cake Bake and Other Foodiness » Blog Archive » Granola Breakfast Bars said:

[…] I came across this recipe via tastespotting. Now I’ve been on the look out for something like this for ages and […]

13 On April 12th, 2008, Allison said:

Oh, I’ve been looking for a decent recipe like this for ages for a *proper* snack. Thank you!

posted on April 12th, 2008 at 8:10 pm

14 On April 15th, 2008, Lisa @ Crazy Adventures in Parenting said:

Ohhhh thank you for this! I’ve attempted before and failed cuz they fell apart. I never heated the mixture to cool, nor did I press down. Thank you! I will let you know how it comes out!

posted on April 15th, 2008 at 6:19 am

15 On April 16th, 2008, Shylah said:

I love this! I will definitely have to try them.

posted on April 16th, 2008 at 12:08 pm

16 On April 17th, 2008, Niall Harbison said:

Hi there

I just found your blog through stumbleupon and am loving the design, nice and clean and simple. The recipes are looking nice as well and can certainly see myself making some of them in the future. I am actually looking for people with excellent food photos who want to share them with the world and interact with other foodies. I started by blogging myself about a year ago and was frustrated that not enough people were seeing the quality content I had and saw huge potential for people to share their food photos and videos with a bigger audience and ultimately drive more traffic back to their own site. Check me out at www.ifoods.tv and let me know what you think and keep up the good work on the blog!

posted on April 17th, 2008 at 8:29 am

17 On April 17th, 2008, Expat Mom said:

I am so making these for quick snacks around here! We are constantly on the lookout for yummy, healthy food that is super fast and these are ideal. Thanks.

posted on April 17th, 2008 at 12:34 pm

18 On April 21st, 2008, Tizzalicious said:

Yum, they look delicious!

posted on April 21st, 2008 at 3:46 pm

19 On April 21st, 2008, cestovatela said:

I made these this afternoon and they were great. I used minced crystallized ginger instead of dried fruit, which I love but might not suit everyone’s taste. I also subbed slivered almonds for the peanuts and flax seeds for the sunflower seeds. I loved the texture of the flax seeds and will definitely use them again.

I also stacked a pile of heavy cookbooks on top of the finished mixture because I was worried I wouldn’t be able to press down hard enough. It compacted everything nicely and saved me some work!

posted on April 21st, 2008 at 10:32 pm

20 On April 26th, 2008, Emily said:

These look so delicious!! Can you tell me if they are crunchy or chewy granola bars? Thanks.

posted on April 26th, 2008 at 5:41 pm

21 On April 27th, 2008, Joyful Abode said:

Emily, they are chewy, but the nuts and things like that add crunch.

posted on April 27th, 2008 at 7:03 am

22 On April 28th, 2008, Knitsational said:

These look delish!

posted on April 28th, 2008 at 7:00 pm

23 On May 4th, 2008, Alain Mokbel said:

This looks an amazing recipe and I really do enjoy the pictures. I also have another recipe on my blog at http://fitnessplanpro.com/homemade-granola-bar-recipe/

posted on May 4th, 2008 at 9:48 am

24 On May 5th, 2008, Lindy said:

Hi- This recipe sounds great but it would be so helpful to have it published in a printer-friendly format!?! I would love to add it to my recipe book but didn’t what to print it with all the pictures! I will have to hand write it out. Just a thought…

Thanks - Lindy

posted on May 5th, 2008 at 6:36 am

25 On May 10th, 2008, Karen said:

Hi I saw these posted on Tastespotting and they were just what I was looking for, so thank you. I made some last week and they turned out great, perfect for my mid-afternoon pick me up snack
I think I will take out the vanilla next time though and maybe add more honey instead of sugar, as they were a bit too sweet, still tasty though.