These homemade, all-natural Oats and Honey Granola Bars are baked until slightly crunchy, making them perfect for breakfast-on-the-go or as a wholesome, portable snack.
⅔cupsoat flour (see Notes below)OR whole wheat pastry flour
3tablespoonsbrown sugar
¾teaspoonbaking soda
¾teaspoonsalt
⅔cuphoney
⅓cupcoconut oilmelted
2teaspoonspure vanilla extract
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9- by 13-inch baking pan with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, stir together oats, crispy rice cereal, oat flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Measure honey, melted coconut oil, and vanilla into a measuring cup, then drizzle over oat mixture and stir until all ingredients are completely combined.
Transfer oat mixture into prepared pan and press down very firmly into an even layer. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until light golden brown on top. Remove from oven and use the flat bottom of a small pan or dish to press down granola bars again. Cool in pan for 15 minutes, and then use parchment paper sling to carefully lift granola bars out onto a cutting board (you can leave them sitting on top of the parchment paper). Cool for 5 more minutes and then cut into 12 bars. Remove to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely. Store in an airtight container.
Video
Notes
To make oat flour, use a blender or mini food processor to grind ¾ to 1 cup oats into a fine powder. Measure out ⅔ cup of oat flour for the granola bar recipe after grinding. If you have leftover oat flour after measuring, you can always save it for a Blueberry Muffin Healthy Oat Smoothie. :)
To save a dirty dish, I melt the coconut oil in a measuring cup in the microwave and then measure the honey and vanilla on top. The coconut oil helps the honey slide out of the measuring cup.
Baking these slightly longer will make them slightly crunchier, but be careful not to burn them! My granola bars were perfect at 22 minutes.