Granola Bars

I have tested this recipe FOUR times to perfect it, and I finally got it right!

Granola bars are a delicious, nutrient dense snack. They are great for a quick bite on the go. I love that they are customizable!

Store-bought granola bars are FULL of added sugar, some bars have as much sugar as candy bars, so they aren’t as ‘healthy’ as they are generally marketed. I like to eat granola bars for breakfast or for a quick pick-me-up snack, but I know that the sugar will make me crash.

Since I am refined sugar-free, I decided I needed to try to make my own! I have made granola before, so I expected bars wouldn’t be any different… I was wrong LOL! The first time I made these I baked them and they immediately fell apart into granola. The second time, I changed up my binder ingredients to try and increase my chances of the bits all sticking together. They also fell apart. The third time I made real progress. I put my ingredients in my food processor to break up the oats and nuts so they would stick together better. That worked! The problem was my mixture didn’t fill up my 9x13” pan, and you can probably guess what happened… they were too thin, and yes, fell apart too.

The fourth time is where I figured it all out! I upped my ingredient volumes, added my favorite refined sugar-free chocolate bars - Hu Chocolate, and they turned out amazing!

Here are the ingredients I used to make 16 - ½” granola bars in my 9x13” casserole dish:

• 3 ½ cups rolled oats

• 2 ½ cups unsalted mixed nuts

• ¾ cup natural peanut butter

• ¾ cup natural liquid sweetener (i used half honey and half maple syrup)

• ¼ tsp salt

• Hu Chocolate bars chopped up

Here’s how I made them:

First, I melted ¾ cup peanut butter and ¾ cup liquid sweetener on low in a small pot on the stove.

While it was warming I poured 3 ½ cups of oats, 2 ½ cups of unsalted nuts, and a pinch of salt into my food processor. I pulsed that for a minute or two until the mixture was mostly fine, but still had some bigger pieces. I wanted to make them the same texture as the Quaker Chewy granola bars I used to eat when I was younger. 

I poured the dry mixture into a big bowl. After the peanut butter and sweetener melted and warmed up, I poured that into the dry mix. I used a spatula to combine it all together.

I chopped up almost 2 bars of the Hu Chocolate.. I saved a few squares to snack on later! My local Target was out of Hu dark chocolate, so I picked up one Milk Chocolate Cashew Butter Bar and one Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Bar. I folded those in the mix. They melted a bit (but firmed back up in the fridge).

I lined my 9x13” casserole with parchment paper and I dumped in the granola mixture. I placed another sheet on top and using a glass cup and my hands, I pressed the mixture down firmly. This is what makes sure the ingredients are all stuck together and gives them the perfect chewy granola bar texture!

I let them sit in the fridge overnight to firm back up. The next day, I cut them into 16 rectangles. 

Note: I used the casserole dish I had already, but the side and corners are very round. Some pieces of granola broke off when I cut into them because the pan wasn’t flat along the edge. Next time, I will consider buying a new truly squared off 9x13” dish, just so the edge pieces don’t break off. 

I’m still new to refined sugar-free living and cooking/baking. If you have any tips or tricks I would love to hear your feedback!

Bye!