Homemade Granola Bars – the Winning Recipe
posted by Andrea | 08/1/2011
I’ve been on a mission to find the “perfect” homemade granola bar recipe for the last several months — and you better believe I’ve tried my fair-share of recipes!
And while all of the recipes tasted delicious, I was never really satisfied until last week when I tried yet another new granola bar recipe…
My idea of perfect granola bars:
- not too sweet — but still sweet enough
- easy to make with simple ingredients I always have on hand
- makes at least a 9×13″ pan
- they stick together very well and can easily be cut into bars
- ability to customize based on individual taste
I know that sounds picky, but guess what — I found a recipe that meets my rigorous standards! {thanks to Elizabeth — a loyal reader and Facebook fan!}
I just know you’re going to love it too!
Ingredients:
- 1/2 c. honey or corn syrup {I used 1/4 c. of each}
- 1/2 c. brown sugar
- 1/2 c. peanut butter
- 2 c. quick oats
- 2 c. Rice Krispy cereal
- 1/4 c. ground flax seed
- 1 or 2 T. wheat germ {optional — and I did not add this}
- 1 c. total of your favorite mix-ins {I used chocolate chips, but you could also mix and match dried fruit, nuts, seeds, etc.}
Directions:
:
In a small sauce pan, mix honey {or corn syrup} and brown sugar.
Cook over medium-high heat until sugar is completely dissolved – stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and quickly stir in peanut butter.
Mix the oats, cereal, flax seed, and optional wheat germ in a large bowl.
Pour honey mixture over dry ingredients — mix well.
Stir in chocolate chips, nuts, fruit, and any other “mix-ins”
Press mixture into a 9″ x 13″ pan that has been greased or lined with wax paper. {I find it works best when I put another piece of wax paper on top of the bars and press down with a measuring cup.}
Let cool and “firm up” — kind of like Rice Krispy Bars
Cut into bars and store in an air-tight container. I cut mine into 24 bars that were about 1″ x 4″ {8 rows by 3 rows}. I used a pastry cutter/scraper because it cuts really straight lines — but a long knife would work just fine too.
And since I used chocolate chips, I figured it would be best to store our granola bars in the refrigerator so they don’t melt!
This recipe is seriously THE best granola bar recipe that I’ve tried so far. Probably good enough that I’ll stop looking and just file this one away as my official granola bar recipe!
Thanks Elizabeth for the AWESOME recipe — I’ll be making many more granola bars in the years to come!!!
Now, I wonder if they will freeze well???
Filed under: From My Kitchen
- Labels:: snacks
Jeni
04/12/2011Just made these – delicious. But, mine crumbled apart as well and I followed the recipe and ingredients almost exactly. To remedy, I heated the dish in the microwave for a minute, then re-pressed them, then popped them in the fridge to cool. When they were cool – actually, cold – they stayed together much better. I will try increasing the honey next time or something. Thanks for the recipe and your very useful site.
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Christmas is coming!! « The "O" Family
11/12/2011[...] also made these homemade granola bars, which were a huge hit! http://www.simpleorganizedliving.com/2011/08/01/homemade-granola-bars-the-winning-recipe/ The girl I got the recipe from adds a little coffee into the recipe as well. They are really [...]
Oatmeal Stumbles
21/01/2012[...] of Simple Organized Living has a homemade granola bar recipe that I’ve been meaning to try as well. Her selling point is that this recipe calls for [...]
Megan
25/01/2012I was just wondering if you know a calorie count for these!
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Daniela Reply:
February 4th, 2012 at 8:03 pm
I was wondering about that too! Also, can you split it up into cals, carbs, protein, and fat? And can you use peanut butter instead of honey?
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Andrea Reply:
February 28th, 2012 at 10:57 pm
I did a rough draft of calorie, protein, and sugar count on these. If you make 20 bars, it’s about 4 g protein, 10g. sugar, & 150 calories. This is using wheat germ in the recipe. I’m thinking about taking brown sugar out to cut more sugar out. Hope that helps!
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Kim
29/01/2012This is the best granola bar recipe I have found! Love the krispies and the ability to tailor the recipe to your taste. I am so tired of the rising prices of food and too sweet granola bars. Thank you soooooooooo much for this! Love it!
