Money-Saving Recipe! | Homemade Healthy Granola Bars {Crispy or Chewy}

I have eaten a lot of granola bars over the years

and thus have read a lot of granola bar nutrition labels.

I'm gonna tell you why these homemade healthy granola bars

are the best ones for you.

I'm Erin from wellplated.com,

and let's make some snacks.

(upbeat music)

Before I started wellplated.com,

I worked 10 hours a day in a corporate office,

and I needed snacks.

I was buying a lot of different brands of granola bars.

And over time,

I became disenchanted with the ingredients.

These healthy bars had so much sugar.

It was often the second ingredient,

and some of them would have three

or four different kinds of sugar,

brown sugar, fructose,

high-fructose corn syrup, regular corn syrup.

It's kind of crazy.

These days, there are some better granola bar brands

out there with cleaner ingredients,

but they are expensive.

We're talking three bucks a bar,

which if you have more than one or two a week,

really, really adds up quickly.

These bars, however, are the opposite.

They only cost about 50 cents a bar

and are made with simple ingredients.

I've started out by chopping some walnuts and pecans.

You can use any nuts.

Those add omega-3s

and then also protein to help keep you full.

I'm adding some pumpkin seeds.

They are absolutely packed

with nutritious ingredients, minerals,

antioxidants, and then some unsweetened coconut flakes.

Those have flavor,

but you don't need to add any additional sugar.

They're gonna make the bars taste great.

And at the heart of it all,

two cups of rolled oats.

Oats are packed with fiber.

And once again,

that is key to keeping you nice and satisfied

when you eat these healthy granola bars.

Plus they have been shown to lower bad cholesterol

and be great for keeping your blood sugar

at a healthy level too.

I am going to pop these into the oven

at 325 degrees to toast them.

That is a secret to the best homemade granola bars.

While those toast,

we are going to combine honey and peanut butter,

which are going to be the bonding ingredients

for our toasted goodies.

When I was in my 20s,

I ate so many of those 100-calorie snack bars.

And guess what?

I was always hungry.

I would end up eating more

because I was so obsessed with the calorie count

instead of focusing on what actually sustains you,

which is that protein, fiber, and healthy fat,

all of which we are packing into this bar.

I'm stirring the honey and peanut butter together

over medium heat.

Honey is the only source of sugar in these bars.

They just need a little bit of sweetness,

none of that high-fructose, this, or that.

And then peanut butter is gonna provide

some of those nourishing omega-3s,

more protein, plus peanut butter is delicious.

These don't need to heat too long,

just until the mixture is smoothly combined like it is now.

Now that I've removed our mixture from the heat,

I'm gonna add some vanilla extract,

cinnamon, and salt to really bring out the flavor.

Although I don't work in a corporate office anymore,

I'm still really active,

and I still love to snack.

These healthy granola bars are a godsend.

Our nuts and oats are just about done toasting,

so I'm gonna go grab those.

These smell so good.

I'm telling you, guys,

toasting these makes all of the difference in the world.

My husband, Ben,

likes to take ski excursions by himself out west

to the Canadian and US Rockies.

And he is so smitten with skiing

he refuses to stop for lunch

because he doesn't want to miss any time on the runs.

He is a little crazy,

but he has discovered that when he brings

a container of these granola bars

with him in his backpack,

he has enough energy for that all day kind of activity.

I'm saving us a bowl here

by stirring it together right in the same saucepan.

Mix it all together.

You want the ingredients to get nice and evenly moistened.

Once they're combined,

you can add any other mix-ins

that you would not have wanted to put in the oven.

I'm adding dried cranberries.

This is also when you would wanna add chocolate chips

if that's your thing.

In addition to cranberries or chocolate chips,

you could use chopped-up dried apricots,

cherries, peanut butter baking chips.

This recipe is a great way to use up

the extra odds and ends in your pantry.

I am scooping this all

into an 8 x 8 inch pan.

I have lined it with some parchment paper

just to make sure that I can lift the bars out easily.

I'm gonna press these into a single layer,

and then we are going to bake them in the oven.

A really cool thing about these granola bars

is that some people like them crunchy,

some people like them chewy.

And you can control the texture

just depending on how long you bake them,

15 minutes will give you chewy bars,

20 minutes will give you crunchy bars.

Quick tip, whenever you need to line the pan

with parchment paper,

hold it in place with some simple binder clips,

total time-saver.

See you shortly.

Our bars are hot out of the oven.

We need to let them cool completely

before we fully separate them.

But this is a really cool trick

to make them slice more cleanly.

While the bars are still warm,

trace essentially what will be your line.

I am pressing all the way down through the pan.

This is kind of the precut.

And then once they totally cool,

they will separate much more neatly.

The bars have cooled completely,

so now I'm gonna lift them out of the pan.

Parchment paper makes it super easy.

And then now, we're gonna go back over the lines

that we started for ourselves,

makes a nice clean cut.

For another easy, healthy, homemade granola bar recipe,

check out my no-bake granola bars.

Just like these,

they are made of simple unprocessed ingredients.

They're super satisfying,

and they are ultra budget-friendly too.

Mmm, now that is well plated.