Chewy Cherry Almond Granola Bars
These granola bars are soft, chewy and packed with flavor!
Servings: 9 servings
Calories: 339kcal
Ingredients
- 2 cups old-fashioned oats
- 1 cup chopped or sliced almonds
- 1 cup puffed brown rice cereal
- 1 cup dried cherries chopped (or a mix of raisins and cherries)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup honey
- 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13×9″ baking pan with foil and coat well with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
- Toss the oats on a sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.
- Transfer the oats to a large mixing bowl and stir in the almonds, puffed rice, and dried fruit.
- Place the butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, almond extract, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for a minute, then pour over the toasted oatmeal mixture.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Wet your fingers and press the mixture firmly and evenly into the pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 300 degrees F, until light golden brown. Cool for at least 2 to 3 hours before cutting into squares. Serve at room temperature.
Nutrition
Calories: 339kcal | Carbohydrates: 55g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 7mg | Sodium: 152mg | Potassium: 197mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 35g | Vitamin A: 765IU | Vitamin C: 2.1mg | Calcium: 68mg | Iron: 2.7mg
Your wonderful photos tell the story here, little bits of dried fruit surrounded by grains.
Who could resist?
:)
Wow those look store-bought they’re so perfect!
I have made granola bars in the past, however they resemble more of a cookie than a bar. This very thing was on my to do list this summer and I am loving that these are gluten free (will use gf oats in mine). Lovely!!! Thanks!
These look amazing. I wonder what the calorie count would be…
I put the recipe into a nutrition app that I have and told it that I wanted to make 24 servings, they were 111 servings a serving/bar. Hope that helps! I haven’t made them yet though so I guess we’ll see what happens when I do!
Thanks for doing this!! :)
Ohh fun! I’d try to make s’mores ones just to be silly and sweet… oooh or cookies and cream kind, that’s my fave. Also it’s great these are from scratch but are chewy like the store-bought ones!
These look so great! Can’t wait to try.
Looks so good! I’m going to have to add some dark chocolate mini chips though ;-P
I have never thought to make my own granola bars, but I definitely want to try this! I took the liberty of entering the ingredients into MyFitnessPal recipe builder, and for 16 bars (2.25×4.3 inches) each would be 187 calories based on her recipe. I hope that helps and doesn’t step on any toes. :)
*sorry, I had the measurements off: 3.25 x 2.25 inch bars <3
Chewy granola bars are one of my favorite things :) I’m going to make these, but sub cranberries for the cherries, since that is what I have on hand.
On Fridays, I share my favorite food finds in a series called Food Fetish Friday – and I love this post so I’m featuring it as part of the roundup (with a link-back and attribution). I hope you have no objections and I always love dropping by to see what you’ve created…
I can’t wait to try these! Perfect for snacks!
Just stumbled onto these, and they look fantastic! I’m always on the hunt for granola or granola bar recipes, and this one looks both doable and delicious.
Side note, what sort of camera do you use? Your photos are gorgeous.
These were amazing! I was skeptical, but tired of always waiting for my husband (who, by the way, perks up and gets excited every time I make one of your creations) to go to BJ’s to buy granola bars in bulk, so here we are.
They are much more filling and tasty than what we usually have, and will make them again for sure, but I have a question/problem: Mine are VERY sticky and do not stay together after cutting. Did I not cook them long enough? Did I not cook the honey mixture enough? I had to wait overnight to cut them because I started them at 9pm, so I know I didn’t cut them too soon so…do you have any advice for me?!
Thanks, we think you are great!
These look great! Just yesterday my wife and I were looking at the labels of the “healthy snacks” we have been putting in our kids’ lunches. We were amazed at how many ingredients we could not pronounce. With this recipe we will know what we are feeding them.
Thanks!
These look good and I am always looking for a better alternative to store bought granola bars which can get expensive and aren’t always very healthy… How would you store these, do you think you could freeze them?
These are great! I made them with strawberry flavored craisins, which are my favorite. Thanks for the recipe!
I made these yesterday but made a few changes based on what was in my cupboard. A honey shortage resulted in adding some maple syrup, cranberries instead of cherries, and I was having a chocolate craving so there is some of that too. They are absolutely fabulous! Thanks for a great recipe! Here’s my version: http://3hungrymonkeys.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/chewy-gooey-granola-bars/
How many calories a bar
Hi Joy,
I’m sorry–I haven’t calculated the nutrition information for these bars. If you’re interested in a good online calculator, the one on SparkRecipes.com is great.
Andie
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Has anyone tried shipping these? One of my friends loves granola bars, and I’m sure he’d love these. I just question how well these keep in terms of being in the mail for a few days.
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These bars are delicious! I added 1 cup of uncooked quinoa and toasted it in a pan first. Added a really nice “Crunch”!
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