Whether you are hopping from meeting to meeting or a mom driving your kids all around town, these Chewy Cranberry Coconut Granola Bars are an awesome quick and healthy hand-held snack!
To me, a good snack should be:
- Portable
- Easy to eat
- Protein packed
- DELICIOUS!
If a snack has those 4 things, I’m onboard. That’s where these homemade chewy granola bars come in. Similar to store-bought fruit and oat bars, these snack treats back are packed with healthy nutrients and have that crunchy-chewy consistency without all the weird added chemical ingredients.
How do all the oats, fruit and nuts hold together you ask? Brown rice syrup.
This sticky stuff is a sweetener derived from brown rice that is much better than the artificial sugar laden high fructose corn syrup. Not to say you are going to eat this stuff straight from the jar, but it is a healthier alternative to help keep these fabulous granola bars together.
Today my chewy bars are loaded with coconut, cranberries, pumpkin seeds and a little bit of crunchy cocoa nibs. But tomorrow, who knows! That’s the nice thing about this recipe, it’s completely adaptable to whatever your cravings are.
Two things to mention though. The first is that you always want to keep bars with chocolate in a cool place so the chocolate doesn’t get all melted. Hence don’t keep chocolate granola bars in the car during the summer. Second thing is these bars can get soft in the heat, so I like to store my extras in the fridge or freezer.
Because these aren’t awesome enough already… these bars take 15 minutes to make and are no-bake. Plus, they are kid friendly, gluten-free and vegan!
Pretty much an ideal snack every which way 😋
Yields Makes 18 bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup rolled oats* (gluten-free if desired)
- 1/2 cup crisp rice cereal** (gluten-free if desired)
- 1/2 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
- 1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds
- 1/4 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup cocoa nibs (optional)
- 3 tablespoons chia seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/4 cup brown rice syrup
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Line an 8×8-inch or 9×13-inch pan with parchment paper.
- Mix the oats, rice cereal, coconut, seeds, chia seeds, cranberries, cocoa nibs (if using) and salt in a large bowl.
- In a small saucepan over medium high heat, combine the coconut oil, brown rice syrup, and honey. When the mixture starts to bubble up, reduce the heat to medium low and continue stirring for about 4 minutes. Essentially you want the mixture to be complete combined and lightly bubbling. After the 4 minutes, take off the heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
- Pour mixture over the oat and seed mixture. Then pour and spread mixture in the prepared pan. Press the sticky mixture down using a little parchment paper over the top and patting down with your hands.
- Refrigerate for 2 hours before cutting into bars or squares.
Notes
You can use quick cooked oats if you have them on hand. To make this recipe gluten-free, use GF oats and crispy rice cereal. Store granola bars in the fridge or freezer. They will get soft and if left out in the heat for too long.
Recipe slightly adapted from Alexandra Cooks.
Originally posted 2017-10-02 06:00:00.
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