On Wednesday morning, I awoke to the gentle pitter-patter of raindrops gently hitting my window. I sighed, pulling the covers up to my chin and seriously contemplating whether I could spend the entire day in bed. Less than 24 hours earlier, the sun had been shining so brightly that our outdoor thermometer read 70° and I had pulled on a pair of short for the first time this year!
Crazy California weather.
The dismal gray clouds quickly seeped into my mood, and by lunchtime, I was practically ready to move to Hawaii! (Well, slight exaggeration. But only slight.) While pouting and editing photos at my desk, I felt my cell phone vibrate next to my elbow. I glanced down at the notification, halfway expecting to see a forgotten text or Twitter alert, and did a double-take.
“MLB At Bat—OAK vs SF: Game starting.”
A smile crept across my face and I slowly began bouncing up and down in my chair like a little kid on her birthday. Spring Training had officially started… Baseball is back!!
(A short side note for those of you who may be new to my blog: I love baseball more than any other sport, and I told my dad as an 11-year-old that I wanted to visit all 30 MLB stadiums with him. We’ve been to 22 so far!)
Completely forgetting about the torrential downpours outside, I gleefully texted two of my friends—old coworkers from my previous job—the exciting news. Despite each of us going our separate ways (one to Industry, one to a Post-Doc, and me to blogging), we still stayed in touch, mainly because of our shared fanaticism for baseball.
For the next 20 minutes, messages flew back and forth: a bit of banter, a little teasing, and a lot of catching up. We’d barely talked since the Red Sox won the World Series in October! By the time the thunder threatened to start rattling the windowpanes, my cheekbones hurt a little from so much smiling.
Baseball always brightens my day!
And this sweet snack will definitely do the same for you! Full of fruity flavors, these Chewy Raspberry Apple Granola Bars taste fresh and bright, with a simple oat backdrop and comforting kiss of cinnamon. Containing just 7 healthy ingredients—most of which you stash in your kitchen already!—these wholesome, clean-eating bars are an easy and inexpensive option to the store-bought brands. (And if you’re anything like me, you’ll never go back!)
These low fat granola bars begin with old-fashioned oats. Compared to instant oats, old-fashioned oats are heartier with a little more chew, so they provide the perfect soft-baked texture. Use gluten-free oats, if necessary; they won’t affect the texture or taste.
I opted for frozen unsweetened raspberries, which means you can easily make these granola bars all year round! Try to find organic ones, if possible; with slightly better quality, they usually taste a little fresher. Some grocery stores only stock frozen sweetened raspberries, but avoid those! They contain a lot of excess sugar, so I’d recommend substituting a frozen unsweetened berry blend instead.
To create the liquid “binder,” you’ll stir together melted coconut oil, unsweetened applesauce, milk, honey, and cinnamon. Make sure the applesauce warms up to room temperature before adding it to the coconut oil! Because of its really low melting point, coconut oil will quickly re-solidify if mixed with any chilled ingredients. And while warm cinnamon and tart raspberries may sound like a strange flavor combination, it’s absolutely addictive—I had to hide these bars in the back of my fridge to stop myself from downing half the pan in one day!
To whip up these snacks, simply mix together the liquid ingredients and stir in the oats until they’re evenly coated. Because the milk and applesauce act as glue to hold everything together, it’s really important that all of the oats are covered with the mixture to prevent the granola bars from falling apart. Then fold in the raspberries, as gently as possible to minimize their bleeding, and press into the pan to bake! Mine finished with the perfect chewy texture after 17 minutes. The center may look slightly underdone, but warm pan will continue to cook it through as they cool to room temperature.
Don’t those bright splashes of pink look so pretty?
Bursting with an irresistible combination of tart raspberries, sweet applesauce, and warm cinnamon, these Chewy Raspberry Apple Granola Bars are a delicious mid-morning or late-afternoon pick-me-up. Slip one into your child’s lunchbox for school, or sneak one after dinner for a little sweet treat. With only 100 calories and NO refined sugar, you won’t feel guilty at all!
After their photo shoot, I covered each individual bar with plastic wrap and chilled them to help maintain their addictive chewy texture. At least once a day—if not more!—I’ve stuck my head in the fridge to sneak one for a snack. These definitely won’t last me through the week…
| Chewy Raspberry Apple Granola Bars | | Print |
- 1 tsp coconut oil, melted
- ½ cup (120g) unsweetened applesauce, room temperature
- ⅓ cup (80mL) skim milk
- 1 tbsp (15mL) honey
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 ½ cups (250g) old-fashioned oats (measured like this and gluten-free, if necessary)
- 1 cup (140g) frozen unsweetened raspberries, diced
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and lightly coat an 8”-square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, stir together the oil and applesauce until smooth. Mix in the milk, honey and cinnamon until thoroughly combined. Stir in the oats until evenly coated with the applesauce mixture. Gently fold in the raspberries.
