These homemade healthy peanut butter chocolate chip granola bars are so easy to make and are a wonderful treat to give your kids for a late afternoon snack. With the healthy fats and protein from the natural peanut butter and cashews, as well as the health benefits from the raw honey, you can be assured that this is a truly nourishing snack. (Do not give honey to a child under 1 year old.)
It can be difficult trying to improve your families diet especially when it comes to snacks. Store bought snacks are so convenient, especially if you are already cooking the majority of your families meals. However, snacks can be some of the worst foods for health and wellness with all of the sugar and vegetable oils packed into them.
Thankfully a lot of the foods that we’ve grown accustomed to purchasing from the grocery store are incredibly simple and easy to make at home from scratch. With only a few minutes of hands on work, you’ll have delicious healthy peanut butter chocolate chip granola bars that your children will be excited to eat.
What you will need to make these homemade peanut butter chocolate chip granola bars
- Oats will form the base of these granola bars. We will be using rolled oats with 1 cup of oats blended into flour and 3/4 cup left whole. If you can get organic then do it. Non organic oats are often sprayed with glyphosate to speed up the drying process.
- Natural peanut butter is absolutely delicious and good for you, too. It’s definitely worth it to get away from the highly processed “peanut butters” out there. If you are living in the Southeast of the US, peanuts are also very easy to grow! So, adding more peanuts to your diet would make a whole lot of sense if you are living in a warm, humid climate 😁
- Raw honey. If you’ve only ever had the honey from the store that comes in the little bears, then you have never really had honey. In my opinion. Raw local honey is on a whole other level then the knock off, pasteurized version from the store. And, as I mentioned above, it’s full of health benefits, including vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
- Salt. Our family loves Redmond’s Real Salt. Real foods, that haven’t undergone tons of processing, taste amazing.
- Vanilla Extract. Again…. use the real stuff 😊
- Shredded Coconut. You can use sweetened or unsweetened in this recipe. It’s also a great way to use up some coconuts if you’ve got a couple trees in your backyard.
- Cashews. I’ve found that my kids can get really picky when it comes to nuts. However, chopped small they hardly seem to notice. Use unroasted cashews. Raw would be great but unless you grow them yourself, or know someone who does, then you will be getting pasteurized cashews.
- Chocolate chips. Use whatever chocolate floats your boat. The less ingredients in it the better.
How to make no bake, healthy, homemade granola bars
The great thing about these granola bars is that they are no bake. Mix all the ingredients together, roll it out, chill, and finally cut into bars.
- First, measure out 1 cup of oats and blend it into a powder. Then add that plus an additional 3/4 cup oats. unground, to a large bowl. Measure out all remaining ingredients and add to the bowl. You can also chop the chocolate chips into smaller pieces if you’d like, or use mini chips.
- Mix until it forms a ball. You may need to use your hands to get everything evenly incorporated.
- Line a baking sheet with wax paper and place the granola mixture in the center. Top with another piece of wax paper. Using a rolling pin, cup, or just your hands, spread the granola mixture until it forms a rectangle, about 1/4″ thick.
- Once you are done rolling it out, place the pan in the fridge to chill for about half an hour. Then cut into bars about 1″x 4″. This does not need to be precise at all.
- Store in an airtight container or bag in the fridge for a week… if they last that long. 😉
These peanut butter granola bars are so easy to make. You can customize these however you’d like. Fell free to add dried fruits to the mix, or different nuts such as almonds, pecans, or walnuts. You could also make these with maple syrup if you’d prefer that over honey. Or, perhaps maple syrup is easier for you to come by, especially for you northerners.
I’d love to hear what combinations you’ve come up with in the comments below. If you’ve tried making these, how did it go? Did your families enjoy it?
If you love peanut butter recipes, and enjoyed these granola bars, then you will love these peanut butter balls!
Healthy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
These granola bars are so easy to make. They're also packed full of proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals, making this a nourishing snack for your family.
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups rolled oats, divided
- 3/4 cup natural peanut butter
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup cashews, chopped
- 1/3 cup chocolate chips, mini or chopped
- 1/3 cup shredded coconut, sweetened or unsweetened
Instructions
- Using a food processor, blend 1 cup of oats into a powder. Add blended oats plus the remaining 3/4 cup oats to a large bowl.
- Measure out cashews and chocolate chips and chop. Add them and remaining ingredients to the bowl.
- Mix until the ingredients form a ball.
- In between two sheets of wax paper, roll out granola mixture, using a rolling pin, cup or your hands, until it forms a large rectangle and is about 1/4" thick.*
- Chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before cutting into 1"x 4" bars. Store in an airtight container, or bag, in the fridge for a week.
Notes
I like to roll out the "dough" on a large baking sheet, rolling out the mixture as wide as the sheet. You might need to fold over some uneven edges until it forms a more or less straight edge.
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