Nut- and Fruit-Packed Chewy Granola Bars

These chewy granola bars will contain even the worst afternoon hunger pangs. Make them with whichever dried fruits, nuts, and seeds you have on hand! {Jump to Recipe}

These bars are very easy to make: just follow the ratio of nuts, fruits, seeds, and nut butter, add a few basic ingredients to hold it all together, bake and voilà, you have a fresh supply of nutritious and delicious homemade granola bars on hand, ready to calm the worst afternoon hunger pangs.

What’s great with the recipe for these chewy granola bars that you can make them with whatever nuts and seeds you have on hand: I myself never combine the same ingredient combination twice. You could even swap some of the fruits or nuts for chocolate chips or cocoa nibs, but be warned: they may turn out so good you’ll want to eat them for dessert! To sweeten the bars up, my first choice is of course maple syrup, but you can use honey or agave syrup too. And if you want to cut back on the fat content, you can substitute half the oil for applesauce.

Once they’re baked, wrap each bar individually (I like to use parchment paper and washi tape) and keep them in an airtight plastic bag in the fridge for up to two weeks, or in the freezer pretty much indefinitely. One warning though: these chewy granola bars are so good, you can’t expect one batch to ever last long!

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Nut- and Fruit-Packed Chewy Granola Bars

Prep 15 mins

Cook 30 mins

Total 45 mins

Author Marie Asselin (FoodNouveau.com)

Yield 15 bars

These chewy granola bars will contain even the worst afternoon hunger pangs. Make them with whichever dried fruits, nuts, and seeds you have on hand!

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups (430 ml) old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup (250 ml) chopped unsalted nuts, such as walnuts, pecans, pistachios, almonds, or cashews
• 1 cup (250 ml) chopped dried fruits, such as pitted dates, apricots, raisins, or dried cranberries (use at least a third of dates for the best chewiness)
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) wheat bran, or ground flaxseeds, or hemp hearts, or substitute whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, or toasted sesame seeds
• 1/2 tsp (2 ml) kosher salt, or fine sea salt
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) nut butter of your choice, preferably natural (no salt or sugar added)
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) canola oil (or half canola oil, half applesauce)
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) maple syrup, honey, or agave syrup
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp (10 ml) pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease a 9" x 9" (23 x 23 cm) baking pan with cooking spray, then line with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the oats, nuts, fruits, flour, sugar, wheat bran, seeds, and salt.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the nut butter, oil, syrup, egg, and vanilla extract. Pour over the dry ingredients and stir until all the liquids are fully incorporated and the mixture sticks together. Press firmly into the prepared pan.

Bake for about 25 minutes, or until set and golden around the edges. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely before cutting into bars. (The bars will slice neatly if they’ve been refrigerated overnight.)

Wrap the bars individually in parchment paper, if desired, and keep in an airtight container or plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to a week, or freeze for months.

Courses snack, dessert

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