- Press the oat mixture into the prepared pan, and bake at 350°F for 16-19 minutes. Cool completely to room temperature in the pan before slicing into 10 bars.
It’s important for the applesauce to be at room temperature to prevent the melted coconut oil from re-solidifying.
For best storage results, tightly wrap each individual bar in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator until ready to eat.
{vegan, gluten-free, clean-eating, low fat, low calorie}
Can I use a 9×13 pan and double this?
I haven’t tried that myself, but I think it should work. I’d love to hear what you think of the granola bars!
These are great! So moist and tender and super easy! From start to finish it literally took me 30 minutes. I made them with raspberries for my husband, but I’m going to make them with strawberries and a little chia for me 🙂 thank you so much for creating the first actual homemade granola bar recipe I like!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the granola bars Brittney! Your sweet comment means so much to me — thank you! 🙂 I’d love to hear how the strawberry chia version turns out too!
I just tried these and they have great texture! I love me some raspberry recipes, however they were a bit on the tart side for me so I am thinking about adding a handful (or two) of mini chocolate chips or something next time.
Thanks for the awesome recipe. I will be trying the strawberry banana version next!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the granola bars Sam, and chocolate chips sound like a great addition! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of the strawberry banana recipe as well!
I’m not sure about these. They are a little bland and the texture is kind of weird. More rubbery than what I would call chewy. Probably won’t make these again or if I do add a little more spice or something…your strawberry banana blueberry wheat bread was great! These not so much lol
Oh no! The granola bars are truly supposed to be chewy, not rubbery. I’d love to work together to figure out what happened because that sounds really disappointing. How did you measure the oats — did you scoop them directly from the container? — and how long did you bake them? Did you make any substitutions? I’m really glad you enjoyed the banana bread though Serena! 🙂
I’m really disappointed with how this turned out…followed the recipe exactly and its completely soggy, not sweet enough and almost rubbery, spongy and cakey. I’m not sure if its something i did wrong or what, but wouldn’t make again.
Oh no! That’s not how the granola bars are supposed to turn out, so I’d love to work together to solve those issues Charlotte. Did you happen to substitute for any ingredients, and did you use the raspberries straight from the freezer? Or did they have time to thaw a little bit before you diced them and stirred them into the mixture?
Hi, this recipe looks really good, I’m going to try it this afternoon. Do you add the raspberries frozen into the mixture? Slicing them frozen may also be difficult?
Thank you.
Let them thaw and pat them dry before adding them to the mixture for the best results. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of the granola bars Georgiana!
Hi Amy:)
I tried your apple pie oatmeal cookies yesterday and loved them. Since my coworkers ate them all I needed another yummy snack so I tried out this granola bar recipe and those are super tasty as well! Totally quick and easy to make and they are so yummy!
Thanks for another awesome recipe, I will definitely try more of your great recipes next week?
I’m so glad you loved these granola bars too Katja! And your coworkers are so lucky to have you to share homemade baked treats… I’d love to be one of them! 😉 I can’t wait to hear what you try next week!
These look amazing! Just wondering if i could substitute the apple sauce for anything else?
Thanks x
The same amount of mashed banana would be the best substitute! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of the granola bars Sophie!
Hi I’m going to try your recipe this weeekkk!!! I’m so excited about it!! But I was wondering if I have to use skim milk? Could I use whole milk? They are for my little one and for now I like to keep her on whole milk so her bones grow big and strong. Also I don’t have much use for skim milk.. I do use almond milk and whatnot but never skim. Just wondering.
Any milk will work! That’s really sweet of you to want to make them for your little girl. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you both think of the granola bars Autumn!
The “chewey apple raspberry granola bars” were not Chewey but rather stodgey. They tasted like your morning oatmeal, very little sweetness, very little flavor. I could not get my kids to eat them. I didn’t want them either and had to throw them out.
That sounds frustrating Sand. They’re not meant to be overly sweet in order to eat them for breakfast, but if you prefer, you can replace some of the milk with an equal amount of honey. That will make them sweeter, and hopefully you and your kids enjoy the granola bars more when made with more honey!