For nearly an entire year during high school, I maintained the same afternoon routine. After Mom picked me up from one of the residential cul-de-sacs next to the campus and drove home (the line of cars to get into the itty bitty loading zone in front of the school office always stretched out for nearly a quarter of a mile!), I dropped my backpack at the kitchen table and wandered into the pantry to grab a snack.
For the next 15 minutes, I decompressed from the day by opening our family laptop and navigating to one of my favorite websites, a game-oriented one that displayed a new jigsaw puzzle every morning. With the website’s timer running in the top right corner, I carefully maneuvered the pieces with the mouse, dragging and dropping them into place, until the picture was complete. And if that day’s puzzle was too easy and took less than my self-allotted time, I clicked the “puzzle randomizer” button to try another one.
To this day, I still love jigsaw puzzles. The more pieces the better!
While working on the puzzle, and then on my homework assignments after, I slowly nibbled on my snack of choice: almost always a soft-baked Nutri-Grain bar. The kind with nearly the same texture as chewy cookies and a sweet, fruity jam-like filling. Back then, I figured that the fruit component made them healthier than the chewy Chips Ahoy! chocolate chip cookies that also sat on our pantry’s snack shelf… Right?
Although Mom often bought boxes of strawberry and blueberry, I mainly favored the apple cinnamon flavor. (I’m still a huge cinnamonaholic, and I have to buy the 18-ounce jars {that’s over 1 pound!} just because I go through it so quickly!) With that filling, those Nutri-Grain bars basically tasted like apple pie!
Now that I better understand nutrition labels, I’ve realized my “healthier-because-it-has-fruit-in-the-filling” justification wasn’t very reasonable, and those snack bars weren’t exactly the best healthy option… But these homemade Healthy Apple Pie Granola Bar Bites certainly are! Unlike my childhood snack, these contain lots of fresh apple, plenty of wholesome ingredients, and no refined flour or sugar!
For your granola bar base, you’ll use a combination of old-fashioned oats and brown rice cereal. I know, it sounds a little strange, but it totally works! The oats provide that classic hearty granola bar texture, while the airy brown rice cereal adds the perfect complementary contrast.
This is the brown rice cereal that I buy, and I love it because it only contains brown rice and salt—no crazy additives or preservatives! You can find it at many health-oriented grocery stores, as well as online, and my local Safeway has even started to carry it.
To hold the granola bar bites together, you’ll use unsweetened applesauce and Greek yogurt. The applesauce adds plenty of natural sweetness too, so you’ll only need to add a couple tablespoons of honey! As you probably know by now if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, Greek yogurt is one of my favorite ingredients in healthy baking. It keeps these granola bar bites tender and chewy, and it gives them a protein boost, too!
And of course, we can’t forget the diced apple and cinnamon for that iconic apple pie flavor! It’s important to dice the apples finely, no larger than the size of miniature chocolate chips. Bigger chunks would cause the granola bar bites to fall apart, so make sure you cut the fruit into very tiny pieces!
Snack time! And when you bake them, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees that I’ll see the notification from you! ?) I’d love to see your granola bar bites and feature them in my Sunday Spotlight series!
Healthy Apple Pie Granola Bar Bites | | Print |
- 1 ½ cups (45g) crisp brown rice cereal
- 1 cup (100g) old-fashioned oats (measured like this and gluten-free if necessary)
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup (126g) unsweetened applesauce, room temperature
- ¼ cup (60g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp (30mL) honey
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup (60g) finely diced apple
- Preheat the oven to 300°F, and lightly coat an 8”-square pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, combine the rice cereal, oats, and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, stir together the coconut oil and applesauce. Add in the Greek yogurt, honey, and salt, mixing until thoroughly combined. Stir in the cereal mixture. Gently fold in the diced apple.
- Gently press the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake at 300°F for 14-17 minutes or until light golden and the center feels firm to the touch. Cool completely to room temperature in the pan before slicing into squares.
Pure maple syrup or agave may be substituted for the honey.
When cutting the apple, make sure the pieces are no larger than the size of miniature chocolate chips. Bigger pieces will cause the granola bar bites to fall apart.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat, low calorie}
View Nutrition Information
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♥ Banana Nut Granola Bar Bites
♥ Apple Pie Protein Bars
♥ Lemon Poppy Seed Energy Bites
♥ Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Protein Bars
♥ Brownie Batter Energy Bites
♥ Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Protein Bars
Do you use Coconut oil and apple sauce, just confused Becuase they are on the same line
Can you just not put the brown rice cereal in?
I’m honored that you’d like to try my recipe, Daisie! I’m not sure what you meant about the coconut oil and applesauce. They’re on two different lines, each with its own measurement. Do you meant coconut oil and butter, by any chance? If so, then just pick one — you don’t need to use both! 🙂 You cannot simply omit the brown rice cereal, but you can substitute regular rice cereal (ie Rice Krispies)! I believe other readers have substituted additional oats with good results, but I can’t personally vouch for that.
I’d love to hear what you think of these granola bar bites if you try making them! 🙂
Hi Amy,
I made this recipe, haven’t tried yet in a 8×8 glass pyrex. It says 30 calories, but doesn’t give dimensions of the squares for one bite, lol! How many squares?
Michael
We’re so honored you decided to try these granola bar bites, Mike! If made in an 8″-square pan, as directed in the Instructions, that would mean 5 cuts per side to get the 25 bites. For the math, 8″ divided by 5 equals 1.6″ squares. I hope that helps Mike!
I ended up adding the calories of the ingredients, came in at 806 calories, then the math is easy.
I did find them a bit too salty (is salt required(?), but they were addictive, lol!
That’s great news, Mike! You can definitely cut the salt in half without any issues! I’m glad you’re enjoying them!