These wholesome snack bars are loaded with nutrients and flavor, not additives like many granola bars on grocery store shelves. They’re simply sweet, salty, and filled with clean ingredients. Packed with oats, cashews, sunflower seeds, almond butter, flaked coconut, dried blueberries, and dark chocolate, these healthy homemade granola bars are the perfect grab-and-go breakfast or satisfying snack. They’re uniquely chewy and texture-filled with large chunks of fruits, nuts, and chocolate that you can actually see and taste with something different in every bite. Honey sweetens and binds all the ingredients together, while vanilla adds a sweet depth of flavor. Once you try your hand at these easy-to-make granola bars, you won’t go back to store-bought.
Makes 18 bars
Ingredients
Chewy Cashew, Coconut, Blueberry Granola Bars
2½ cups old fashioned rolled oats
1¼ cup raw unsalted cashews, roughly chopped
¾ cup unsalted sunflower seeds
4 Tbsp coconut oil
⅔ cup honey
⅔ cup creamy almond butter
¼ cup light brown sugar
½ tsp salt
1½ tsp pure vanilla extract
¾ cup dried blueberries
¾ cup coconut flakes
½ cup dark chocolate chips
Directions
Chewy Cashew, Coconut, Blueberry Granola Bars
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 10x15-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. Line with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the sides to lift the finished bars out, then spray the paper with non-stick cooking spray.
On a large baking sheet, mix the oats, cashews, and sunflower seeds together. Toast in the oven for 10 minutes, and then dump into a large mixing bowl.
Reduce the oven temperature to 300°F.
While the oats are toasting, combine the coconut oil, honey, almond butter, brown sugar, and salt in a small saucepan on low heat. Stir until the coconut oil and almond butter are melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
Pour the honey mixture over the oat mixture in the bowl. Add the dried blueberries and coconut and mix well until all ingredients are well coated with the honey mixture. Allow the mixture to cool slightly, and then add the chocolate chips and mix well. (Make sure the mixture is cool. Otherwise, the chocolate chips will melt.)
Dump the mixture into the prepared pan and press firmly into an even layer using wet hands.
Bake for 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool completely (about 3 hours) before cutting into 18 bars.
These granola bars sound fantastic—a wonderful blend of flavors like sweet blueberries and rich dark chocolate, with textures ranging from soft oats to crunchy cashews! I appreciate how they're packed with healthy ingredients like dried blueberries and almond butter. While munching on these, I've discovered that they provide just the proper amount of energy to power my project brainstorming or when I need help with a university assignment. What a terrific energy boost!