Granola bars are the ultimate convenient snack. They are hearty, tasty, and highly portable. With egg, dairy, and nut allergies in our house, I have yet to find a reasonably priced granola bar that our whole family can enjoy. For the past 3 years I have tested a variety of recipes and none have been very good, until now. This recipe is a modified version of this one from Weelicious. The first time I made the Weelicious recipe I was surprised to find myself disappointed. Typically Catherine McCord’s recipes work perfectly for me every time. Though the granola was tasty, it would not stay in bar form and crumbled to bits. On the second trial I was successfully able to tweak the baking time and quantities of the liquids in order to make this perfect granola bar recipe. The key to success is to only let the bars cool for 10 minutes before slicing. After slicing leave them in the pan for about 2 hours to cool almost completely. The, you can individually wrap them and press any loose bits back into the bars.
I love what Catherine McCord loves about this recipe, which is its simplicity. The ingredients are simple and commonly available and it can be prepped for baking in about 10 minutes. It’s also a very inexpensive recipe to make. For about $2-3 (depending on the add-ins you choose) you can make a batch of 30 bars. If you individually wrap them and place them in an airtight container, they will keep for weeks. By far, the BEST thing about these bars is that they are delicious! It is so good that I see no reason to buy store-bought bars for anyone in our household ever again.
This bar recipe is highly customizable. If food allergies aren’t an issue, you could use a variety of seeds, nuts, and dried fruit. While this recipe contains no eggs or dairy products, the use of honey as a binding agent means that it is not vegan. To make it vegan would be very easy: swap out the honey for agave nectar or brown rice syrup in an equal ratio. Don’t want to add sugar? You don’t have to. This recipe is plenty sweet without it, although the flavor of the brown sugar is nice.
Happy baking and let me know what your favorite add-ins are!
Ingredients:
4 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup whole wheat flour or wheat germ
1/2 cup hemp hearts (shelled hemp seeds) or shredded unsweetened coconut
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup chocolate chips (a good dairy free brand is PC The Decadent Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips, available at Extra Foods, Superstore, and Loblaws), raisins, dates, or other dried fruit
1/2 tsp sea salt
3/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
3/4 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line a 9 x 13 bar cake pan with parchment paper. Spray the paper with non-stick cooking spray.
- Combine the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl.
- In a small bowl, stir the remaining ingredients together.
- Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir until well mixed.
- Pour the granola mixture into the parchment lined cake pan and press to approximately 1 inch thick.
- Bake 35 minutes.
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes then cut into 3 x 1 inch bars.
- Let cool completely for 2 hours before wrapping individually. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.
Morsels Minus 