Homemade granola bars are a fabulous way to pack in whole grains, seeds, fiber, protein and nutrients. The best part? They are portable and packed full of energy to get you through a long drive in the car, a day at the beach or a 10 hours work day. My granola bars are always changing based on what nuts and dried fruit I have in the house. As with many of my recipes, it is more about the method than the ingredients themselves.
My bars are special because I take time to toast the oats, nuts and seeds in the oven before blending with the other ingredients. This process is a quick way of releasing the natural oils found in the nuts and seeds without having to add any oil. It will make you bars stand apart from anything you might find in the grocery store, no corn syrup required.
Feel free to change up this recipe as much or as little as you wish. I’ve made these bars with dried apricots, dates and prunes. I’ve made them with chocolate chips and without. (Bet you can’t guess which ones tasted better.) Sometimes I add flax seeds, sometimes I add wheat germ and sometimes I add both. And don’t forget the spices – these are delicious with a little cinnamon and I’ve even been known to add in a little ground ginger.
The bottom line: if Liz is baking something, it’s a flexible and versatile recipe. You won’t find any homemade sour dough bread on my blog any time soon. Fortunately, my patient husband is the baker of the household so I leave that to him.
Go ahead and mix it up – your friends and family are waiting.
Seedy Oat and Flax Bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups oats
- 2 cups chopped nuts/seeds ((walnuts, almonds, pecans, pumpkin seeds, etc.))
- 2 tablespoon flax seed
- 2 tablespoon toasted wheat germ
- 3 c large shredded wheat biscuits (or 2 squares)
- 2 cups dried fruit ((cherries, dates, apricots, raisins, etc.))
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 4 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- ⅔ c honey
- ⅔ c chocolate chips
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Spray a 9×13 pan with non-stick spray and set aside.
- Spread oats, nuts, seeds and wheat germ on a cookie sheet and toast in the oven for 10 minutes, turning once half-way through. Set aside to cool.
- In a food processor, pulse the toasted oat mixture with the shredded wheat, salt, cinnamon and dried cherries until smooth.
- In a medium bowl, wisk eggs with vanilla and honey. Add the oat mixture and stir until combined.
- Stir in chocolate chips then pour mixture into pre-sprayed pan.
- Press on the granola mixture to flatten and bake for 25 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into bars.
Hi Liz
I am so excited to have found your blog! Do you have a suggestion for substitution of Wheat Germ and Shredded Wheat? The wheat germ I think I could just leave out, but having a hard time finding a good sub for the shredded wheat :)
Thanks for all you do!
So glad you found it!! You could replace the shredded wheat with half oats and half nuts and use flax seed meal for the wheat germ!
Q…I’m celiac (so gluten free) and I can work with nearly everything in the recipe, but trying to figure out what to sub for the shredded wheat. Is it used for texture and nutrients, or is it a binder of some kind? If I know what it’s used for, I can figure out a substitute.
These look great – thanks!
I love the bars but I got about 6 bars and it didn’t fill up the whole tray. Could I of over pulsed them? Also, I used quaker oats squares 1 cup and pulsed them. Can you tell me what I did wrong? Thank you
Hi Gianna – Thank you for letting me know what happened. I think I determined that the wrong pan size was suggested for the amounts given. I have since revised the recipe (basically doubled it) which fits perfectly in a 9 x 13 pan. Please accept my sincerest apologies that this was not done before. This is a recipe that we make all the time and I truly think you’ll love it if you give it another chance with the changes I’ve made. Again, thank you for your feedback – it is very much appreciated!!
Thanks for revising it. I love the bars and will definitley make them again. I am just wondering if I can lower the calories alittle by using maybe only egg whites, 1 1/2 cup of craisins and agave instead of honey? What do you think?
P.S. I used agave on your old recipe and it was delish!
You could certainly try the egg whites – I would just use two egg whites for every egg. As for agave, I don’t use it because it’s so highly processed (more so than corn syrup I learned!) so I can’t tell you how to swap it for honey. I do know it’s not low calorie so just be sure you calculate accurately if you’re serious about counting calories. If you really wanted to lower calories, I would just use less dried fruit and nuts. :)