Homemade No-Bake Granola Bars

Granola bars are one of the best snack foods. They're portable, so it's easy to have one with you, no matter where you are. I like having them around when I'm traveling, and in my gym bag as a pre-workout snack (or post-workout snack!)

They're packed with lots of energy-rich food, like oats, nuts, and dried fruit. Best of all, when you make them yourself, you can decide what to put in them! Feel free to switch out any of these ingredients for your favorites - you can switch out peanut butter for any nut butter you prefer, and use your favorite nuts and dried fruit instead of those listed. Coconut would be a great addition. You can even add chocolate chips! However, if you are doing that, I would recommend waiting until everything has cooled slightly, so you don't melt all of the chocolate.

I know you might be wondering, well why would anything be hot if these are no-bake bars?? You do end up heating things - you heat the honey and peanut butter together, so they're liquid enough to coat everything well. And you toast the oats and nuts for better flavor. If you don't want to turn on your oven, you can skip that step, but I would recommend using pre-toasted ingredients if possible. For the part on the stove - well you can use your microwave if you really don't want to turn on the stove. These are called "no-bake," because you don't have to bake the bars once you press them out in the pan.

Recipe: Homemade No-Bake Granola Bars
Yield: 16 large bars or 24 small bars

Ingredients:
2 cups rolled (old fashioned) oats
3/4 cup wheat germ
1 3/4 cups seeds/nuts (we used 3/4 cup pecans, 3/4 cup almonds, and 1/4 cup of a sunflower/flax seed combo)
2/3 cup honey
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup dried fruit (we used 1/2 cup chopped dried plums and 1/2 cup raisins)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 F and line a large baking sheet with foil. Mix together the oats, wheat germ, and nuts, and spread out on the pan. Bake for 10 minutes, keeping a close eye on them so they don't burn.

Line a glass 9x13 pan with wax paper, and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.

In a small pan (I like using a small nonstick frying pan to make it faster), mix the honey, peanut butter, salt and vanilla over low heat, until melted and well mixed.

Pour the toasted oats and nuts in a large bowl, and add the dried fruit.

Pour the melted honey and peanut butter over, and stir until everything is evenly mixed. Dump out into the prepared pan, and use an offset spatula to press down evenly. Make sure you press down really hard - this will prevent the bars from falling apart later.

Cool completely before cutting - it works best if you have refrigerated them first. The bars keep well in the fridge, since it prevents them from being sticky. If you would prefer to eat them at room temp, just pull them out of the fridge one or two at a time, about an hour before you want to eat them.

You can cut these into however many bars you would like. If you want them to be the typical "granola bar size," you can cut them into 16 bars (8x2). You can make them a bit smaller, and cut them into 24 bars also (6x4). I have included nutritional information for both sizes below. I find that it's easiest to lift up the wax paper, and put the whole thing on a cutting board. Use a large, sharp, non-serrated knife and press down firmly with each cut.

Nutrition (for 16 bars/for 24 bars):
247 calories/165 calories
12 g fat/8 g fat
32 g carbs/21 g carbs
4.5 g fiber/3 g fiber
6.8 g protein/4.5 g protein

The calories might be a bit high in the large bars, but they're packed with so much good stuff!

Nuts and oats, freshly toasted

Honey and peanut butter melted. 

Don't mind my dirty stove...

Nuts/oats in a large mixing bowl

Prunes/raisins on top, honey/peanut butter mixture ready to be poured

Action shot!

Start mixing everything together until it looks like the picture on the right

Press everything down REALLY firmly, so you have compact bars that don't fall apart

Finished product!

Close up - you can see what a great job Joey did of cutting them

Recipe: Bananarama Bars

Updated 9/15/17:
This was my first recipe post! 4.5 years later, it is time for an update. I actually came across this while looking for ideas for afternoon snacks or pre-workout fuel for my husband. I had been making him Morning Glory muffins, but I think he got a little sick of them. I dug into my archives to find this post, and realized it desperately needed an update! I altered some of the ingredients and directions so it is more accessible to whatever you have on hand. These bars/cookies are awesome, and you should try them! Added benefit - if you use certified gluten-free oats, these are 100% gluten free!

I have a hard time eating much right before a workout. I've been relying on GU Chomps for energy, but sometimes I'm just STARVING and a few gummies won't cut it. Most snacks that are big enough to take the edge off my hunger, just sit too heavily in my stomach. However, I've found that a granola bar is pretty energy dense, while still allowing me to work out or run just fine. I've made Alton Brown's recipe a few times now (another post on that later), and my only complaint is that they go so quickly! Last week, Joey pointed out this recipe, and I finally gave it a try last night.
http://www.alliswellthateatswell.com/2011/09/bananarama-power-not-your-average-power.html

Recipe: Bananarama Power Bars
Ingredients:
2 large ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
2 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup milk (any milk of choice - I usually use almond milk)
1 egg
2 tbsp melted unsalted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp honey
1/4 cup sugar (or splenda)
1 tbsp ground flax (optional)

Mix-Ins (choose as many or as little as you like!)
5 dates, chopped
1/4 cup chopped pecans (toasted!)
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 375 F. Mix everything together in a large bowl. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a large cookie scoop (or ice cream scoop), place batter on baking sheets, flattening tops slightly. Put 5 on each sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, then switch positions of the baking sheets in the oven (swap top and bottom). Bake another 10 minutes, or until golden and the bars feel set when you lightly touch them. 

Notes:
Feel free to add as little or as many of the mix-ins as you want! I really like pecans+chocolate. My husband loves pecans+chocolate+coconut. Dates+pecans would also be fantastic!

I have successfully made these adding in some protein powder. I even used banana flavored protein powder to amp up the banana flavor! If you do this, just sub out an equal amount of the oats. For example, if you add in 1 scoop of protein powder, then make sure when you measure out 2 cups of oats that you subtract 1 scoop.

Ground flax adds fiber and nutrients without affecting the taste. Make sure to use ground and not whole flax seeds, to really get the full nutritional benefit.

If you only have one banana, feel free to cut the entire recipe in half! Every ingredient is pretty easy to divide in half - and just use 1 egg white instead of a whole egg. If you bake half of the recipe, just keep them in for the entire 20 minutes - you don't need to worry about swapping positions in the oven.

    

Before they were baked (left), After they were baked (right)