A NUT FREE granola bar that stays together and doesn't need to be baked?? IT'S TRUE!!! Soft and chewy but holds together perfectly! Cocoa flavor throughout with a nice little crunch from some brown rice crispy cereal!
Super easy to make too! All you need is a few ingredients and about 10 minutes of your time to prepare. After ingredients are melted and stirred together you pour them into a small baking dish and refrigerate for 30 minutes!
You may not have ever seen this type of honey before but I found it at Whole Foods Market right next to regular honey. I chose it for another recipe but ended up using it for these bars. It's a bit thicker than regular honey and helps the bars stick together well. You can certainly use regular honey if that's all you have on hand.
See?? Thicker, not so loose. This recipe is an adaption from my daughters American Girl Doll magazine if you can believe it!! It called for peanut butter and honey of course. And when my boys saw them ...OH how they wanted some, but couldn't because of their nut allergies! I had to make something they could enjoy! (By the way they absolutely love their version!) My daughters came out very tasty, but were a bit more soft then the ones I made with the creamed honey. But also what I use to replace the honey is what really holds it all together once it refrigerates a bit.
You can leave them alone to sit for an hour and gel together or refrigerate for 30 minutes then they will be much easier to cut into bars or squares.
Perfect for a snack anytime or on the go as a breakfast, it does contain fab ingredients. 🙂
Quick Note on Substitutions:
You can easily substitute the coconut butter for any nut butter of your choice. Sunflower seeds can be replaced with chopped nuts. Be advised that if you add additional ingredients such as raisins or chocolate chips you may need to increase honey and coconut butter. If you are gluten free, make sure to purchase gluten free rolled oats.
Nutrition Info [16 Squares]
Calories per bar: 98* Fat: 6g* Cholesterol: 0mg* Sodium: 32mg* Carbs: 11g* Fiber: 3g* Sugars: 4g* Protein: 2g* Points+: 3*
No Bake Chewy Cocoa Granola Bars {Refined Sugar, Gluten & Nut Free}
Ingredients
- 1 cup crispy brown rice cereal
- ¾ cup rolled oats gluten free
- ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ cup ground flaxseed
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds
- 2 packets powdered stevia
- ⅓ cup coconut butter melted
- ⅓ cup creamed clover honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a large bowl stir together the first 7 ingredients until well blended.
- In a separate microwaveable bowl add the coconut butter, honey, and vanilla. Melt for 1 minute and stir completely until well incorporated.
- Pour into the dry ingredients and mix well.
- Line an 8 by 8 baking dish with parchment paper hanging over opposite sides. Spray the parchment paper with nonstick cooking spray.
- Pour the mixture into the baking dish.
- Spread to edges and press down with a spatula to even off the top.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Lift by parchment paper onto a cutting board.
- Slice into squares or bars.
- Wrap individually to store.
Notes
Nutrition
About Brenda
Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.
Nicole
Made these tonight but used regular creamed honey rather than clover. I left out the powdered stevia but found these to be too sweet. I do love the taste and if i could tone down the sweetness it would be perfect. If i cut the honey in half i fear i wouldnt have enough "stick". Is clover honey a milder sweetness?
Brenda
I've not used creamed honey there certainly maybe be a difference in sweetness. I agree that reducing the honey might not keep them together. Did you use any powdered stevia? Maybe if you do reduce the amount of honey, increase the amount of coconut butter.
Nicole
Hi Brenda thank you for your reply. No, i did not use any stevia. These are really good, just to sweet for my tastes. I had also thought about reducing the honey and making up for it with the coconut butter. Will definately give that a try!
Amy
Fantastic recipe. I have made this many many times and it is my go to granola bar recipe for the kids school lunches. I do not use cocoa but instead cacoa and because it is a lot more bitter I started with 1/8 of a cup and 1/8 of a cup of coconut sugar. Already in the past two weeks I have increased the cacoa and reduced the coconut sugar but it's just a matter of time till my kids get used to the cacoa versus the high artificial sweetness of store bought granola bars. I also use cacoa nibs in place of sunflower seeds. My kids school is nut and seed free. I dont use clover honey either, I find it too runny. I use organic honey bunny creamed raw honey which holds up much better.Thanks for this recipe. I couldn't be happier.
Brenda
THANK YOU so much for sharing your adaptions, good to know!!
Angela
How do you calculate the nutritional values such as carbs, fats, and sugars
Brenda
I am currently paying a small fee through the website My Food Diary to calculate accurate nutrition info.
Carmin Wesley
My kids LOVED these. I had to do a few substitutions (used butter for coconut butter, skipped sunflower seeds (only since I didn't have on hand), the coconut I had was sweetened and omitted Stevia (don't yet have it). Luckily they still turned out well. My next batch will be much closer to the recipe and likely just as great! Thanks for the recipe.
Brenda
Glad you liked these and the kiddies too!
Dawn
Is coconut butter different than coconut oil??
Brenda
Yes much different. The oil can be used to replace other oils but doesn't have the same texture as the coconut butter which is more consistent with the texture of peanut butter, thick and creamy.
Jenn
Wow, these look fantastic! I had to search for some of the ingredients online, but I cannot wait to try to make them!
Any thoughts on substituting out the shredded coconut out for something else? We are not big coconut fans here in my house. I'm swapping out the butter for almond butter already.....
Thank you! 🙂
Brenda
Well you really can't taste the coconut much at all but I would say peanut butter would be the best substitute for that.
Caitlin
Can't wait to try these. Did you find that the rice cereal turned soggy if you didn't eat these up right away? This happened in a different recipe when I tried to make homemade chocolate Crunch bars like the candy bar. Thanks!
Brenda
Not at all. We had them over the coarse of a few days and they were still perfect.
