No Bake Chocolate Granola Bars
These quick and easy granola bars make a great on-the-go breakfast or afternoon snack. Make a batch of these at the start of your week and have a healthy grab and go treat!
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2/3 cups sliced almonds
- 2 cups quick cook oats (or large flake oats pulsed in a food processor) (Note 1)
- 1/3 cup chocolate chips
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
Wet Ingredients
- 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter (Note 2)
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat toaster oven to 350 °F
- Line a baking pan with parchment paper and lay out sliced almonds in a single layer
- Place almonds in preheated toaster oven and toast for 5-7 mins flipping once (keep an eye on 'em cuz they burn easily!) (Note 3)
- Combine peanut butter, honey, vanilla extract in a measuring cup. Stir until well mixed
- In a separate bowl, add almonds, oats, salt, cinnamon and cocoa powder. Mix until well combined
- Pour the wet peanut butter/honey mixture into the dry almond/oat mixture
- Stir mixture WELL until ALL oats are moistened (its gonna take a little arm grease!) (Note 4)
- Add in chocolate chips
- Line a square pan with parchment paper up the sides (I use the same paper from toasting the almonds)
- Pour granola mixture into the square 8"x8" pan, spread out into an even layer as best as possible. (Note 5)
- Using the bottom of a glass, press down to firmly pack the mixture (cover the top of the granola with some parchment paper when pressing down to avoid sticking)
- Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
- Use the parchment paper to lift the bars out easily. Cut into square bars and ENJOY! (Note 6)
Notes
- OATS - quick cook oats are important to create a nice texture in these bars. If you have large flake or old fashioned oats, blitz them in a food processor before adding in to make sure they aren't too chewy.
- PEANUT BUTTER - you can use regular smooth peanut butter or all natural peanut butter. If using natural peanut butter, make sure you mix it well before measuring out (since it tends to separate). Add some additional honey and salt to taste.
- TOASTED ALMONDS - you can choose not to toast the almonds, but they add a wonderful smoky flavour to the bars. Be sure the almonds are not hot and cooled slightly before mixing. Don't be too fussed that they are not toasted evenly, since they will be thoroughly mixed after, it won't affect the overall flavour.
- MIXING - when mixing the dry and wet ingredients, it will seem there isn't enough liquid to wet all the oats at first. Keep mixing! Make sure there are no dry oats left so that the bars don't break apart and you don't end up with dry patches. If you're finding that you can't get all the oats moistened, feel free to add an extra tablespoon of peanut butter.
- PAN SIZE - I've used a 8"x 8" pan as well as a 9"x 6" glass storage container. Any container will do as long as it's about the same volume. Either size produces a bar about 1.5 inches thick depending how much you pack in the mixture.
- CUT INTO SQUARES - due to the softer texture of these bars, I recommend cutting into squares rather than bars
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!