No-Bake Granola Bars
- Total Time
- 15 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- ¾cup honey
- ½cup packed brown sugar
- ¼cup neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn
- 3cups any good, not-too-sweet granola
Preparation
- Step 1
Put the honey, brown sugar, and oil in a small pot and bring to a boil. Put the granola in a large bowl and pour the sugar mixture over the top while mixing; stir until the granola is well coated.
- Step 2
Press into an 8- or 9-inch square pan and let cool in the fridge. Cut into squares or rectangles and serve. Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Dried Fruit Bars: Use just about any dried fruit here; dates or dried figs are great, as are dried apricots, raisins, plums, pears, and more: Substitute 1½ cups dried fruit for the honey and brown sugar. Put the dried fruit and oil in a food processor and purée until smooth, stopping the machine to scrape down the sides if necessary. (Add small amounts of water if the fruit is dried out and not processing.) Proceed with the recipe.
- Orange-Spice Granola Bars: Add 1 tablespoon chopped orange zest, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon each ground cardamom and ginger, and ½ teaspoon ground cloves.
- Nutty Granola Bars: Substitute 1 cup mixed or single toasted roughly chopped nuts and whole seeds for 1 cup of the granola.
- Peanut (or Any Nut) Butter Granola Bars: Practically a power bar: Substitute peanut or any nut butter for the brown sugar.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
I substituted the fruit puree but found that the bar fell apart when cut. The flavor is good there needs to be an additional binder. I think the Peanut Butter option would have a better chance of a successful binder.
Using Peanut Butter instead of sugar & letting it sit for an hour before cutting worked well for me!
Way too sweet. Next time will reduce the sugar. Also, hard to get out of pan. Oil or butter it next time.
I used a bit less granola based on the comments that it fell apart, that might be why mine was too sweet as well. I had to let it warm back up to cut it or remove from pan.
It reminded me of making rice krisppy treats, so I just added the granola to pot and stirred, that way I could decide how much granola to add and not have honey left in several pots and bowls. I might try marsh mellows next time. Mine held together fine, a bit chewy. Stiffens like syrup left out on a plate.
I'm not sure why the servings shown is FOUR. Surely this makes a lot more than 4 bars, and it should probably be 1 bar per serve. Thus, the calories (plus fat, etc) per serve are probably far healthier than suggested. Also, I think Dinner as a tag is probably in error.
1 cup dried fruit (dates) 1/2 cup nut butter
I used peanut butter (Justin’s with honey) instead of sugar. Used neutral flavor coconut oil. I lined a shallow 9x13 pan with parchment and mixed the ingredients on the parchment - rolling it around to mix. I then added shaved salted dark chocolate (lily’s) on top. After sprinkling the chocolate I put it in the oven on broil setting for appx 1min to melt the chocolate and the PB again. Cooled then put in fridge for a few hours. Divine! The broiler created a bottom peanut butter layer. Yum!
I'm not sure why the servings shown is FOUR. Surely this makes a lot more than 4 bars, and it should probably be 1 bar per serve. Thus, the calories (plus fat, etc) per serve are probably far healthier than suggested. Also, I think Dinner as a tag is probably in error.
Used Eleven Madison Park Granola, which I thought would be perfect for this recipe as it skewed salty. The delightfully chewy bars, however, were extraordinarily sweet. Too sweet for my kids. Will attempt to make again and reduce honey and sugar. (Perhaps this will impact the binding?) The bars were difficult to remove from the pan, as others note. Will also line with parchment paper next time.
Used 1/2 c. maple syrup, 1/2 c. of a dark chocolate peanut butter brand, and 3 tbsp oil. Considerably less sugar. Recalculated the cal per serving, and it's just under 250 per bar. May try a tahini butter and kalamata olive oil treat next time, I'd use honey in that one...
I used a bit less granola based on the comments that it fell apart, that might be why mine was too sweet as well. I had to let it warm back up to cut it or remove from pan.
It reminded me of making rice krisppy treats, so I just added the granola to pot and stirred, that way I could decide how much granola to add and not have honey left in several pots and bowls. I might try marsh mellows next time. Mine held together fine, a bit chewy. Stiffens like syrup left out on a plate.
Way too sweet. Next time will reduce the sugar. Also, hard to get out of pan. Oil or butter it next time.
These were a hot mess. Too sticky, didn't hang together, and waaaaaaaay too sweet.
I substituted the fruit puree but found that the bar fell apart when cut. The flavor is good there needs to be an additional binder. I think the Peanut Butter option would have a better chance of a successful binder.
Using Peanut Butter instead of sugar & letting it sit for an hour before cutting worked well for me!
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