Frozen Granola Bars
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We love Granola Bars in our house. Remember my recipe for a homemade granola bar that uses honey and sugar? Well, that recipe is great for traveling. To school, work, or wherever, it is a great snack to throw in your bag. Today I am going to share a recipe for a frozen granola bar!
This snack is a favorite in our house after school. It has good fats that will help keep my kiddos full until dinner and it has a little something sweet in there, too! These are really easy to make and fully customizable! Add whatever fruits and nuts and spices that you wish!
I like to mix all of my wet ingredients first. I find it easier to incorporate all of the goodness this way.
After I have my gooey mixture, I add all of the dry ingredients that I want to use.
Mix all of the ingredients thoroughly with a spoon or spatula. Your mixture will be wet and gooey.
Line an 8×8 baking pan with parchment and spread your mixture evenly, being sure to press down to pack it into the pan. Now all you have to do is pop it in the freezer and wait until it is firm. At least an hour.
When firm, remove the granola bar mixture from the pan.
I like to cut the bars in half and then cut into bar size portions. You might have some frozen bits break off during the cutting process, but they usually stick back together nicely.
I wrap all of my bars individually in foil and then put them back in the freezer for storage. We like to eat our bars straight out of the freezer. The texture of the frozen peanut butter and coconut oil is just divine. These will become completely gooey and melted at room temperature, so it is best not to throw one in your bag or your kid's lunch box.
In the summer, these are a perfect treat on warm days. Even still, we like to eat them anytime!
Frozen Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 1 ripe banana mashed
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1 1/2 cups oats
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup raisins or any dried fruit
Instructions
- Mix together the mashed banana, peanut butter, coconut oil, and maple syrup in a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.
- Press the mixture into a parchment lined 8x8 baking dish.
- Smooth with a spatula and put it in the freezer for at least an hour.
- When the bars are frozen, remove them from the pan and slice into individual bars.
- Wrap in foil and store in the freezer.
How would you make this recipe your own? What are your favorite ingredients?
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Do you cook or toast the oats? Or are they “raw”?
I put them in raw. I eventually want to try soaking and dehydrating the oats. That is on my to-do list! I have a lot on that list!
I soaked the oats last night and made them this morning – will let you know how they turn out. My son was asking to eat them NOW 😉
Yes, let us know!
So I toasted them for 10 mins – and it melted the chocolate chips – yet we tried them Sunday – and YUMMY!!!! Thank you for the ideas!!!!!
Great! I will toast mine next time, the coconut too! What a great twist.
These are, without question, my most favorite treats ever!!!! Can’t get enough…I have to force myself to not eat them all in one sitting. Thanks for sharing!!!
You are welcome!
this may be a silly question, but do i have to put them in the freezer?
could i just let them set covered?
and if i have to put them in the freezer, would i be obligated to keep them there until ready to eat? oh, and another question; do i have to let them defrost before eating? im sorry :/ im new at this!
You can eat them right out of the freezer…not thawing necessary. They need to stay in the freezer (or the refrigerator at the minimum). The coconut oil will melt at room temp and then you will have a big mess! These are meant to be a yummy frozen treat!
I was wondering…can I replace the coconut oil with butter? I don’t use coconut oil, but these sound yummy!
Not sure why it was posting your blog… Sorry about that.
Sure! A buttery flavor sounds delish! Let us know how they turn out.
Can I replace the maple syrup with something else? I rarely use maple syrup and find it expensive.
Sure…but it does have to be a liquid sweetener…so honey? Or a mix of honey and maple syrup? I am not a big brown rice syrup fan but I am sure that would do also.
I am definitely going to give these a try soon! They sound wonderful.
Thanks for stopping by the pool party to share.
Do you measure a 1/4c already melted coconut oil or a 1/4c solid coconut oil then melt it? I always wonder that when a recipe calls for coconut oil! Thanks!
Both would work. When my coconut oil is solid, I don’t bother to melt it first. 🙂
This looks absolutely yummy! Thanks for the tip about freezing, them, too. They’ll be great snacks for the kids–and for their mama. 🙂
I made these for a ‘cooking club’ session at my daughter’s school. Instead of nut butter, I used sunbutter (we can’t have anything with nuts) and it turned out great! I have also made these at home with almond butter, cashew butter and peanut butter. It is such a versatile recipe!
We made one batch with Enjoy Life chocolate chips and one with chocolate and raisins. They were all a hit!
My son is allergic to nuts, and doesn’t like sunflower butter because it’s “tastes like nuts”. Any idea on a replacement? Maybe more coco oil? Thanks!!
We don’t really love sun butter either. But, I will say when I swapped the peanut butter out for sun butter to bring to my daughter’s class (no nuts at school) they were a hit.
If you are going to do NO ‘nut or seed butter’ at all, I think you would need something thicker than coconut oil. Maybe coconut butter? and more bananas? I am not sure but let us know what you do and if it works! Thanks!
I made these yesterday and they are so good! Would it be ok to leave out the banana or would it need a substitute? What would work?
I don’t know. You need something to bind it all together. Puréed pumpkin or applesauce might work!
I’m not a chocolate fan….will see taste good without the chocolate chips? Thanks!
absolutely! You can really sub a variety of fixings…dried cherries, goji berries, whatever!!
Any ideas on defrosting the granola bars?? will there be any consistency and texture issues?
You eat them frozen. They don’t freeze solid. If they are defrosted they will be melted.
this is a nice twist. If i may offer an alternative….Dr Furhman has a similar recipe, but, no oil (good for those trying to lose weight and are avoiding oil). He adds several bananas and apple sauce to moisten instead of oil and then bakes them. He doesn’t add PB, but you can add the apple sauce, skip the oil, maybe try the PB, and then see if you can take with you if you’re looking for a bar to take with you or add to lunch box. I’m trying to try it without the oil, with the PB, lots of blueberries, and see if it still tastes good without baking.