Breakfast bars are great for a meal on the run or an afternoon nibble, but while it’s tempting to reach for a store-bought bar, they’re often too sweet, aggressively spiced, and either so chewy they stick to the roof of your mouth, or dangerously hard with jagged edges that cut into your tongue. To avoid this, we encourage you to take the (mostly hands-off) time to make your own at home with our easy recipe for homemade breakfast bars that are lightly sweet, full of flavor, and have just the right texture.
Our perfect bar is hearty with a crunchy exterior that gives way to a softer, chewier center. It’s well seasoned, with just a touch of caramelized sweetness and a kaleidoscope of dried fruits, toasted oats, and crunchy seeds, plus it requires little more than tossing everything together, pressing into the pan, and refrigerating until firm. To get to this great result, we asked our test kitchen colleague Renu Dhar to methodically make batch after batch of seed-filled bars to come up with wholesome and satisfying breakfast bars.
Tips for Homemade Breakfast bars
Toast the oats. We found that toasting the oats with a little oil, brown sugar, and honey before mixing them with the other ingredients really deepened the bar’s final flavor. The oil, brown sugar, and honey lightly caramelize the exterior of the oats to create a rich butterscotch flavor. It requires just 30 minutes of hands-off baking and cooling time, which can be done while you are preparing the other ingredients.
Use a blend of sweeteners. To give the bars a nuanced, light sweetness without overpowering the earthy seeds, the bars are sweetened with a combination of brown sugar, honey, and finely chopped dates. The sticky honey and dates not only provide sweetness, but also help the bars hold together. A swirl of your preferred sweet fruit preserves folded into the oat mixture before pressing it into the pan further sweetens the bars and adds another flavor dimension. We love them with cherry preserves, but raspberry, strawberry, or blueberry all work wonderfully.
Add a variety of seeds. Chia seeds, hemp seeds, and sunflower kernels boast various health benefits, but but they also bring a variety of crunchy textures and savory nutty flavors to the party
Bind it all together with nut or seed butter. . A creamy nut or seed butter of your choice not only gives you a chance to further customize these bars with your preferred flavor profile, it’s also the key sticky ingredient for binding the ingredients together. Feel free to use peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, or sunflower butter—the latter is a great choice if you need to avoid tree nuts or peanuts because of allergies.
Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 325°F(160℃). Coat an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray; line bottom and sides with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on all sides. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set both aside.
In a medium bowl, stir oats, brown sugar, oil, and 2 tablespoons of the honey until well combined. Spread oat mixture evenly onto the parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake, stirring every 5 minutes and returning to an even layer, until golden brown and crisp, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack, about 15 minutes.
While oats are cooling, in a food processor, process dates and seed or nut butter until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes, scraping down sides of processor bowl as needed.
In a large bowl, stir together the cooled oats, sunflower butter mixture, dried fruit, chia seeds, hemp seeds, sunflower kernels, fruit preserves, salt, and remaining 1 tablespoon honey until well combined and the mixture holds together, 1 to 2 minutes.
Spread oat mixture firmly into the bottom of prepared baking pan, using bottom of a greased measuring cup to press into a flat even layer. Press plastic wrap directly onto surface of oats mixture; wrap baking pan in additional plastic wrap, and refrigerate until cold and firm, at least 8 hours or up to 3 days.
Remove and discard plastic. Using parchment overhang as handles, remove bars; place on a cutting board. Cut bars into 1 1/4- x 4-inch squares. Serve or refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.
Special Equipment
8-inch square baking pan
Make-Ahead and Storage
Refrigerate portioned bars in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.
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