Dark Chocolate Granola Bars

These Granola Bars, are made with healthy ingredients including dark chocolate, oats and almonds. A delicious, good for you breakfast bar or snack. So tasty you’ll forget you are eating a healthy snack!

 

Why Granola Bars you ask? To tell the truth I like Granola Bars, my eldest daughter loved them and we would always have them in the house. But since she moved back to Toronto, I haven’t seen much of them.

So, in honour of my eldest much-missed-around-here and much-loved daughter, I’m sharing these easy dark chocolate granola bars. They’re made with oats, all-bran cereal, and of course lots of dark chocolate. The perfect breakfast treat or snack.

I know she can’t eat them but I figured the next best thing would be to give her the recipe and she can make them herself. Haha, she will like that! Because believe me, they are really easy!

Oats in Italy are quite large so I decided to use my trusty food processor and break them up a bit with the nuts and cereal. Worked perfectly.

Mix it all together with a few ingredients including honey and dark chocolate chips, and then bake them.

My daughter loves eating healthy and I have to agree Granola bars are a delicious way to eat healthy, especially these Easy Homemade Granola Bars. 

Ingredients

• Rolled oats (old-fashioned oats)
• Whole almonds – roasted then coarsely chopped before adding to the food processor other nut substitutions could be walnuts or hazelnuts
• All-bran cereal
• Butter – if you use unsalted butter then add a bit more salt
• Honey
• Brown sugar
• Vanilla – vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• Dark chocolate chips or dark chocolate chunks

How to roast nuts

Place nuts in a single layer on an ungreased baking sheet in a pre-heated 350F (180C) oven. Bake 5 to 8 minutes or until they are golden brown, remove immediately from the pan to cool before chopping.

How to Make Healthy Granola Bars

​Place the oats, nuts, and cereal in a food processor. Pulse a few times until the nuts are broken down into smaller pieces.

Combine the butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil on the stove, stir, and then take it off the heat, let cool.

Pour the butter mixture over the dry ingredients in a large bowl, again let cool 8-10 minutes.

Then mix in the chocolate chips, press the mixture into the prepared square baking dish. Sprinkle some chocolate chips over the top, if desired.

Bake the bars in a pre-heated oven. Let them cool completely before slicing. If you like you can chill them in the fridge which will make them easier to slice.

Recipe Tips

For this recipe, I use unsweetened dark mini chocolate chips but any chocolate chips you like will work. Or try other baking chips like butterscotch chips or peanut butter chips.

You can also use different nuts like walnuts, pecans, or peanuts. Add some chopped dried fruit like apricots, cranberries or raisins, or even some unsweetened shredded coconut! Why not throw in some chia seeds?

Some people like to add sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds, I would probably blend them a couple of times to break them up.

Instead of honey, you can use the same amount of pure maple syrup.

I use a 9-inch square baking pan, but you can use a bigger or smaller one depending on how thick you like your granola bars. You will need to adjust the baking time if you want thicker bars.

Line the baking pan with parchment paper to make it easy to lift the bars out in one piece before cutting into slices.

Adding or substituting with different mix-ins can change the flavors and texture of the bars. So switch them up and give it a try!

What you need to make this recipe

• Baking sheet
• 9 inch square pan
• Food processor or Blender (if needed)
• Large bowl
• Small pot

I don’t have a food processor. Is there another way to make them?

If you don’t have a food processor, I recommend using quick-cooking oats instead of rolled oats. You can crush the cereal in a resealable bag with a rolling pin, and roughly chop the nuts with a sharp knife. Then, just combine them all in a bowl.

How to store granola bars

Store dark chocolate granola bars in an airtight container in the fridge. They will last for 6-7 days in the fridge. You can eat them directly from the fridge or bring them to room temperature first.

How to freeze the bars

Place the cut completely cooled bars in a freezer safe container, separate the layers with parchment paper. They will keep for up to 2 months in the freezer. Thaw the bars before consuming. They only take about 20-30 minutes to thaw so they can be thawed on the counter.

Homemade granola bars are so much better than store-bought and not hard to make. Give them a try soon and enjoy!

More Easy Snack Recipes

• Italian Roasted Chickpeas
• Homemade Italian Baked Potato Chips
• Italian Taralli

 Updated from April 4, 2016.