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Homemade granola bars and are a great grab and go breakfast or snack
I’m not a huge fan of breakfast during the work week. I don’t particularly think of eggs or toast at 5:45 in the morning. My first thought is, “really? It’s time to get up for work again?” and the second thought is, “so, where’s my cup of coffee?” It’s just really hard for me to imagine eating anything that early in the morning. It’s like my brain hasn’t fully woken up to function the whole chewing and swallowing part of eating.
What I am a fan of? Grab and go breakfasts or snacks. That’s what I usually end up doing during work weeks. I grab a cereal bar and eat it at the office with a cup of coffee. It’s much easier and by the time I get to work, I’ve had 30 minutes to let the coffee get to work.
Not all breakfast bars are healthy though and I know those Quaker Chewy bars aren’t the greatest for you, especially for breakfast, so when I saw these homemade granola bars popping up amongst us food bloggers, I knew I had to give this a try.
They’re so addicting! I could’ve eaten the entire pan and probably wouldn’t have felt bad at all ;) I had some extra walnuts sitting around from a past baking project so I threw walnuts in here, but you certainly don’t have to because of nut allergies. You can even jazz it up with peanut butter chips and chocolate drizzle or with another nut or dried fruit. This, again, is another very versatile snack that you can easily manipulate to cater to what you want. Did I mention they were healthy? Well, probably not too healthy if you load up the sweets but I still say it’s better than store-bought!
Homemade Granola Bars: Chocolate Chips & Walnuts
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¼ cup (57 g) butter
- ¼ cup (85 g) honey
- ⅓ cup (73 g) packed dark brown sugar
- 2 cups (160 g) quick cooking oats, not rolled oats
- 1 cup (19 g) crispy rice cereal
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup (117 g) walnuts, finely chopped
- 4 tablespoon mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Lightly grease a baking sheet, set aside.
- In a large bowl, stir oats, rice cereal, and walnuts together, set aside.
- In a medium saucepot, melt the butter, honey, and brown sugar together until it comes to a bubble. Reduce the heat then cook for 2 minutes more.
- Add vanilla to the saucepot and stir.
- Pour the mixture over the dry ingredients and mix together until just moistened.
- Pour onto prepared baking sheet and press out to about 3/4 inch thick – if your sheet is too big, you can press them all to one half of the baking sheet to make them thicker. Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips and press them down lightly. Let cool on countertop until room temperature or for 2 hours, then cut into bars.
I just made these last month and I absolutely loved it! I didn’t add any nuts in mine but maybe I’ll make these again and throw them in there. And awesome tip about refrigerating them. Mine kind of fell apart so it was a pain to photograph them before they crumbled into disaster.
I am a breakfast girl, but it has to be Grab-And-Go. These look perfect.
aren’t these delicious? so glad we both stumbled across the same awesome recipe! yours look gorgeous, by the way.
I have to be at work by 5:30 some mornings, so quick breakfasts are totally on my list too! I love these & I can’t wait to try them. BTW- just wanted to say how your photography is BOMB now :)
Wow, thanks Nicole!! That means a lot :) xoxo
I’m with ya on the breakfast in the morning thing. I’ve been making huge batches of baked oatmeal and then freezing them for individual portions. These are on my list next!
mmm i need to make some homemade granola bars! i love snacking on these and it would be great to have so many on hand.
I need to make a whole bunch of these before our trip this coming weekend. I know I’m going to need a ton of grab and go snack type things. These are perfect :)
I can’t do breakfast in the morning either – – I’m out of the house by 5:45, so you can just imagine what time I’m up.
I normally just take something to work, and have it once I’ve settled in, but these would be perfect to take along with me.
I think everyone is going to have made these before I get around to it. I wanted to make some a year ago and still haven’t. Yikes! Best be moving it to the top of my list huh? lol Yours look fantastic Julie!
I’ve been meaning to try these, they look SO good! I love the Quaker bars, but haven’t had one in ages. I’m sure these would satisfy the craving :)