Homemade Peanut Butter Granola Bar Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What can I use to make granola bars stick together? ›

Honey – Along with the nut butter, it helps all these ingredients stick together! I love its warm amber flavor in this recipe.

While there are several different sticky ingredients that you can use, we've found that the binding agent that works the best is honey! When added to your homemade granola bars, honey acts as glue that sticks all the pieces together.

Clumpy Granola Method: Add Whole Wheat and Almond Flour

First, it adds a combo of whole wheat flour and almond flour (or almond meal), which act as a binder to hold the oat mixture together. Second is the bakeware. This recipe opts for a 9×13-inch baking pan instead of the standard rimmed sheet pan.

They save well (wrap and freeze them for up to two months), are more affordable than store-bought bars, and don't contain the long list of unpronounceable ingredients. Plus, your kitchen will smell like a bakery while these granola bars bake. Ahhhh.

While the oats and nuts bake, you can make the sticky glue that holds our bars together. You'll melt butter, honey, and brown sugar in a saucepan and simmer until the sugar dissolves. Mix this sticky mixture with the toasted oats and nuts. Allow everything to cool, and then toss in dried fruit and chocolate chips.

to not go overboard with your mix-ins otherwise your bars will fall apart (always happens to me..). that if your mixture seems too dry to add a bit of water (start with just 1 tsp) to get a stickier consistency. that if your mixture seems too wet to add more oats/oat flour/shredded coconut/or other dry ingredient.

Honey: Since it's a granola bar, refined sugar is not used in the recipe as it's meant to be healthy. So to provide appropriate sweetness, honey is used. Also, honey acts as the primary binding agent.

A few other common ingredients are whole nuts and seeds, grains like oats and crispy cereal (which offer fiber and a granola bar–like texture), cocoa powder or chocolate chips, and liquid sweeteners like maple syrup or honey, which help your bars stick together and taste delicious.

If your granola bars are falling apart or seem too crumbly, here are a few tips. Make sure you use honey or another sticky sweetener such as maple syrup in the liquid part of the recipe; this recipe calls for honey.

You need to stir the granola as it bakes to encourage even toasting. But, about halfway through the total bake time, just let it be. As the sugars caramelize, they cause the ingredients to stick together and eventually form those oh-so-desirable clusters.

Why didn't my homemade granola stick together? ›

If so, the reason that your granola isn't clumpy already is because it was deliberately stirred and broken apart while it was baking, and it might be possible to make it re-clump! Try putting a scoop in the microwave and heating it in 30 second bursts on high. If it starts to get sticky, you're golden.

GRANOLA (WHOLE GRAIN OATS, BROWN SUGAR, BROWN RICE CRISP [WHOLE GRAIN BROWN RICE FLOUR, SUGAR, SALT], WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT, SOYBEAN OIL, WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, BAKING SODA, SOY LECITHIN, NONFAT DRY MILK), CORN SYRUP, BROWN RICE CRISP (WHOLE GRAIN BROWN RICE FLOUR, SUGAR, SALT), SEMISWEET CHOCOLATE CHIPS (SUGAR, CHOCOLATE ...

Nut butter helps hold these bars together, and offers protein, healthy fat and fiber. You could use peanut butter, almond butter, or even pecan butter. For a nut-free option, sunflower butter will work.

Yes, granola can be eaten daily. As part of a balanced diet and if the portions are checked. Go for healthier options with less added sugars and saturated fats to get the most out of it.

In general, most homemade granola bar recipes will last up to a week when stored in an airtight container.

But really, add a beaten egg white -- make sure it's foamy and frothy -- to your granola after you've mixed it all together. The protein in the egg will help bind the oats together, creating addictive morsels. (Shhh: it's the secret to Deb Perelman's Big Cluster Maple Granola.)

Cut into desired size and put each into a bag. Roll up the bag and tape! Store in fridge. My review: Ours tasted great but were a bit crumbly, which is why I'd follow another recipe like the one I linked above.

Egg-free and vegan — Substitute 2 “flax eggs.” To make enough flax egg mixture for this recipe, mix 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed (or flaxseed meal) with 5 tablespoons water. Let set for 5-10 minutes before adding to the recipe. (Bonus: Using flaxseed will help your bars stick together even more tightly.)

Fortunately, there are ways to eat Nature Valley granola bars that prevent a little less of a crumble catastrophe. General Mills told Bloomer that eaters could try warming the bars up in the microwave to soften them first (but take them out of the package first).