by Snack Ideas for Kids
When it comes to snack time for the children, I frequently reach for easy options like cut up fruit, yoghurt, or maybe rice crackers spread with butter and Vegemite. If we have friends visiting during morning or afternoon tea, I love to make a batch of pikelets which are always a hit with the children.
Homemade Granola Bars
Lately, I have been experimenting with Homemade Granola Bars, primarily because I have a big bag of rolled oats which needs using up. And when I stumbled across some ideas for a no-bake granola bar, I knew I was onto something good.
Granola Bar Recipe
This Granola Bar recipe contains only five ingredients! And what’s more, this is a no-bake recipe!
It takes next to no time to mix the ingredients together, and they take just a few hours to set in the fridge.
These granola bars started out life plain, which worked really well as an afternoon snack for the children with some dried fruit on the side.
Naturally, the evolution of these granola bars went on to include dried fruit in the mixture and, recently, I thought I would add chocolate chips to make them more of a treat.
Cereal Bar
As you can see, you can use this granola bar recipe (also known as cereal bars) as a blueprint and play around with the ingredients to suit your tastes, or just to make things a bit different now and then.
What I particularly love about this recipe is the use of coconut oil; it gives the bars the delicious taste of coconut, although there is no coconut added.
Cooking with Coconut Oil
My local supermarket sells jars of coconut oil alongside the usual oils and vinegars, but health food shops will also stock coconut oil.
Coconut oil has been in the media a lot lately – some say that it is good for you, whilst others suggest it is not as healthy as perceived. My view is to consume everything in moderation for a healthy diet.
Healthy Granola Bars
Right now, I take much comfort in knowing that there is a tray of these Homemade Granola Bars in the fridge, which means that snack time over the next few days is taken care of.
Homemade Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 50 g (¼ cup) coconut oil
- 250 g (2 cups) rolled oats
- 50 g (¼ cup) dark chocolate chips, plus more for decorating
- 150 g (½ cup) honey
- 90 g (⅓ cup) smooth peanut butter
Instructions
- Melt the coconut oil in a medium saucepan and let it cool to room temperature.
- Line a baking tray with some baking paper, and lightly grease the sides with some coconut oil.
- Place the rolled oats and chocolate chips into a large mixing bowl.
- Add the honey and peanut butter to the coconut oil and whisk until everything is combined.
- Pour the liquid ingredients into the mixing bowl and mix everything together.
- Press the mixture into the baking tray and use your finger tips to even out the mixture.
- Sprinkle some chocolate chips on top and lightly press them into the granola mixture.
- Place the baking tray into the fridge for 2-3 hours, or overnight, to firm up.
- Keep the tray in the fridge and simply cut out slices when you wish to serve.
Kitchen Notes
- SERVE COLD
These slices are best served cold, straight from the fridge, otherwise they will become too soft to hold. - VARIATIONS
Substitute the chocolate chips for chopped dried fruit of your choice, or even use a combination of chocolate chips with dried fruit. - CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.
Did you make this recipe?
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This recipe was first published on 18 June 2017. It has been updated with more comprehensive recipe notes.
Yum! I love quick and easy snack recipes like this! Perfect for a little weekend meal prep!
Thanks, Liz!
These granola bars look too delicious to be that simple to make. I love cold granola bars so I’ll definitely have to try these for myself.
I’m not too familiar with cold granola bars, but gosh they are good during this hot weather we are having at the moment!
We do a version of no bake granola bars at my home too and they’re always a hit! Yours look spectacular! I bet snacktime will be a hit!!
The children absolutely adore these no-bake granola bars. My son wants to help me make them next time, which shouldn’t be a problem as the recipe looks childproof 🙂
granola bars are such a great snack food and they are always better when they are homemade. These look delicious
I agree that they are better when homemade. I love being able to control the sugar-content 🙂
These bars look amazing – love that you’ve used such simple ingredients to make something delicious!
Thanks, Rupal! Yes, these are basic pantry ingredients in our home. So simple!
I love how simple these are and they look SO delicious!
Thanks, Emily!
Yum! Love this idea for kids of all ages 😉 Some coconut flakes would be great in these too.
Yes, I’ve tried it with dessicated coconut, and it’s totally delicious. Although I love how the coconut oil gives these bars a lovely coconut taste too 🙂
This looks incredible! Yum!
Its fantastic! This looks so delish! Thank you for this great recipe!
These granola bars look delicious and so simple to make! A great way to use up leftover granola. I think chocolate chips are a really nice touch to add that extra bit of sweetness. Honey is a great natural sweetener too – do you think that maple syrup would work in this recipe?
Hi Marie,
Yes, you could definitely substitute the honey for maple syrup in this recipe. In fact, I have done that a few times myself. I’ll update the recipe shortly. Enjoy!
I like this recipe but I have to convert to dairy free ingredients. If you have any more dairy free recipes I would love it if you could send them to me please. Thank you
Maura Fay