During my senior year of high school, I jam-packed my afternoons with lots of extracurricular activities: marching band practices, our high school’s musical, teaching elementary school kids flute and piano lessons, taking my own flute and sax lessons, announcing baseball games (my favorite!), and daily workouts on our elliptical trainer… To name a few.
With earning straight A’s in my classes as my top priority, I pored over my homework during the rest of my time, scribbling down answers to tough calculus problems and reading various Shakespeare plays until I closed my textbooks to turn out the light and go to bed. As a result, Dad generously offered to pack my lunch each evening to give me a few extra minutes of rest.
I have the best dad in the world.
While the main “entrée” varied between sandwiches, yogurts, and other protein-packed options, I almost always found the same type of granola bar that Dad tucked in for our school’s designated 3rd period snack break. During the first 10 minutes of class, the video production team aired a daily bulletin with clips about upcoming sports matches, school-wide dances, and other important news, and our teachers allowed us to eat while we watched the TV segment.
After sliding into my seat, I reached into my black tote bag with a few large musical notes printed on the front (I ditched my regular backpack that year, and my posture completely improved because of it!) to grab the granola bar from my brown bag lunch. I carefully peeled back the foil wrapper and slowly nibbled on the small 100-calorie snack, usually the oatmeal raisin or chocolate chunk flavors, taking itty bitty mouse-sized bites and saving the pieces with the most chocolate for last.
Once a chocoholic, always a chocoholic… That’s why I published my Healthier Chocolate Treats cookbook!
When I recently stopped by the local high school to visit my friend who works in the attendance office, I remembered those fond memories of my 3rd period snacks… But instead of driving to the grocery store to get my fix, I baked these Healthy Chocolate Chip Granola Bar Bites instead. They have the same chewy texture and plenty of chocolate (just look at all of those decadent chips!), but they contain just 8 healthy ingredients and no corn syrup, refined sugar, artificial ingredient or preservatives.
I just checked the ingredients on the labels of those granola bars I used to eat… And yes, all of those things were listed. Plus more. Yikes!!
HOW TO MAKE HEALTHY CHOCOLATE CHIP GRANOLA BAR BITES
To make these healthy homemade granola bar bites, you’ll start with old-fashioned oats and brown rice cereal. I know, I know… Brown rice cereal?? That probably sounds a little strange, but I promise it works! The brown rice cereal accentuates the granola bars’ chewiness after it has been baked, and it also helps hold together the granola bars.
This is the kind of brown rice cereal that I buy, and you can find it at many health-oriented grocery stores. My local Safeway even started to stock it! You can substitute regular crisp rice cereal, as well as lightly crushed rice pocket cereal.
Next, you’ll mix in a combination of honey and egg whites. Just like the brown rice cereal, the egg whites may sound strange… But they add a protein boost and also act as the glue that holds together the two different cereals.
Finally, my chocholic heart’s favorite part… The mini chocolate chips! I highly recommend using mini chips because their smaller size ensures that every granola bar bite contains many morsels of chocolate, and it also allows the bars to stick together better. (Regular-sized chocolate chips are large enough that the granola bars would start to fall apart!) These are the mini chips that I buy because I love their rich flavor and they turn perfectly melty in the oven.
Snack time! And when you make your own, 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 your picture! 🙂 ) I’d love to see your healthy chocolate chip granola bar bites!
Healthy Chocolate Chip Granola Bar Bites
Ingredients
- 1 tsp coconut oil, melted
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- ¼ cup (60g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt, room temperature
- 3 tbsp (45mL) honey
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 ½ cups (45g) crisp brown rice cereal
- 1 cup (100g) old-fashioned oats (measured like this and gluten-free if necessary)
- 2 ½ tbsp (35g) miniature chocolate chips (divided)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300°F, and lightly coat an 8”-square pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the coconut oil and egg whites. Add in the Greek yogurt, honey, and salt, stirring after each addition until thoroughly incorporated. Stir in the rice cereal and oats. Gently fold in 2 tablespoons of miniature chocolate chips.
- Gently press the mixture into the prepared pan using a spatula, and gently press the remaining chocolate chips into the top. Bake at 300°F for 16-19 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.
Notes
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ Apple Pie Granola Bar Bites
♡ Double Chocolate Granola Bar Bites
♡ Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Protein Bars
♡ Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Protein Bars
♡ Fudgy Brownie Batter Protein Bars
♡ Brownie Batter Energy Bites
♡ Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Energy Bites
My dad used to pack my school lunch, too. Occasionally, he’d sneak in a Clif bar. I’ve been trying to recreate these at home and used brown rice cereal like you. What a great versatile ingredient! & I love ending every meal with chocolate!
I totally lived on Clif bars in high school too Megan! My dad almost always bought the chocolate chip ones, but I secretly wanted to try the more exotic flavors like chocolate brownie and carrot cake. 😉 I can’t wait to see your copycat version!
