No Bake Granola Bars
Rolled oats, nuts and dried fruit bound with warm honey and peanut butter, pressed into a tin and chilled for 1 hour.
Photograph credit: Chewy-Granola-Bar by Evan-Amos · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
Storing and Planning Ahead
Keeps in the fridge for 1 week.
Making No Bake Granola Bars
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Toast the oats in a dry pan for 5 minutes, then tip into a large bowl with the almonds, seeds and cranberries.
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Warm the honey, peanut butter and sugar in a pan over low heat for 3 minutes until fluid. Stir in the vanilla and salt.
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Pour over the oat mixture and stir until coated.
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Press very firmly into a lined 20 cm square tin.
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Chill for 1 hour, then cut into 12 bars.
A Few Pointers
- Toast the oats for flavour.
- Do not boil the binder for long.
- Press the mixture down very firmly.
Behind the Recipe
Shop-bought granola bars rely on glucose syrup and binding agents. Homemade ones need only honey and a nut butter, warmed together until fluid and stirred into the oats, and they set firm once chilled. The recipe has few ingredients and a lot of room for improvisation.
The binder is the key. Honey, peanut butter and a spoon of brown sugar are warmed in a pan for 3 minutes until they melt together and just begin to bubble at the edges. Do not boil it for long: too much heat turns it into a hard toffee when cold, and the bars become teeth-breaking. Stir in vanilla and salt off the heat.
Toast the oats first. Five minutes on a tray in a 180°C / 355°F oven, or in a dry pan, turns pale rolled oats nutty and golden, and removes the raw taste. Mix them with chopped almonds, pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries, then pour the warm binder over and stir until every piece is coated.
Press the mixture into a lined tin as firmly as you can, using the base of a glass or the back of a spoon, since loose bars crumble. Chill for 1 hour, lift out and cut into 12 with a sharp knife. Store them in the fridge in layers separated by paper.
Good Alongside
Yogurt · Fruit · Coffee · Hot tea
Questions About No Bake Granola Bars
How long does No Bake Granola Bars take to make?
10 minutes of preparation and 5 minutes of cooking, plus 1 hour of Chilling, so allow 1 hour 15 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 12.
The Numbers per Serving
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
Cooked this? Keep a note for next time
Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked.
First published ; last changed .
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