A mountain of toasted coconut, sunflower seeds, and oats are held together with almond butter and honey, making a thick, crunchy bar that is full of energy-sustaining nutrients. Granola bars, energy balls, and homemade snacks in general are must-haves in our house. I work long hours with no option of leaving the building to buy lunch/snacks, and often go straight from work to the gym, or stop home to grab a snack and change before heading out for a walk/run/hike etc. If I don’t pack enough snacks, I literally don’t have the energy to get through everything I want and need to do in a day. 
I also really dislike most store-bought granola bars, protein bars, and other snacks that fall into the same category. For one, they’re so expensive. Sure, $2 for a snack doesn’t sound like a crazy price tag, but when that $14/week could buy you the ingredients to make several batches of a better tasting bar, you start to question why you’re shelling out all your money for mediocre snacks. Speaking of which, store-bought granola/protein bars never taste great. I don’t know about you, but I rarely eat a store-bought snack and say “wow, that was amazing, I’m going to start eating these all the time” (unless it’s potato chips, but that’s another story). Maybe I am just spoiled by the fact that I know how to make myself homemade snacks, but I have never found a packaged bar I love. Their ingredients are rarely the ones I’d choose to use in my own kitchen, often laden with mystery flavors and chemicals, and they’re prettymuch as sweet as a candy bar. Ain’t nobody got time for that.
And yet, I’m still busy. Store-bought protein bars seem convenient, especially if I don’t make time to bake a batch of homemade ones on Sunday. Enter no-bake granola bars. I was inspired to make this recipe when I saw these bars a few weeks ago. In typical Chelsea fashion, I gazed at the pictures, imagined what they’d taste like, then went off to make my own. I might have looked over the recipe once, then just improvised from there. For someone who writes a food blog, I sure do have a hard time following recipes. Oh well. The end result was these perfectly thick, chewy granola bars studded with crunchy sunflower seeds and just the right amount of sweetness. Thinking these bars were a freak stroke of luck, I wrote down the recipe I used, tested them multiple times, and came to the conclusion that yes, they are in fact amazing. 
Okay, let’s talk about these beautiful little bars. My favorite part about them is the crunchy sunflower seeds in every bite. For a no-bake, chewy granola bar, they pack a lot of crunch. It’s like biting into a giant cluster of granola, but instead of being a dry lump of granola, these bars are sticky and moist. (Psst: looking for coconut flakes? I love these ones)
To make these bars, you only need 8 ingredients and about 20 minutes. Coconut, oats, and sunflower seeds get toasted in a skillet (or in the oven, but then are they still no-bake granola bars?), lending a scrumptiously nutty, toasty flavor to these bars. Almond butter and honey get stirred together with vanilla, cinnamon and salt to make a thick, sticky, floral-sweet glue to hold together all the crunchy, toasted bits. Everything gets smashed together, pushed into a pan, and stuck in the fridge or freezer to firm up. It doesn’t get much easier than that, people. 
I hope you’ll give this quick, easy, flavorful granola bar recipe a try. Make a double batch this weekend and you’ll have 16 ready-made granola bars to last your family all week! I’ve been eating them for breakfast with yogurt & apple butter, for a mid-morning snack, or as a quick bite of fuel before my afternoon workouts. They hold their shape best when refrigerated, but are still delicious, albeit a bit softer and crumblier, after jostling around in a backpack for a few hours. These babies beat any store-bought bar by a long shot, that’s for sure. Tell me, is there a store-bought bar out there that will change my mind? I’m team homemade, all the way.
No Bake Almond Butter Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups unsweetened coconut flakes
- 3/4 cup oats
- 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
- 1/2 cup creamy almond butter
- 1/4 cup raw honey see note for substitution ideas
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1.4 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- 1. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper.
- 2. Put coconut, oats, and sunflower seeds in a skillet over medium heat. Cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until coconut begins to look toasted. Some white, untoasted pieces are fine.
- 3. While the coconut mixture toasts, stir all remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Dump in toasted coconut mixture, and stir well to combine. Mixture will seem too dry to form into bars, but don't worry, it will.
- 4. Pour mixture into loaf pan and press with your hands to completely flatten. Be sure to push firmly so the bars are fully compressed.
- 5. Transfer loaf pan to the fridge (at least 30 minutes) or the freezer (about 10 minutes) to allow the bars to firm up, then remove and slice into 8 squares. Store granola bars for up to 2 weeks (fridge) or 2 months (freezer). Their texture will be best when chilled, though still delicious (just a bit crumbly) at room temperature.
Notes