The Amell Family Blog

I found this recipe on Pinterest and I shot a video making them to the original recipe’s specifications. However, they just did not hold together. Since this was a no bake recipe, the bars were supposed to form together from being in the fridge for an extended period of time. Maybe it was the substitutions I made, but these bars crumbled apart the first time I made them. I made sure I pressed really hard to get them to form, but it did not work. However, they were so delicious that I wanted to make these work!

Luckily for me, the day prior I had baked another granola bar recipe because I was looking for yummy granola bars to take on trips like our 24 hour trip to Toronto and for snacks at the hospital when Baby Amell 5 decides to make it’s arrival! These other granola bars were healthy, but did not hit the same way that granola bars typically hit. I know what you’re going to say: “well that’s because they were healthy granola bars Kelsey! There’s no sugar in them.” Yes! You’re right, but there WAS honey….but they just did not hit the same. They were not terrible, but they sure did not taste like this recipe. Anyway, to get to the point of why I brought up these healthy granola bars. These healthy granola bars were a recipe that required baking and they held together! So, I decided to modify the original recipe for these delicious Peanut Butter Granola Bars so that I could bake them and to see if they would hold together. Guess what?! SUCCESS!

These are now a family favourite for everyone except Joshua who just does not like peanut butter. These granola bars hit the spot! They satisfy that potential sugar craving that gets filled when you eat a grocery store granola bar and they have yummy ingredients. There is no added sugar. The sugar comes from chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and honey. These are so delicious!! The other thing I enjoy about these is that even though they are baked, the chocolate chips do not completely melt throughout the granola bars. There are still tons of chocolate chips throughout the bars to enjoy! If you want less sugar, then just omit the chocolate chips and use more nuts!

I am owning this recipe now because I have had to modify the ingredients from the original recipe, add ingredients, and change the instructions so it is now mine! (hehe) I have linked the original recipe above though because I will always give credit to people who are more creative than I am when it comes to making recipes and I am going to list what ingredients I substituted. Honestly, the only thing these granola bars do not have going for them is that they are not school snack friendly because they contain peanut butter and nuts, but they are definitely Amell snack approved!

Substitutions from original recipe

• Large Flake Oats instead of Quick Oats. I was running low on quick oats and wanted to save them for the Oat Bars that I am obsessed with and was also making for our road trip. So I pulsed large flake oats in a food processor to break them up some and they worked great in this recipe!
• Nuts: I used blanched sliced almonds that I pulsed in a food processor to roughly chop them up. You can use any nut and then roughly chop it up.
• Canola Oil instead of Coconut Oil. I don’t normally have coconut oil on hand and I was running low on vegetable oil so I used canola oil in this recipe. I would think that any oil would work just fine because the canola oil worked out great. Just be careful using a powerful tasting oil so it does not create an overpowering taste in the bars.
• Crunchy Natural Peanut Butter instead of Creamy Natural Peanut Butter. I have both on hand at all times, however, the one that was in the fridge was the crunchy kind and it added some chopped peanuts to the recipe. This worked out great in my opinion!
• Dried Cranberries instead of Raisins. I did not have any raisins on hand for this recipe so I just used dried cranberries! You can also omit the dried fruit and increase the chocolate chips to 3/4 cup and increase the nuts by a 1/4 cup.
• Eggs are added to this recipe to bind the bars together better than when I made them without eggs and baking them.

Preheat the Oven

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Melt the Peanut Butter

To begin making these delicious granola bars, you will want to start with the ingredients that need to be heated. So add the oil, peanut butter, and honey into a small saucepan and heat it on the stove over low-medium heat. The main goal of this part is to heat the honey and melt the peanut butter so it is easier to mix with the dry ingredients and will work to bind the granola bars together. Once the peanut butter is melted, remove the saucepan from the stove and set it aside to let it cool down. You want the mixture to cool down enough that it will not melt chocolate chips when it is time to combine the wet and dry ingredients.

