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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 13x9 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. 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.