Healthy Homemade Granola Bars

Healthy Homemade Granola Bars made with crunchy sunflower butter, mixed seeds, dried cherries, shredded coconut, and oats are super easy to make. This recipe for chewy granola bars can be enjoyed for breakfast or a snack. No need to bake, just mix the ingredients together, press into a pan, chill, then eat!

When I go camping, hiking, or fishing I always pack a granola bar. Actually when I do any activity that I know could result in me becoming hungry before a meal, I take a granola bar.  So, naturally when I partnered with SunButter this month I decided to create healthy homemade granola bars to take with me on all my outdoor adventures.

SunButter’s Natural Crunch Sunflower Butter is one of the key binders for these No Bake Granola Bars, along with natural honey and coconut oil! I also added a tsp of vanilla and Mexican Cocoa for a little more flavor pizzaz. Trust me, you won’t have any leftovers. In fact, I bet you make a second batch shortly after the first. 🙂

SunButter offers an array of spreads using roasted sunflower seeds. Each serving contains 7g of plant-based protein and more vitamins & minerals than most nut butters. This makes it a great tasting fuel for anyone! That’s why all of you outdoor lovers need to make a batch of chewy granola bars. The Natural Crunch Sunflower Butter pairs nicely for this recipe, since it has no added salts or sugars. Plus it just tastes amazing!

Tips for Healthy Homemade Granola Bars

• Mix all your dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
• You can substitute any dried fruit in place of the cherries.
• Any flavor Sunbutter will do. Just be sure to stir before measuring.
• Heat the sunflower butter, honey, and oil together just enough to combine and stir into a smooth mixture. Do Not over heat or boil.
• Add the vanilla in after the sunflower butter mixture is smooth.
• Use a rubber spatula to scrape the sunflower mixture out of pan and into bowl of dry ingredients.
• Fold until well mixed and coated.
• Use a 8×8 inch or 9×9 inch square baking pan to form the granola bars.
• I prefer to run a long strip of parchment paper across each side that overhangs. So there is parchment paper overhanging on all four sides. Then I place an additional square of parchment paper on the bottom of the pan.
• Lining the pan this way helps prevent sticking, and makes it easier to lift the entire square out and place on the counter for easy cutting.
• Use the rubber spatula to even out the granola mixture in the pan.
• Chill in the fridge until firm. Remove and slice into even pieces. I chose to cut into squares, but you can cut into rectangles if desired.
• Once cut, store your granola bars in the fridge in an air tight container. Stack them with parchment paper squares in between each bar to prevent sticking.

*This Recipe is Sponsored by Sunbutter. All thoughts and text are my own. Thank you for supporting the companies that help make Two Cups Flour possible.