I was searching for a homemade granola bar recipe that was healthy and didn’t require baking. It was actually really difficult to find a recipe that wasn’t packed with sugar, even though these recipes still had far less sugar than most store bought granola bars I wanted something a bit healthier.

I found this recipe for no-bake granola bars from Made From Pinterest. I liked that the bars didn’t require turning on the oven, but they still had a bit more brown sugar than I liked. I tweaked the recipe a little bit and honestly I was making them to bring into work so the extra sugar was alright since I wasn’t planning on keeping them all for myself. They turned out chewy and delicious!

Ingredients:

2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup honey bunches of oats cereal (I used the Wegman’s brand)
1/4 cup chopped almonds
3 Tb + 1 tsp of coconut oil
1/8 cup agave nectar
1/8 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Mix the oats, cereal and chopped almonds together in a bowl
2. In a small saucepan over medium heat and melt the coconut oil.
3. Add the honey, agave nectar, brown sugar and salt.  Stir together then leave it alone as it comes to a boil.  Once the boil has reached all the way around the edges of the pan, begin timing.  Allow this mixture to boil for 1 minute and 30 seconds.  If you boil too long the bars might be a little crispy instead of chewy!
4. Turn off the heat then add the vanilla. Quickly pour this over the dry ingredients being sure to coat it evenly.
5. Then pour into a lightly greased 9×13″ pan.  Press down firmly.
6. Place them in the fridge for 20 minutes then cut to size.

The original recipe calls for puffed rice cereal, but I wanted something that would compliment the honey and almonds that I was mixing in. It would be fun to experiment with other cereal flavors.

I also want to try this recipe with protein powder to make them into more substantial protein breakfast bars!

My coworkers liked them! And they were easy to eat on the run!

This article was originally published on Cortni M’s blog, Yakka Fit. For more quick recipes, visit http://yakkafit.com. Featured image via.