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shirley
04/03/2012nice job we r makeing granola bars and its hard with out one of those knives
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Angela
06/03/2012I wondered if you ever tried cutting back on the brown sugar and how that worked.
I made them as you said and they look wonderful…still cooling!
But I’d like to cute the sugar a little for the kids.
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Jennifer
13/03/2012I’ve got these cooling now. So ready to try them. I’ve been paying $2 for 5 bars. Now I’ve used things I always have on hand to make these, which is practically free. No preservetives, loads of omega-3 and fiber. Fast and easy.
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Jennifer Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 11:31 am
Amazing! Couldn’t wait to try one. Fantastic! Tip to get last bit of corn syrup out of the bottle was to nuke it for 15 seconds and it liquified and poured out easily. I got a little distracted with my 18 month old son dancing on the dining room table, my pb honey mixture had gotten set up before i could fully mix it into the oats so I just nuked the whole bowl for 30 seconds to soften it back up. Also I smashed it all down then added chocolate chips and pressed them in so they wouldn’t melt too much. Thank you for the perfect granola bar recipe!
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Andrea Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 9:58 pm
Yay — SOOO glad they turned out for you Jennifer!
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Crystal
22/03/2012So excited to try- I’ve been searching this out on Pinterest but am happy you posted one with your outcomes and that you prefer this version over others. Can’t wait!!!
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Lisa
23/03/2012Could you tell me how long you think these stay good for? Both in the fridge or out? Thank you!
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Heather Ratliff Reply:
April 10th, 2012 at 2:50 pm
I keep them in the freezer for at least 3 weeks. Just let them thaw for a bit before eating.
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Ana Maria S.
23/03/2012I just made these today and I LOVE them!!! I used to make my granola bars similarly with these 5 easy ingredients: organic coconut oil, honey, peanut butter, quick oats, and chocolate chips. Pretty good but not great. These are my new favorite! Thanks so much for the recipe
[Reply]
Menu 3/4-3-10 | Hardly A Goddess…
25/03/2012[...] homemade granola bars (simply organized living [...]
Tracy
04/04/2012Made them yesterday and my family loved them. My son even asked for this for his bedtime snack. They are great. Thanks for the recipe!
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Rob
09/04/2012Made these about an hour ago… Fantastic!!! Making another batch now with ONLY… 1 cup Rice Krispy’s and 2 1/2 cups oats and 1/4 cup brown sugar. (still used 1 cup honey) and added 1 tablespoon of maple syrup. used 1/2 cup each of chocolate chips and sunflower seeds. Tastes great in the bowl…
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Andrea Reply:
April 10th, 2012 at 1:20 pm
So glad you like them! I need to make another batch or two as well!
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Jennifer
15/04/2012We LOVE this recipe! We have never had any problems with them sticking together…but for those of you who have, perhaps try adding a little extra honey to the recipe. We have tried different variations, right now we are using chocolate Krispy cereal and cinnamon chips.
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Krystina
24/04/2012Just made these, they are cooling in the fridge. I doubled the recipe and instead of using a 9 X 13 cake pan I used a medium sized jelly roll pan. Lined with wax paper, topped with wax paper and rolled a rolling pin over the top. I can just take out the wax paper and cut with a regular knife. Yum!
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patty
24/04/2012I made these and couldn’t get them to firm up and hold together … but they are super-yummy. I think I didn’t get the whole thing mixed soon enough so the corn syrup, honey, pb mixture started to cool before I got all the fixins mixed in. Still worth the very easy effort … and I will try to do things faster next time so I get better “bars” instead of yummy chunks! Thanks for sharing this!!
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Lindsey
10/05/2012Hi I waas wondering if you have tried freezing these yet? For how long can they be in the Freezer for??? Has anyone tried putting in mini m&m’s?
Thanks
Lindsey
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Andrea Reply:
May 10th, 2012 at 5:12 pm
Yup, I freeze them ALL the time and they turn out great. And I’d definitely give the M&M’s a try… I’m pretty sure they would work!
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17/05/2012[...] and cutting back on wheat and sugar, so these were perfect(they’re grain free). I also made these granola bars from Simple Organized Living which I think are amazing. Tonight I am going to try Butternut [...]