Sunday, March 24, 2013

Chewy No-Bake Oatmeal Bars





Recently I've been so obsessed with all things oatmeal. Okay, not even recently. It's been a long time since I do not want all that unhealthy store-bought stuff anymore. That's just because  I can make myself much more delicious treats at home which are healthy. That means I can eat tons of them without feeling guilty.

So this time I made no-bake sweet bars with quick oats and coconut oil. I'm so happy that I discovered coconut oil, really. It's just perfect for making raw fudge and bars like these. I chose quick oats because I wanted my texture to be more fudge-like and chewy. And of course, I never forget to add some dried cranberries to my oatmeal or granola bars. Although there are so many possible variations which I'd love to try!

Chewy No-Bake Oatmeal Bars

2 cups quick oats
2 tbsp ground almonds
4 tbsp unsweetened coconut flakes
100g dried cranberries, chopped
50ml coconut oil
6 tbsp honey

1) Grind 1 cup of oats and mix with almonds, coconut and remaining oats. Mix in dried cranberries.

2) In a small saucepan over low heat, melt honey and coconut oil. Pour into the oat mixture and mix well.

3) Press into a 10x20cm loaf pan and refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Cut into squares. Enjoy!!

Recipe by collecting memories


41 comments:

  1. Yum that looks delectable!
    I love how there's no baking involved too.

    wakeupdaisy.blogspot.com

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  2. These sounds like the perfect grab-and-go breakfast =)

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  3. I made these tonight and they are so delicious. I was looking for a healthier way to make granola bars and this recipe was perfect. I like the idea of grinding the oats and almonds, it makes the bars even chewier. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Thanks to you. I'm so glad you liked them!

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  4. do you have any ideas about a substitute for the almonds? we have so many nut allergies to manage -- and these look great!

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    1. Of course. You may add additional 2 tablespoons of ground oats instead of almonds or 1 tbsp oats + 1 tbsp coconut and you won't feel any difference!

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  5. What a nice color!!!

    Last year I bought som oat bars with almond, cherries and vanilla in Germany. I liked them, but here I have not seen similar!

    Yours looks delicious, and I can use dried cherries for them, if I try :)

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    1. You reminded me of oat bars I once bought in Cyprus. They were sooo amazing! I'm still trying to recreate the recipe and when I will, I will share the recipe! And for these, cherries sound like a nice addition :)

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  6. Yummm! Do you know a substitute for the Coconut milk?

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    1. As far as I know, for coconut milk you may substitute almond milk, cow's milk. I guess there just must be a similar consistency so heavy cream should also work. Google sais that yogurt and evaporated milk also works, but I haven't tried it!

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    2. Where do you see coconut milk? I see Coconut oil.

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  7. Now this is something really really delicious!! I loved this recipe and the picture is so good….it makes me drool!

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  8. These are Fantastic!! Easy and a really nice guilt free snack. Using dried Blueberries next time and agave.
    Thank you!!!

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    1. Thanks! I'm so happy you enjoyed them!

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  9. what about a sub for the honey for someone who can't have fructose? These would be perfect otherwise as no wheat which I can't have either!

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    1. Umm.. I actually never tried substituting honey here so I don't know how other sweeteners would affect the taste and texture. Maybe you could try maple syrup? I think you could experiment with these!

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  10. I made a double batch of these to eat throughout the week for breakfast. They exceeded my expectations of homemade 'granola' bars! They were SO easy to make - probably came together in 5 minutes.. then I've just kept them in the refrigerator and cut off bars as I need them.

    My alterations included adding a few heaping tablespoons of peanut butter to the oil (went a little light on the oil). For mix-ins I used craisins, chopped dried apricots and chopped cashews. YUM!! I also really enjoy oats so I used a mix of old fashion and quick oats. This may have made them a bit more crumbly.. next time maybe 1/4 old fashion and 3/4 quick.

    Thank you for the recipe and inspiration!

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    1. Thank you so much! I'm very happy you enjoyed these bars. And your alterations seems very appealing. Hope you'll find more recipes here :)

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  11. How many calories are there in one piece of that bar?

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    1. If you cut the whole batch into 6 bars, there are approx. 266 kcal in a bar. But this is just an approximate calculation!

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  12. is the coconut absolutely needed? Just ran our of coconut and I'd like to make them in the am...ideas?

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    1. If you add coconut you can actually taste it slightly. But if you don't have it, you can substitute coconut with anything else. It could be ground almonds, other nuts or just a few additional tablespoons of ground oats.

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  13. Just made these, added a little orange zest, very good. Next time might decrease the coconut oil a bit and add a bunch more cranberries, I love how the tartness of the cranberries pops out against the sweetness of the bar.

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    1. What a great idea of adding orange zest! I believe it goes perfectly with cranberries as they both have tartness and make the bar less sweet. Glad you liked these!

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  14. Thanks for the advice re: coconut, first batch without coconut was kind of crumbly but the family devoured that batch in less than a day, second batch tastes much better with coconut. I am going to try with maple syrup instead of honey now and see if that works...ran out of honey!
    and we need more than one batch!

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    1. Great! I'm glad your family liked these :) And it's interesting to try adding new ingredients, maple syrup should taste great. But I have one doubt. Will maple syrup help these stick together as well as honey does? Just considering, but maybe it will!

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  15. Questions: how long would these keep, either in the fridge or in a tin? They sound so delicious, I'd love to make them. So happy Pinterest led me here! :)

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    1. These could definitely keep for a long time! Personally I've kept these only for 2 days because they disappeared very soon. But all the ingredients can be stored at room temperature and I believe you could keep these for a few weeks. :)

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  16. Hi, I was wondering if you had an idea for a good substitute for coconut oil? It's not something that I ever buy and is hard to find in my area. Thanks!

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    1. Hi, actually there's no good substitute for coconut oil but you could try replacing it with butter. I believe it would change the flavour and might affect the consistency as well. To enhance the coconut flavour which comes from coconut oil, add more dried coconut and slightly reduce the amount of oats. Hopefully this helps! Good luck with experimenting!

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  17. Conversion 100g and 50ml to US measuring cups or tablespoons?

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    1. 50ml of coconut oil is a little bit more than 1/4 cup of coconut oil. 100g dried cranberries is 7/8 cup (you can use a little less than 1 cup)

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  18. These look yummy! , I am obsessed with Oatbars , I always bring them to school , but they probably arent healthy. I will make these soon! Can you also maybe put a Dark chocolate chip version of this please?? Thank you :)

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  19. I made these tonight (followed recipe to a t) and they were super crumbly, so i added 6tbsp of peanut butter. Flavour is awesome! They are in the freezer now so hopefully they will stick together!

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  20. Did not use coconut flakes bc I do not like and I did not have almonds but I had chunks of chocolate I needed to use so threw that in with a dried berry mix I had with the oats in blender. Came out so delicious! I love finding recipes I have most ingredients for and adding or subtracting what I like/dislike. Def was confusing with ml and grams.. just converted ml of coconut oil to about 3TBS and grams of dried berries to a good hand full or so! :)

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