Pulse the oats and almonds

If you are using large flake oats for this recipe, you will want to add the large flake oats into a food processor and pulse the oats to break them apart. You can also add the almonds to the large flake oats and break everything apart at the same time!
You can use half large flake oats, all large flake oats, or all quick oats. You can use whole almonds (or any nut), or any form of nut like sliced or chopped.
This particular time I made this recipe for the purpose of getting pictures for the blog and making snacks for the freezer, I used half quick oats and half large flake oats. I was making a double batch that would fit into a 9×13-inch Pyrex dish.

Dry ingredients into a bowl

Once the oats and nuts are pulsed in the food processor, or if you are using quick oats, add all of the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. Give it a quick mix to incorporate the cinnamon and salt throughout the mixture.

mix in the eggs and vanilla

Once you have all of the dry ingredients mixed together in the mixing bowl, add the eggs and vanilla and give it a good mix. The reason we are adding the eggs now is to avoid scrambling the eggs when we add the wet ingredients, just in case they are still a little warm.

Add the dried fruit and chocolate chips

I prefer to mix the dried fruit I am using and chocolate chips in before adding the wet mixture. It is much easier at this point to make sure it is mixed in nicely and that the dried fruit and chocolate chips are evenly incorporated. You can use dried cranberries, raisins, or any other dried fruit that you think will taste good with the peanut butter and chocolate chips.

Add The wet ingredients

Before adding the wet ingredients, ensure it has cooled down enough that it will not melt the chocolate. I usually dip a little spoon into the mixture and then taste the mixture from the spoon, or touch the mixture that is on the spoon with my ring finger to see if it is too hot. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl. You will need to use a rubber spatula to make sure you get all of it because it can be quite thick and sticky. Then mix it into the dry ingredients and make sure it is well incorporated. You will be able to see a colour change with the oats that are wet from the peanut butter mixture, so make sure all of the oats are “wet”.

Prepare your dish and pour it in!

For this particular occasion, I had doubled the recipe so I am using a 9×13-inch Pyrex dish here, but if you are following the recipe below and making a single batch, then you will use an 8×8-inch or 9×9-inch dish. There are just too many family members that devour these granola bars too quickly that I need to make a lot at once!
Once you have mixed all of the ingredients together, line your dish with parchment paper, and pour your granola bar mixture into the dish. Press the mixture firmly and evenly into the dish.

pop it in the oven to bake

Pop your dish into the oven and bake! For an 8×8-inch or 9×9-inch baking dish, you will only need to bake it for 15-20 minutes. If you are using a 9×13-inch baking dish, then you will need to bake it for around 25-30 minutes.

Let them cool!

In order to cut these into granola bars, you need to let them cool completely. Once you cut them into bars, you can store them in freezer bags to freeze or keep them in an airtight container to enjoy over the next week. You can also store them in an airtight container in the freezer and they will last for a while if you can resist devouring them. Enjoy!

One of my favourite things about this recipe is that the chocolate chips don’t completely melt even though it is baked!

Peanut Butter Granola Bars

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp. canola oil
• 3/4 cup crunchy, natural peanut butter
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 cups large flake oats (pulsed in food processor the break apart)
• 1 cup nuts, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 2/3 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In a small saucepan, over low-medium heat, add oil, peanut butter, and honey. Stir until warmed through so the peanut butter is melted. Take off stove and allow to cool.
3. In a medium sized mixing bowl, add the oats, nuts, cinnamon, and salt. Mix together.
4. In a small bowl, briefly whisk the eggs and then add the eggs and vanilla to the dry ingredient mixing bowl. Mix briefly to incorporate throughout the dry ingredients.
5. Add chocolate chips and dried cranberries to the dry ingredients. Mix briefly to incorporate the chocolate chips and cranberries to the mixture.
6. Once the liquid ingredients from the small saucepan are cooled enough that they will not melt the chocolate chips, add the liquid ingredient to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
7. Prepare an 8×8-inch baking dish by lining it with parchment paper. Add the granola bar mixture to the dish and press down firmly using a spatula or slightly wet hands.
8. Bake in the oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely before cutting.

Notes

You can definitely freeze these bars to enjoy at a later date, if you can resist the urge to devour them! I would wrap them in parchment paper, ensure they are precut, and stored in Ziploc bags or an airtight container.

watch the video tutorial here!