Name: Homemade Granola Bar Recipe
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 12
Cuisine: International
Ingredients: 2 cups of old fashioned oats {rolled oats}, about 225 g; 1/2 cup almond, about 45 g; 1/2 cup walnut, about 45 g; 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, about 35 g; 1/4 cup raisin, about 40 g; 1/4 cup goji berries, about 25 g; 1/4 cup shredded coconut, about 18 g; 1 tbsp cacao nibs, optional; 1 1/2 cups of sugar, old-fashioned brown sugar is preferred, about 165 g; 30 g water, which is 2 tbsp

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Homemade Granola Bar using organic old-fashioned oats, superfood nuts, seeds, and dried fruits is nutritiously delicious. The enticing dark brown hue is directly from Chinese old-fashioned handmade brown sugar, also known as “black sugar” {黑糖}. Such a must-have energy boost superfood snack for everybody and everyday.

homemade granola bar recipe {superfood yumminess}

What ingredients are excellent for a homemade energy granola bar?

homemade superfood granola bar ingredients

These organic rolled oats are my go-to old-fashioned oats. I also like their steel-cut oats, and use them to make my everyday detox porridge.

For nuts, almonds, walnuts, and pistachios combination works out great. For pistachios, I found these organic shelled & split pistachios, which have a lovely green hue and are excellent for making all kinds of snacks.

Pumpkin seeds are an excellent addition to this superfood snack bar. They are super rich in minerals such as manganese, magnesium, zinc, and iron. Pumpkin seeds also contain loads of anti-oxidants and are very high in fiber.

For dried fruits, the raisin and goji berry combo works out amazingly well. The goji berry also gives the homemade granola bar a beautiful bright red color.

Additional superfood ingredients that are exceptional to go into the homemade granola bars include coconut shreds and cacao nibs.

For sugar, I like the old-fashioned Chinese brown sugar the best. They have a rich dark pigment and taste & smell wonderful. I use it to make the traditional Brown Sugar Rice Cake too.

Needless to say, you can use other types of sugar too. For health benefits, I recommend using organic unrefined cane sugar, organic turbinado sugar {also known as sugar in the raw}, or organic dark brown sugar or light brown sugar. The type of sugar you use mandates the ultimate color and taste of the granola bar.

old-fashioned Chinese brown sugar {Hei Tang 黑糖}

How to make healthy and delicious granola bars at home?

Tip No.1 is to roast old-fashioned oats, nuts, and seeds in a cast iron wok

You can certainly toast them in the oven. However, the stovetop cast iron wok fire-roasted oats, nuts, and seeds taste so much better and save time too.

It takes about 10 minutes to toast the rolled oats. Turn the heat on medium and spread the rolled oats out as evenly as you can as a thin layer covering the cast iron wok base.

roast rolled oats in cast iron wok stovetop

For the first 3 minutes, you don’t have to do anything, just let the wok preheat the rolled oats. For the next 7 minutes or so, use a pair of bamboo spatulas to toss and flip the oats from time to time, until the rolled oats appear slightly brown and smell nutty.

Nuts and seeds take about 5 minutes to roast using the same method.

toasted old fashioned oats in cast iron wok

Tip No.2 is to melt & burn the sugar properly for an outstanding homemade granola bar

Spread the sugar as evenly as you can across the bottom of the hard anodized frying pan into a thin layer. Then drop 2 TBSP of water in the middle of the sugar. This helps the melting process.

Turn the heat to medium and let it cook for about 5 minutes. Remember not to touch the sugar during this process, and just let the heat gradually melt the sugar and then cook the sugar to the extent that the whole thing is bubbling in bubbles. So when do you know it is done? Keep an eye on the center of the pan and wait until the center portion reaches a full-blown bubbling state.

cook and burn sugar in the hard anodized frying pan

Tip No.3 is to immediately mix the burned sugar with the rolled oats, nuts, seeds, and dried fruits

This is the part you will have to do quickly while the sugar is still in a hot liquid state. If you have experience of using a hot glue gun. This is a similar situation. You will need to act swiftly and bind everything together while the sugar is pliable.

