Six years ago, Dad and I planned an epic baseball trip. I poured over the official MLB schedules in March and eventually pinpointed a week where multiple Midwestern teams all played at home. We saw 5 games in 7 days—including Tom Glavine’s historic 300th win at Wrigley Field!—and only drove across 4 states in the process.
With that many miles of farmland crops and counting cows, we heavily relied on gas stations for snacks to get us through the trip. While Dad seemed satisfied with a bag of peanuts or some sunflower seeds, I craved fresh fruit and lean protein. Since AMPM’s and ARCOs rarely stocked those, I wandered around for a bit before grabbing granola bars instead.
My limited options included Nature Valley, Nutri-Grain, and Clif bars, with only a few flavors of each. (Think honey, strawberry, and chocolate chip.) Despite a slightly higher sugar content than I normally like, they were still somewhat healthier than the salami and hot dogs at the check-out counter!
Since our current trip spans 3 cities and 2 days of driving, I planned ahead (just like for breakfast!) and baked my own snack bars. I made them soft and thick like some of my favorite cookies, with a subtle sweetness from honey and a slightly nuttiness from whole wheat and peanut flours. They’re completely clean-eating friendly, and if Dad’s excited expression is any indication, we won’t have to stop at a single gas station this week for snacks!
Just like cookies can be crunchy or soft, so can oat bars! These healthy, feel-good bars are meant to be eaten for breakfast or a snack, and they’ll keep for up to a week if stored in an air-tight container.
- Combine the raisins and water in a microwave-safe bowl, and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Microwave on HIGH for 45 seconds. Let the raisins sit for at least 30 minutes to continue soaking up the liquid.
- Preheat the oven to 300°, and lightly coat an 8”-square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Add the raisins and remaining water to a food processor or blender, and pulse until fairly smooth. (There may be a few larger chunks remaining; that’s okay!)
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats and next 5 ingredients (through salt). In a separate bowl, whisk together the puréed raisins, agave, honey, creamy peanut butter, and egg white. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet in 3 parts, stirring just until incorporated. Press the dough into the prepared pan, and bake at 300° for 17-20 minutes, or until the edges just begin to turn golden. Cool in the pan to room temperature before slicing into 10 bars.
Notes: It’s better to use quick-cooking oats, but you can make your own from old-fashioned oats! Add the old-fashioned oats to a food processor, and pulse 8-12 times or until coarsely ground.
For a vegan version, substitute your favorite liquid sweetener for the honey (the thicker, the better!) and ½ tablespoon Ener-G + 2 tablespoons warm water for the egg white.
The tapioca flour (or tapioca starch—they’re the same thing!) helps keep the bars soft. You can substitute 1 tablespoon of cornstarch for the 2 tablespoons of tapioca flour, if you prefer.
Amy, I just finished a run with my daughter (who, although only 11, makes me eat her dust every, single time!), and I wish, wish, wish that I had one of these gorgeous Oat Bars to munch on right now! Can’t wait to make them! Oh – and have a fab time with your Dad! So awesome! One year, long before I had kids, my dad and I did a mini version of your trip, and flew to Chicago to see games at both Wrigley and Comiskey. We even saw our Indians play, narrowly missing a thrashing by the local fans! 😀
Thanks Shelley! I’d be even slower than you. Elderly ladies using canes can walk faster than I jog! Wrigley is a beautiful stadium! We actually had a similar experience today — we’re Oakland A’s fans and saw them play the Orioles at Camden Yards this afternoon! They lost though, so the fans didn’t seem too upset by my cheering. 😉
ALWAYS plan ahead..best way to go! These look delicious and as always your photography set up is gorgeous!! I love that you and your dad do this, what a fun time! Just last night I bought myself a Mojo bar because I wanted something sweet for dessert..they are quite tasty but definitely sugary so I treat them as my dessert! HA I try to tell myself that makes it ok..better than a Snickers right!? Or whatever a dairy free equivalent would be..:)
Aww thank you Brittany; it means a lot to me that you like the photos! 🙂 Mojo bars are definitely better than Snickers! Especially the PB Pretzel ones. They’re my absolute favorite, even if they don’t have any dark chocolate. (Now if they just added a few chocolate chips, it’d be the best “snack” bar ever!)
Um, YUM!?!? This is EXACTLY the kind of snack I’d like to reach for when I have the after-work munchies but it’s too early for dinner… especially with those nutrition facts! And would be an awesome grab-n-go breakfast for a certain someone I live with who can’t seem to get out of bed more than 10 minutes before he leaves for work… Now, just got to go find that elusive PB2!
