No Bake Granola Bars

Soft and chewy No Bake Granola Bars are made with tart cherries and sliced almonds. They’re loaded with wholesome ingredients and a homegrown superfruit, making them the perfect breakfast or on-the-go snack.

Use any leftover dried tart cherries in these Cherry Scones.

Ingredients

• Nuts & Seeds: Sliced Almonds and Pumpkin Seeds give these bars a nice crunch, texture, and healthy fats. If you have extra time you can lightly toast the nuts and seeds for extra flavor.
• Dried Tart Cherries: Adds natural sweetness and chewiness. Cut the cherries so they spread out evenly.
• Quick Oats: These give the granola bars fiber and structure. Quick oats are the best in this recipe.
• Honey and Almond Butter: These bind all the ingredients together and make the bars moist. Throw them in the microwave for about 30 second to help them mix together easier.
• Vanilla Extract: Makes everything more flavorful.
• Dark Chocolate: Adds a rich, sweet topping. Drizzle over cooled bars to avoid melting into the mixture.

How To Make No Bake Granola Bars

1. Pulse ingredients. Add sliced almonds and pepitas to a food processor. Pulse to break them up a bit as large chunks will cause crumbly bars (You can coarsely chop everything if you prefer).
2. Chop dried tart cherries. Using a sharp knife, give the cherries a coarse chop. You can add them to the food processor, but they’re a bit sticky and seem to fare best when chopped by hand.
3. Combine dry ingredients. Once pulsed, combine the nuts, seeds, and cherries in a large bowl with the salt and oats. Mix it all together to combine.
4. Combine wet ingredients. In another bowl, combine the almond butter and honey. Microwave this mixture for 30 seconds then add the vanilla. Stir ingredients together until smooth.
5. Toss everything together. Toss the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until everything is well coated (I like to use a hand mixer for this part — the mixture is thick and sticky!). Transfer to a pan and press down to create a firm layer.
6. Add a drizzle of dark chocolate. Then store the No-bake Granola Bars in the fridge until firm!

Enjoying Tart Cherries

Unlike other superfruits, tart cherries are available year-round in a wide range of forms, including dried, frozen, canned, juice, or juice concentrate. There are many different ways to enjoy them beyond these granola bars! For lots more tart cherry recipes, be sure to check out choosecherries.com.

No Bake Granola Bar Notes

• As tempting as it is to dig right in, these bars need to set up in the fridge before being cut. The time in the fridge allows the chocolate to harden and the oats to soften and absorb the moisture from the almond butter and honey.
• Store the granola bars at room temperature in an airtight container, or wrap them up well and freeze them for long-term storage (up to 3 months).
• These bars can easily be made gluten free. Just be sure the oats you are using are certified gluten-free and not processed in a factory with gluten/wheat ingredients.
• After you mix everything together, add more almond butter or honey if things seem too dry or crumbly. Alternatively, add more oats or nuts if the mix seems too heavy.
• Use good-quality dark chocolate for the topping: I like getting a dark chocolate bar with sea salt in it; this adds a very subtle touch of salt to the top of these No-bake Granola Bars – delicious!

More Nutritious Snacks

• No-Bake Energy Bites
• No-Bake Breakfast Cookies
• Breakfast Fruit Tarts
• Greek Yogurt Scones
• Healthy Blueberry Muffins

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5 from 2 votes

No Bake Granola Bar

By Chelsea Lords

Soft, chewy No-Bake Granola Bars are packed with tart cherries, sliced almonds, and wholesome ingredients—perfect for breakfast or a quick snack!

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes minutes

Servings: 16 bars

Equipment

• Baking pan 9 x 9-inch
• Parchment paper
• Food Processor
• Hand mixer optional

Ingredients 

USMetric

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 cup sliced almonds
• ▢ 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds or pepitas, shelled and roasted
• ▢ 2/3 cup dried tart cherries
• ▢ 1-3/4 cups quick oats
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1 cup creamy almond butter
• ▢ 1/2 cup honey
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 1/4 cup dark chocolate coarsely chopped from a dark chocolate bar

Instructions 

• Line a 9x9-inch pan with parchment paper. Leave an overhang for easy removal of bars.
• Add sliced almonds and pumpkin seeds to a food processor. Pulse for about 7–10 seconds (on chop setting), until the nuts are broken up. Add to a large bowl. With a sharp knife, coarsely chop the dried tart cherries (they don’t chop well in the food processor). Place in the bowl with the nuts. Add in the quick oats and salt. Stir together.
• In another bowl, add creamy almond butter and honey. Microwave for 30 seconds. Remove and pour in the vanilla extract. Stir for about 30 seconds to 1 minute or until well blended.
• Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Use a hand mixer (or your hands) to mix/knead the mixture together until combined. This takes a little effort, but it will come together. Once the ingredients are well combined, pour into the prepared pan and press firmly into place with your hands. Use the bottom of a 1 cup measuring cup to really pack the mixture together in an even layer. Press firmly to avoid crumbling later.
• Coarsely chop a dark chocolate bar and place it in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 15 seconds, stir for 15 seconds, and if needed, return to the microwave and repeat for another heat/stir cycle until smooth and melted. Using a spatula, transfer the melted chocolate to a small bag and snip off the corner (or use a piping bag fitted with a #3 tip). Drizzle chocolate over the bars.
• Refrigerate the pan for 30 minutes to an hour or until chocolate is hardened and the bars are firm. When you’re ready to slice, lift the bars out of the pan by using the parchment overhang. Use a sharp knife to cut into 16 bars (7 vertical cuts and 1 horizontal cut down the middle).

Video

Nutrition

Serving: 16bars | Calories: 249kcal | Carbohydrates: 24.8g | Protein: 6.8g | Fat: 15.5g | Sodium: 2.8mg | Fiber: 3.8g | Sugar: 16.4g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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