Gluten-Free Homemade Granola Bars

My girls are allergic to nuts which means I have to be careful of what I feed them. I’ve been in search of safe granola bars for them to eat for years, but tasty, wholesome, store-bought, nut-free granola bars that don’t have excess sugar are hard to come by. However, I can now make Homemade Granola Bars that meet our needs exactly! And what was even more exciting was that Little Sis was eager to help. This Little Epicurean Adventurer just LOVES to help in the kitchen – and actual HELPS!

Little Sis really liked using my Pampered Chef’s Food Chopper, though it was a bit loud and it tired out her little arm. She’s chopping like a little pro despite, don’t you think? The happy chopper. Just love this funny little thing.

The granola mix with all of its yummy goodness

Cut up ’em up after fully  they’re FULLY cooled

Taste testing – her favorite part. This is her second serving!

I’ve been making homemade granola bars for years now but recently added a new ingredient to them – Cheerios! Undoubtedly, Cheerios are a tried and true cereal. I remember fondly my girls picking them up with their little baby fingers and gumming them down. They’re still great anytime and anywhere: at breakfast in milk, as a snack on the couch while watching tv, or in the toy room while playing with friends! I love that they don’t generate many crumbs, except when their bowl gets tipped over!

Homemade granola bars with cheerios, you ask? YES, they’re delicious, they’re nut-free for my nut allergic girls and they can be made gluten-free as well. My girls love them, especially Big Sis, which is a big win because she’s my picky one! While she loved how I made them before, she said adding Cheerios to the mix made them EVEN BETTER!

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Homemade Granola Bar with Cheerios

Adapted from Dr. Yum's Granola Bars with Cherries and Chocolate Chips

Course Snack

Cuisine American

Keyword gluten-free, granola, nut-free, snack

Servings 20 1″ x 4″ bars

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup cooking oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons ground flax seed meal
• 2 tablespoons wheat germ omit if making gluten-free
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups oats old fashioned, NOT quick – and if you are gluten-free, make sure to check the labels
• 2 – 3 cups Cheerios depending on how soft/crunchy you want your bars to be: 2 c soft, 3 c crunchy!

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Farenheit and line 13×9 baking dish with parchment paper.
2. Whisk cooking oil, vanilla and honey in a large bowl and mix thoroughly.
3. Add flax seed meal, wheat germ, coconut, brown sugar, chocolate chips and salt into wet mixture and stir.
4. Add the oats and Cheerios, mixing well, making sure the oats and Cheerios are evenly coated.

5. Place granola into prepared baking sheet and press into pan evenly, so it's about 1 inch thick. Check out a link to this technique below: Cooking Tip #1: Smushing sticky stuff like cookie dough into a pan

6. Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned.
7. Cool  minutes and cut into bars, roughly 1 inch wide. Cool an additional 15 minutes before handling to allow granola to further harden.
8. Store in a container layered with parchment paper or wax paper, in a cool, dry place.

9. Makes about 20 (1 x 4") bars.

Recipe Notes

Here are just a few cooking notes/tips:

1. 1. The granola bars pictured here were made with just chocolate chips. I tried so many iterations of various berries and raisins all which got got a big thumbs down from the girls, so here it is, with just chocolate chips.
   2. I used Quaker Oats oatmeal initially (in older pics) but I’ve since switched to Trader Joe’s Rolled Oats which are larger and give the bar more substance.
   3. I used parchment paper here, but I’ve also made them using veggie oil spray which also works great.
   4. Be sure to really squish them flat in your pan so they are nice and compact so they will stick together well when you are ready to remove them from the pan.
   5. Keep an eye on your bars at around the 20 minute mark. They tend to get crispy fast!
   6. Make sure let them fully cool before you cut them or they may fall apart.

Here are just a few cooking notes/tips:

1. The granola bars pictured here were made with just chocolate chips. I tried so many iterations of various berries and raisins all which got got a big thumbs down from the girls, so here it is, with just chocolate chips.
2. I used Quaker Oats oatmeal initially (in older pics) but I’ve since switched to Trader Joe’s Rolled Oats which are larger and give the bar more substance.
3. I used parchment paper here, but I’ve also made them using veggie oil spray which also works great.
4. Be sure to really squish them flat in your pan so they are nice and compact so they will stick together well when you are ready to remove them from the pan. Here’s a tip for pressing that messy granola into a pan: Cooking Tip #1: Smushing sticky stuff like cookie dough into a pan. Nice title, huh?
5. Keep an eye on your bars at around the 20 minute mark. They tend to get crispy fast!
6. Make sure let them fully cool before you cut them or they may fall apart.

Homemade Granola bars pack great in lunches, too!

And there it is. I must add that writing up this particular post got me a little choked up because it made me realize how much I miss cooking w/ this little girl. These pix were taken when Little Sis was in half-day pre-K last year. Now that she’s in all-day Kindergarten, we just don’t get to enjoy these moments as often. It just emphasizes how quickly time goes by and how I really need to try to treasure each and every moment with my girls while they are still “little”, sniff. <3

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Christine, aka happyvballgirl : )

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Note: Originally published on 12/05/2012.

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