Amy
I've found whipped honey at my local grocery store. Is there a difference between creamed and whipped honey?
Brenda
I'm not sure, I've never found whipped honey. I will look for it the next time I go to the store.
Chris
I tried making these and they didn't stick together in bars. It came out more like chocolate granola, in bits and chunks. Tasted great, but they didn't hold up as bars. I did use peanut butter in place of coconut butter. The liquid mixture was quite thick and there didn't seem to be enough of it for all of the dry ingredients. Could that be the issue? I definitely want to try it again, as I they tasted great. Thanks!
Brenda
Did you change anything else besides the coconut butter? My daughter and I made made with peanut butter at first and they held together. Maybe regular honey didn't work for you?
Chris
I did substitute mixed nutes for sunflower seeds, but that was it.
I used creamed honey, which is what is listed above. Should I be using regular honey instead?
It's also possible that I mismeasured my ingredients. When I make it again, I'll be sure to double-check.
Thanks for the response!
Mark G
I've made 3 batches so far. What I learned (for me):
- Used Fat free natural almond butter; unable to locate coconut butter.
- Stevia too sweet. Eliminated it on recent batch, perfect.
- Clover honey is still a bit too sweet, may reduce that and add more almond butter next batch.
- Bars hold together better when I began putting oats into my coffee grinder to reduce size. Speaking of which, I may add in some coffee!
Johanne
These are super good!!!
Lisa C
I've used coconut oil quite a bit, but never coconut butter. What is the difference? And could the oil be used instead?
Thanks!
Brenda
Coconut butter is creamy like peanut butter, it's the meat in concentrated form. Coconut oil is the oil extracted from the meat, they are quite different in taste and texture, but another reader commented above that she used coconut oil and it worked fine in this recipe.
Ty-Leigh
Mary, this website has a good comparison chart. http://www.cookingwithstevia.com/stevia_conversion_chart.html
Mary
Look delish! Just bought liquid stevia. Do you think I could sub a few drops of that for the packets? Is there a general rule of thumb for liquid vs. packet? Do you know roughly how much is in a packet because I also do have some very old powdered stevia. So old it doesn't have an expiration date! Yikes! Should probably toss it!
Cathy
Made these tonight with reduced fat peanut butter since I could not find coconut butter, they are so good. My son is going to love them! Will make again and again!
Cathy
Made tonight with reduced fat peanut butter since I could not find coconut butter.....SO good! Love these and know my son will too! Will make again and again.
Sue
My group loved them. But each time I make these I double them except for the stevia, I only use 1 individual packet and they turned out not so sweet. I just love this recipe. I try different butters and nuts each time and GF chocolate chips and they taste so good. I've made them at least 5 times using all GF ingredients. Everyone loves them. Thanks for something I can have for dessert. I warm them up like a brownie and put a dab of FF Greek yogurt on them. What a treat.
Bridget Carl
Could you use Rice Krispies, you can buy them gluten free.
Sue
I made these today with natural peanut butter and creamy honey and all the other ingredients. I like them but seem really sweet. I doubled the recipe so wasn't sure if it was the 4 packs of stevia ( which I'm inclined to think it was) or the double of honey???
I'll find out today when I try them out on our group we meet with what they say.
Brenda
I haven't tried doubling it myself. Hope they taste ok for your group!
Jackie
What is brown rice cereal, anything like rice krispies?
Brenda
yes exactly just with brown rice
Tennille
What brand of crispy brown rice cereal did you use? Thx
Leah
I used envirokids brown rice cereal. Turned out awesome!!! This is what I used...http://www.wegmans.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10052&catalogId=10002&productId=372255
Brenda
I think it was Nature's Path. But you can many good ones at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's.
Karen
They look very yummy & i'm looking forward to making them, but I'm not sure how much stevia is in a packet? Do you mean individual sachets of powdered stevia? Thank you
Brenda
If you click the link for the stevia it will take you directly to the packets I used with descriptions.
Bethany
These look amazing! We also have peanut allergies in our house, so I know this recipe will be a favorite. Where do you find sunflower seeds that are peanut-free? I haven't had any success with that so far, so any advice you can offer will be a big help. Thanks so much!
Brenda
they were a Whole Foods brand. My boys can have "traces" in the label.
Bethany
Thanks!
Heather
Bethany, I have found that the David's brand shelled sunflower seeds are peanut-free. My husband has a peanut allergy and they are the only sunflower seeds he will eat!
Tiffany
So you used a gluten free rolled oat? As i am a gluten allergy person, even rolled oats cause a problem. Just noticed your recipe said rolled oats but not gluten free rolled oats.
Brenda
Thanks for catching that, I meant to edit it and had forgotten so I appreciate you mentioning it.
Christy Williamson
These look great! Any ideas on substitutions for the Crispy Brown Rice Cereal?
Thanks!
Brenda
More rolled oats, or another type of cereal ground or crushed.
Christy Williamson
I made these with almond butter and they are delicious! I used some cereal that wasn't ground (Perky's Crunchy Flax cereal), and I think that's why they aren't sticking together very well. Next time I'll just use more oats.
Laura @ Mommy Run Fast
These sound amazing! Love the creamed clover honey in it, too.
Brenda
thank you!
anne
Hi there.
I love the recipe, but i would like to know if it also holds together when using rice syrup instead? i dont eat sugar and honey still counts as sugar.... i hope i dont have to make an exaption here 😉
Brenda
I have not tried it with rice syrup and that is still a form of sugar as well. http://www.livestrong.com/article/281340-brown-rice-syrup-nutrition-information/
Rhiannon
Hi,
I made these with rice syrup, rice bubbles and butter and didn't have any flaxseed so replaced with 1/8 cup of coconut flour and they held together beautifully 🙂
Very very yummy