These crunchy homemade granola bars are a tasty and healthy snack… Customize the dried fruits and nuts to make them your own!
After school snacks are a big deal in our house. With little downtime before rushing off to soccer or baseball practice, it’s essential that my kids have something that’s healthy and nutritious to eat, fueling them with plenty of energy for practice and filling enough to tide them over until dinner. Yes, it’s not ideal, but we often don’t get to eat dinner until between 7:30-8:00pm in the evening. Whatever works, works!
So today I’m sharing some of our favorite after school snacks, including a new recipe for homemade granola bars.
How To Make Homemade Granola Bars
I love developing easy recipes to make store-bought staples from scratch, and these healthy homemade granola bars totally fit the bill. Whole grains provide plenty of fiber, while dried fruits offer lots of flavor, as well as energy.
And the best part is that, like our favorite No Bake Peanut Butter Bars, you can totally customize this recipe to your tastes by choosing your favorite dried fruit and nuts. I made this batch with dried mango and pecans, but these are some of our other favorites:
dried fruits — cherries, raisins, cranberries, apricots, blueberries, etc., coarsely chopped for larger pieces.
nuts/seeds — peanuts, almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts, sunflower seeds, etc.
As I’ve mentioned many times before, my favorite source for budget-friendly dried fruits and nuts is the Great Value brand at Walmart. The price and quality just can’t be beat!
I also love that the cleanup is SO easy… Lining the baking pan with parchment paper means there’s virtually no mess. You can lift the entire sheet out of the pan with the paper, and transfer it to your cutting board.
Cut it right on the paper. Then just fold up the crumbs inside when you’re done cutting and toss. Easy-peasy!
Paired with a glass of milk, these homemade granola bars are my youngest’s favorite snack. And how much are those two missing front teeth killing me right now? Stop growing right now!
Oh, and I noticed that my ultra-picky 8-year-old daughter packed one in her lunch this morning, so apparently she loves them too… Yay for small victories!
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PinIngredients
- 4 cups old-fashioned oats
- 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
- 1/2 cup chopped dried fruit (see suggestions)
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts (see suggestions)
- 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a 13×9 baking pan with parchment paper.
- Combine the oats, coconut, dried fruit, nuts, flour, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl.
- Gently warm the butter and coconut oil in a medium saucepan over low heat to melt. Stir in honey and vanilla extract.
- Pour the honey mixture over the oats mixture, and stir to combine thoroughly.
- Press the mixture firmly into the lined baking pan using a small piece of parchment paper.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown.
- Cool completely, then cut into bars. Leftovers will keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container.
Healthy After School Snacks
Along with these delicious crunchy homemade granola bars, here are four more after school snacks that we rotate through — all mom-tested and kid-approved!
These yummy no bake peanut butter bars can be endlessly customized, so you can have a different variety every time you no bake them!
This simple and easy strawberry smoothie recipe is not only a fantastic way to start your day, it’s perfect as an afternoon snack to tide kids over till dinner!
This delicious banana bread gets an additional boost of fiber from oatmeal and pecans!
Frozen bananas make this banana smoothie recipe extra creamy and crunchy almond butter packs in some added protein!
What type of after school snacks do your kids gravitate toward?
Dina says
October 10, 2014 at 12:46 pmSo i love the ingredients in this! Its amazing. I put almonds , cherries, blueberries and cranberries. I also doubled the recipe and added more liquid ingredients.
Dome notes… There is no size indication for the pan . Do we spray the parchment that gores in the baking pan. And it doesnt say how high it should be in the pan.
Tara @ Unsophisticook says
October 12, 2014 at 11:05 pmHi Dina! Per the recipe, you should use a 13×9″ pan. No need to spray the parchment — just make sure it comes up the sides of the pan so you can lift the whole bar out in one piece after baking.
Kat says
September 30, 2014 at 9:19 amwe have a coconut allergy in the family- can that be left out or something else substituted?
Tara @ Unsophisticook says
September 30, 2014 at 11:18 amKat, you could just leave out the shredded coconut and add additional dried fruit if you’d like. You can substitute all butter for the coconut oil, although this will produce a crunchier bar, or try whatever mild-flavored oil you generally use for cooking.
Jen says
August 27, 2014 at 1:36 pmDo you think you could use sweetened coconut and reduce the amount of honey to compensate? I have sweetened coconut in my pantry that’s begging to be used in something.
Tara @ Unsophisticook says
August 29, 2014 at 9:33 amHi Jen! I think you could use sweetened coconut without changing anything. I’ve swapped it out in a pinch in my No Bake Peanut Butter Bars, and they’re a touch sweeter but not overly so. I just recommend the unsweetened variety for those trying to be a little more health conscious.
Donna H. says
August 24, 2014 at 2:04 pmWould love to see a carb count on these granola bars.. i’d leave out the fruit though for that very reason. otherwise, sounds and looks really good :)