Oh boys… Mine is so similar! 😉 As for PB2, I’d say check the larger Whole Foods near you and see if they have it. I’ve also seen it at one Walmart (but just one; most don’t carry it), and other “fancier” (aka not Safeway) or larger grocery stores may have it too!
Mmmmm these sound delicious and I just love the way you’ve styled them!
Thank you Krissie! We’ve already finished off the first batch — time for another round!
Uau this is amazing..Love it! Thanks for recipe 🙂
You’re welcome!
This is listed as ‘vegan’ and contains 1 egg white? Please explain this to me!
In the “Notes” section beneath the recipe directions, there are substitutions to make a vegan version. I’m sorry if that wasn’t more clear! 🙂
Oh, now I feel stupid 😉
Thank you for clearing that up. I was a little upset because I thought I would not be abled to make these.
It’s okay Mary! I tend to gloss over the fine print too. 😉 Don’t forget to substitute for the honey too (agave or maple syrup are my votes!), and I really hope you enjoy the bars if you make them!
I would like to know if something like this is possible and just as yummy without PB. My son is allergic to peanuts. A lot of the clean eats snacks have PB in them or notes.
I could imagine it’d be rather frustrating for you and your son to see a healthy treat but not be able to make it! Is he allergic to almonds? I haven’t tried this specifically, but I’m almost positive that if you swapped almond flour for the powdered peanut butter (aka PB2) and almond butter for the regular peanut butter, the recipe would still work and taste just as good!
Unfortunately, he just tried a single pistachio and we ended up in the ER room. He and I have decided “no nuts” , too scary and life threatening to try. I really wish he could eat almonds because I could sub much easier with the products you mentioned in several recipes. We just can’t risk it. Coconut milk works well for the milk sub but ?? What else I don’t know except applesauce.
That’s so scary Karen! What about sunflower butter? A friend of mine enrolled her son in a school that doesn’t allow any nuts whatsoever, but because sunflower butter is made from seeds, kids don’t tend to be allergic to that as much.
For these bars, you could probably eliminate the peanut butter altogether and simply sub in some extra honey or a touch of oil. And since I treated the powdered peanut butter as flour, you could also substitute regular all-purpose flour or your favorite gluten-free flour instead to make them safe for your son.
I really hope you’re able to avoid scary nut-allergy situations in the future Karen!
My son is also allergic to peanuts. You can easily substitute for soy butter which is a staple in my house. Just a note, we just got our 15 yr old allergic son into a peanut desensitization program in Connecticut. It will hopefully protect him against accidental exposure which is our greatest fear!
Thank you for sharing Lori! I hadn’t heard of soy butter; it’s great to know that there are other options for people with nut allergies. So exciting about the peanut desensitization program too — so happy for you and your family!
Thanks Amy! Any suggested substitutes for the powdered peanut butter?
You’re welcome! The powdered PB acts as like flour (similar to almond meal). I’d suggest substituting almond meal, or if your son is allergic to all nuts, then try substituting whole wheat flour instead. If going the whole wheat flour route, I’d recommend adding 6 tablespoons instead of the full 1/2 cup at first. I’m not entirely certain how absorbent powdered PB is compared to whole wheat flour, and it’s always easier to add a little more flour than it is to take some away! 🙂
HI there! I was really excited to try this recipe, but I must say they did not at all work for me. It felt like maybe a liquid was missing, even though I added extra water to the raisins, and more peanut butter than called for. The uncooked mixture was a little dry, but stuck together a bit like a crumble topping did, so I hoped for the best. After baking it was just crumbly and cardboard flavored!
Those you have in the pictures clearly were not this dry, so I am unsure what I did wrong. I subbed in all honey for the agave, and used your cornstarch substitution. I was hoping for a nice, dense oatmeal bar, and I’d love to give this another go. . .any tips?
I’m sorry Tabitha; that must have been really disappointing! It sounds like your bars had too many dry ingredients. It’s really important to measure the oats, whole wheat flour, and tapioca flour correctly using the spoon-and-level method. When I scoop them from the container using a measuring cup or measuring spoon, I end up with about 1.5x as much! (Here’s my Baking Basics page, for a quick refresher!) Also, honey is thicker than agave, so using all honey may have a teensy tiny impact as well. But I think if you try remaking the bars being extra careful with how you measure the dry ingredients, they should turn out better! 🙂
Hey Amy, can I substitute peanut butter with something else, I am allergic to peanuts 🙁
Thank you for your help, Mara
I haven’t tried it myself, but almond flour and almond butter may work as substitutes. I hope you enjoy the bars if you try them Mara!