Make sure you have all the ingredients ready and add them to the pan immediately after the sugar is properly burnt. Turn off the heat of the pan, and use a bamboo spatula and a silicone spatula with each hand, no stop fold and mix to ensure the ingredients are fully wrapped by the sugar. The bamboo spatula provides the needed support, while the silicone spatula helps scrape the pan clean.

Keep in mind that the sugar will quickly cool down and start to crystalize. You want to complete the mixing before that.

mix roasted rolled oats, nuts, seeds with burnt sugar in the hard anodized frying pan for homemade granola bars

Last but not least is to form homemade granola bars

Pour the still-pliable mixture into a glassware lined with non-bleach parchment paper, and top it with another piece of parchment paper. Then immediately start to continuously press until it is compacted and flattened. Pay attention to corners and edges.

This recipe makes a full pan of 9×13 rectangle glassware.

pressing homemade granola bar in the glassware

Wait until it cools to room temperature and then cut it into bars. Enjoy a naturally delicious superfood energy bar!

Homemade Granola Bar Recipe

Yield: 12 servings

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Additional Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Homemade Granola Bar using organic old-fashioned oats, superfood nuts, seeds, and dried fruits is insanely delicious and nutritious. Naturally vegan, and loaded with all-natural nutrients, this is the everyday energy bar for everyone.

Ingredients

2 cups of old fashioned oats {rolled oats}, about 225 g
1/2 cup almond, about 45 g
1/2 cup walnut, about 45 g
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, about 35 g
1/4 cup raisin, about 40 g
1/4 cup goji berries, about 25 g
1/4 cup shredded coconut, about 18 g
1 tbsp cacao nibs, optional
1 1/2 cups of sugar, old-fashioned brown sugar is preferred, about 165 g
30 g water, which is 2 tbsp

Instructions

Roast Rolled Oats, Nuts, and Seeds In advance:

Gather all the ingredients.
Roasting oats, nuts, and seeds in a cast iron wok on a stovetop fire is an easy, healthy, and tasty way to toast those delicious superfoods. Dried fruits including raisins, Goji berries, shredded coconut, and cacao nibs do not require prior toasting.
I usually toast rolled oats separately first and then toast the nuts & seeds combo together.
When roasting, first spread out the ingredients evenly across the work, turn the heat to medium, and let it cook for 3 minutes. Then use a pair of bamboo spatulas to toss and flip the ingredients until they look slightly brown and smell nutty. For oats, it takes an additional 6 minutes or so. For nuts & seeds, this may take an additional 3 minutes.
Place the toasted ingredients on a plate and set it aside to cool down a little.
Chop the almonds into halves and walnuts into quarters.

Melt & Burn the Sugar:

Prepare a 9x13 inch rectangle glassware, line it with the non-bleached parchment paper and have another piece of parchment paper ready, which will be used to cover the granola mixture on the top.
Add the sugar to a 14-inch hard anodized pan, spread out as evenly as you can, and then drop 2 tbsp of water in the middle. Let the water flow to the edge.
Turn the heat to medium and just let it cook for about 5-7 minutes, or till the whole thing including the center is bubblling. Remember it is extremely important not to stir/touch sugar at all during the proces, otherwise the sugar will become sandy and will not have the crystal shiny binding effect.
Turn off the heat and immediately add all the prepared ingredients {roasted rolled oats, nuts, seeds, along with dried fruits} to the pan. Quickly non-stop fold them with the melted/burnt sugar until combine nicely.
Pour the mixture to the glassware lined with parchment paper and then cover it with the other piece of parchment paper. Immediately press and flatten the mixture as much as you can using both hands/palms. Pay attention to the corners and edges. Use fingers to press down around edges and corners.
Wait until it cools down to the room temperature and then cut into bars. Store in a glass cookie jar sperate them with parchment paper. And then enjoy as healthy energy snacks for the next 2-3 weeks.

Notes

The general rule of thumb is to use the same volume amount of rolled oats vs. nuts/seeds/dried fruits. For this recipe, use 2 cups of toasted old-fashioned oats and 2 cups of toasted nuts/seeds/dried fruits combo.
Recently I started to use old-fashioned hand-made black sugar in the brick form. When using this type of sugar, double the sugar to 60 g. Try to break down the sugar brick as much as you can. But don't sweat if they are too hard to chop, add the water and simmer them in the pan to melt.