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Healthy Granola Bars

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 16

Ingredients

  • 1 can of sweetened condensed coconut milk or honey if sugar free
  • 1/2 cup cashew butter
  • 1Tbsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3.5 cups quick cooking oats 
  • 3Tbsp whole flax seeds
  • 1 cup unsalted roasted nuts (cashews, almonds, pecans, pistachios, macadamia)
  • 1/2 cup of dried blueberries (or any other dried fruit)
  • optional, chocolate chips.  If using, recommended using 1/3 cup 
  • Rainbow chocolate candies for sprinkling on top for aesthetic and to make kids love eating them!

Instructions 

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Line a 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper. I cut 2 sides off so it fits better.
  • To a large bowl, add the sweetened condensed coconut milk, cashew butter, vanilla, salt and mix thoroughly.
  • Add the oats, nuts(chopped or whole), dried fruit, whole flax seeds and the optional chocolate chips and stir again until all ingredients are fully incorporated and the liquid/binder is consistent over all contents. 
  • Place the granola contents in the baking pan and press it down evenly.
  • Place the rainbow chocolate candies and whole nuts on top for the look in the photos.  
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, until the edges are turning golden brown.
  • When fully baked, place the pan on a cooling rack and allow them to fully cool before removing and cutting.  Refrigerate to hasten the cooling process. Don’t transport or cut while even slightly warm or they won’t hold together well or cut cleanly. 
  • Cut when fully cooled into rectangles or squares. This recipe should make approximately 16.

Notes

Parchment paper baking trick: Cut two of the sides (parallel sides) off completely but leave the rest for easy removal(they act as handles).  This removes the bulky folded over corners that take up room in the pan and make weird prints in the food. Check out photos for visual. 
-If you use salted roasted nuts be sure to omit the 1/2 tsp of salt that the recipe calls for. 
-If you are looking to make homemade granola bars no sugar added, then you will want to swap out the sweetened condensed coconut milk because it is sweetened with cane sugar.  The best replacement is raw unfiltered honey because it tends to be a little thicker and viscose than regular honey, which helps with binding the granola bars so they don’t fall apart.
-Wait until the bars are fully fully cooled - you can even throw them in the fridge to quicken the hardening process. If you try to transport or cut them before they are fully cooled, they won't hold together that great.