Homemade Granola Bars
Updated: Feb 6, 2021
Servings: 30 bars
Storage Life of Ingredients: 1 year
Gluten Free
These fresh granola bars are so quick and easy to make. And they're sure to be gone faster than you can make another batch... which is saying something.
Variation:
If you like cinnamon raisin treats, replace the chocolate chips with an equal amount of raisins.
I've made these twice in two days. We've had children's friends over to play and, despite my recent trip to the grocery store, we had no snacks to speak of. So when kids started asking for a snack, I quickly whipped up a batch of these no-bake bars. The resulting comments made my day (both days!). I quote:
“Can you make some for my family?”
"Mmmm. Mm. Mmmmmm!"
"Can I have another of those granola bar thingies?" (repeated twice, 5 minutes apart)
Well, yeah you can! I'm a sucker for compliments in the kitchen. And even though I've made this numerous times for my kids, they still get excited for this sweet treat.
Another great thing about these bars is that the ingredients are all easily stored for 1 year. And there are a lot of servings here...30! But that's ignoring the fact that you will likely have 2-3 servings in one sitting.
At times, I have made several batches of these granola bars, individually wrapped them in a little saran wrap, and then placed them into food saver bags and sealed them so the bars would stay fresh longer. To be honest though, I have no idea if they last longer than 1-2 weeks. That's the longest we've ever taken to eat them!
Pictured Process
The process is incredibly simple, but it's always nice to have pictures when you're making a new recipe for the first time, so here we go.
Just a few simple ingredients are needed for this recipe. And there's no bake time!
To start, mix the cereal and oats together. Make sure you have a big enough bowl so when you have to stir up the mixture, you won't have spillage!
Next, add your syrup and brown sugar into a sauce pan and boil. Don't boil it for long or you'll end up with a really hard (and hard to stir) clumpy mess. You're not trying to make caramel here (though I wouldn't say no to a piece). Once it boils, immediately remove it from the heat.
You can see it gets a bit frothy. That's totally fine!
Mix in all other ingredients except for chocolate chips. Stir until combined.
Pour heated mixture into cereal and oat mixture. Mix well! Don't forget the bottom of the bowl and get everything you can out of your saucepan. If you're using raisins instead of chocolate chips, you can add them at this time. But if you're using chocolate chips, you'll want to wait about ten minutes or the chips will just smear into the granola mixture and look really messy. I actually used regular sized choc chips in this batch because I ran out of my mini chips on the first day I made these. Sad day. When using regular-sized chocolate chips, I prefer to chop them up a bit. If I leave them whole, some bites don't have chocolate, some have an overwhelming amount. Use mini chips if possible, but if not, just chop up some of your larger chips. It's not as pretty, but it works in a pinch!
After adding in the chocolate chips and mixing again, spread onto a greased cookie sheet (or sometimes I use a silicone mat underneath). Go ahead and really smush that mix down! If you don't, the bars will be crumbly and will fall apart easily. Let sit until cool. Or eat them immediately with a spoon or a cupped hand. Just know that they won't be stable. Which is totally fine. For me. And for my kids.
Storage Tips
Brown Sugar: I store my brown sugar in half gallon mason jars. They last MUCH longer than in the plastic bags you get from the store, even sealed. For the jars of brown sugar I know I will be using in the near future, I simply place a lid and screw on the band. If I know I will keeping it for longer food storage, I will often use my food saver with the mason jar attachment to remove as much air as possible from the jar and keep that lid on tight.
Oats: I store my oats in half gallon mason jars. The lids on the cardboard cylinders you buy from the store are definitely not air tight. There have been multiple times that I open my oats to find moths inside. This problem is completely eliminated when storing in the large mason jars and it is still easy to pour from these containers.
Tools
Cookie Sheet
Sauce pan
Food Saver
Attachment