I used to eat the Quaker Chewy granola bars too and I never realized how many junky ingredients were in them! My mom always packed my lunch but we grew up in a “treatless” household…only those granola bars were considered a “treat”. I always LOVED going to my friends’ houses or swapping snacks. 😉 These look perfect though!
Seriously Marina… Twins!!! 😉 I loved trading treats in elementary school at the lunch tables too. And my BFF’s mom always bought us a dozen donuts whenever we had a sleepover, so… We always had our sleepovers at her house for that reason too!
These will be great after-school snacks. On my list to make this weekend – thank you!
I can’t wait to hear what you think of them Nadia! 🙂
Amy,
I have just started a blog – mainly to follow my preschool science teaching adventures, but also my own experiments at home. Including my baking experiments! I included your delicious chocolate chip granola bar bites recipe in my latest blog post (http://www.adventuresinwonderlab.com/2016/09/08/aching-muscles-a-bubble-update-and-a-healthified-recipe/) – my son and I are huge fans. I look forward to experimenting with many more of your recipes! Thank you!
Thank you so much for your sweet comment Nadia! I’m so glad you and your son enjoyed the granola bites too, and thanks for including them in your blog post! 🙂 I can’t wait to see what you try next!
These look like an amazing breakfast treat! I’m always tempted to buy Quaker granola bars, but they have, like, 10g of sugar a piece. I love how Greek yogurt and egg whites replace a ton of the sugar, and using mini chocolate chips is super clever!
It’s so true about the store-bought granola bars! They’re so convenient but… Their nutrition label isn’t too nice to look at. 😉 I’d love to hear what you think of these if you try them Elaine!
I absolutely agree that there should be plenty of chocolate chips, Amy! These bars look like a delicious snack – and they don’t use vanilla creme stevia (which still hasn’t arrived yet!?), so I can make them now! When I went on holiday, I made a load of healthy snacks to take with us, and did a post for 3 of them on Thursday – looks like we were both thinking ‘snacks’ on Thursday, haha!? I’ll have to add this one to my list of snacks to make, thanks Amy!?
Great minds think alike Katie! 😉 That’s really smart to make so many healthy snacks to bring on holiday with you! I used to do that more often, but I’ve fallen off that bandwagon recently… You’ve motivated me to start back up again! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of these, and I REALLY hope your vanilla creme stevia comes soon!!
I always enjoy when you include your Dad in your posts, Amy! 🙂 And these do sound delicious…
Thanks Mike! I’d love to hear what you think of the granola bar bites if you try them! 🙂
Do you have any ideas for substituting the egg whites? I’m allergic to eggs & always wonder what to do! Maybe nut butter?
My brother is allergic to eggs too, Kristine! Can you have dairy? My first recommendation would be about another 2-3 tablespoons of Greek yogurt plus 1-2 tablespoons of milk (if the mixture seems to dry without it). For many of my other recipes, Ener-G is my favorite egg replacer! It’s a shelf-stable powder and works really well. For each egg, 1 ½ teaspoons of Ener-G plus 2 tablespoons warm water plus an additional 1 ½ teaspoons of butter or oil is the equivalent. 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think of these granola bar bites if you try them!
Kristine, you can also used ground up flaxseed and mix it with water, that’s what a lot of vegan baking recipes use.
Thanks for sharing Brittany! 🙂
Any suggestions for substituting the yogurt? I can’t have dairy while breastfeeding… I want to make these though! And the soy yogurts i find are full
Of sugar! Thanks!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Amanda! Non-dairy yogurts are the best alternative. Have you checked almond-based or coconut-based yogurts? If you aren’t comfortable using those, then you can sub applesauce. However, the granola bar bites will have an apple flavor with that alternative. 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you try these!
I was excited to make this treat but was disappointed with the results. They would not hold together! I live at high altitude .and wonder if that may have influenced the results?
That sounds frustrating Terri! Let’s work together to figure out what happened. 🙂 Did you make any substitutions or modifications to the recipe? Like using regular-sized chocolate chips or different rice cereal than what I linked to, by chance?
I used mini chips. I followed the recipe to a T even ordered the same rice cereal you recommended. I did notice that they seemed to shrink down when the liquid portion(the egg whites and honey) were added…even snapped, crackled and popped a teensy bit.
I doubled the recipe in hopes of taking some for a Girls Night out!
Again, do you think the altitude may have affected the outcome??
Since other readers have reported that my recipes work at altitude without any modifications, I’m guessing that wasn’t the issue, which is why I’m trying to think of other things that could’ve caused it. How firmly did you press the mixture into the pan before baking Terri? What brand of Greek yogurt did you use?
This is an amazing recipe, I am a kid who did this and took 10 minutes, I used a microwave for the butter and brown sugar, then I just started cooling them down, I can’t wait until they come out of the freezer, yes freezer, they look so good! ?
I can’t wait to hear what you think of the granola bar bites Tina! That means a lot to me that you popped them in the freezer so you could try them sooner! 🙂