A snack for our house must be under $.20 per serving for me to consider buying or making it. That gives me plenty of room to purchase string cheese on sale, granola bars on sale etc. When not on sale, granola bars may range between $.33 to .60 per bar! However, baking granola bars puts them under $0.20 every time, depending on what I decide to add to them. This way, I sometimes let the neighbor kids enjoy our snacks without cringing inside every time my kids ask their friends if they are hungry. I will share any baked goods we have, and neighbor friends are always welcome to our pretzels!
These granola bars are perfect. They are chewy, which is how my kids like them. They are a good base to add anything you feel like putting in. Dried fruit, nuts, seeds, chocolate chips, etc. I pack them in my kids lunches, I have a container of them for snacks, and we always eat them pretty quick, so I can’t tell you the shelf life on them.
I promise next week I’ll post food ideas that do not have a recipe!! I know you don’t want to spend your lives in the kitchen. Tomorow’s dessert post requires no baking or cooking.
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26 Comments
No! I love you posting with recipes too! I love trying new things. You always have such great ideas and recipes!
Thank you Tatiana, I thought all of the mom’s out there were ready to strangle me thinking they want to eat healthy but have no time to cook.
Oh good! I’m always looking for a good granola bar recipe, and these do look good. I like the way you drizzled the chocolate across – that might be just enough to make any granola bar irresistible to my kids!
My 5 year old thought they were Fiber One bars, which he loves. They drizzle too.
This is fabulous. We love the Fiber 1 bars, so hearing they are like those is a bonus. We get the Fiber 1 bars for 25 cents each at Costco, so I’m really excited to try these and save.
I just printed off the recipe and can’t wait to try…
how much do you put of dried fruit, choc chips, etc? 1/4 cup?, 1/2 cup?
those look really good, amy. when ever I read your posts, I am always amazed at what you do. incredible, that is what you are!
Julie, they don’t actually taste like the fiber 1 bars (which I love too), they just looked like them to my 5 year old.
Robyn, I keep it to 2 cups total, not more.
Kristie, the only thing i’m great at is eating! I’m the queen of eating.
i had not even thought about making our own granola bars…but i have been non stop annoyed by the ingredients in the store bought ones that i can’t even pronounce. i can’t wait to try these!!!
It’s true Natalie. The other thing I like about this recipe is that it has ingredients that are always in my cupboards. Sometimes recipes have strange ingredients that I never keep on hand.
Thanks for sharing. I’ve already printed the recipe out and can’t wait to try it.
Libby
I would love to have the recipe for these they look so yummy!!!!!
Did you find the recipe Diane, it’s right here for you. http://www.superhealthykids.com/granolabars.html
So Ididn’t even click off the page I went straight to my cupboards and whipped them up they were so easy and so yummy, thank you for the recipe I had just put granola bars on my list since my kids eat them so fast I needed more now I dont. Thanks again love your blog!
How many granola bars does this recipe make?
Hi Kristi,
This recipe is enough for an 11 X 13 pan. So it depends on how big you cut them. I like to cut them once down the length of the pan, and then cut them across. I probably get 16 good size bars out of it.
I just made these for my 2 year old twins, and they are gobbling them up – delicious! One question, though…is it just me, or between the brown sugar and the honey is there an awful lot of sugar? Have you ever tried cutting back on either the sugar or honey? Also, any ideas for making them more chewy than crispy? Thanks so much – love the blog!
Good call Suzanne- I think there IS too much sugar! When I first wrote this recipe, it seemed good at the time, but now with us eating better and better, I think I would cut back on the sugar next time.
I haven’t made these in awhile. But they were chewy when we made them. I’m sure if we didn’t gobble them up right away, they would probably get crispier with sitting out. I always slightly under cook things and they seem to be on the chewy side rather than the crispy side.
I will work on a new HEALTHIER granola bar!!
Best, Best, Best (one more time???) Best recipe! I made this last night because I wanted to get a head start on ready to eat snacks/breakfasts. By the time morning came around, I think my husband and I ate more than we should’ve, considering it was 2AM!
A few comments/questions:
* I used a 11 x 13 pan but it was way too big. How think are your bars in an 11 x 13 pan? I ended up using a 9 x 9 pan. Did I mess up somewhere?
*A previous poster commented on cutting back on the sugar. I halved the brown sugar and used agave syrup instead of the honey. Agave is considerably lower in sugar and tastes delicious!
*I also noticed that some of the edge pieces were crunchy – no problem! I used them as granola for my yogurt.
AWESOME recipe – I will be bookmarking this site and using ALOT of the recipes!
I’m glad you liked them Mari. I actually haven’t made them in so long, that I don’t remember how thick they were. If you prefer them thick, then I would definitely keep it to a 9X9 pan.
I’m so glad the lower sugar still worked. I’ll be making that change as well. :)
What is the shelf life of these bars?
Hi Shannon,
Only about 5 days!
I made these today and they were great! The only mix-ins I had were white chocolate chips, flaked unsweetened coconut and almonds. Two of those things my kids would never touch (guess which!). Mixed in like this they never noticed. It is very sweet, but I’m afraid that lessening the sugar would make them more hard and we loved the chewiness! I made mine in a 9×13 cookie sheet and they came out about 1/2 inch thick. Thanks for the recipe!
I have these in the oven right now. I can’t wait to try them. I love all your ideas. On your snack ideas the main picture is of a popcorn snack with pretzels and things. I can not find that recipe. can you direct to the right spot. Thank youl
Amber,
Sorry it’s taken so long to get back to you!! Pretzels and popcorn?? Do you have a link? I’m not sure what you were talking about?
THANKS!!
Amy
Here it is Amber:
http://blog.superhealthykids.com/2010/03/kid-approved-party-food/