Muesli bars, granola bars, whatever you call them bars. They are the ultimate snacking item for those always on the go and always hungry (ie me). But have you ever bothered to look through the ingredient list on these bad boys in the supermarket? Yuck.
Now, I’m not afraid of sugar. You may have noticed I feature it quite heavily in my desserts. But when I am not stuffing my face full of cake, I’m eating quite healthy (otherwise I’d be the size of a house!) and try and avoid unnecessary sugar in my day-to-day life.
I find store-bought muesli bars are sickly sweet, surprisingly high in calories and feature a lot of suspicious looking “ingredients”, such as preservatives, fake flavourings and sweeteners. So I decided to make my own. I present to you – Crap Free Muesli Bars!
Despite these being “healthy” I actually think they taste damn fine, better than any bar I’ve ever bought from the shops!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups rolled oats use quinoa flakes for a gluten free option
- 1/3 cup activated sunflower seeds
- 1/3 cup activated pumpkin seeds
- 1/4 cup sesame seeds
- 2 tbp chia seeds
- 1/3 cup coconut flakes
- 1/4 cup chopped raw cashews or nut of your choice
- 1/2 cup rice malt syrup
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/4 cup boiling water
- Generous pinch of sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 170°C and line a 20cm square tin with baking paper.
- Place dry ingredients into a medium bowl.
- In a microwavable container, melt the rice malt syrup and coconut oil together (I recommend 1 minute on medium high).
- Pour the liquid mixture onto the dry and mix well.
- Add in the boiling water and pinch of salt and stir until the ingredients are evenly combined.
- Pour the mixture into the lined tray and smooth out with the back of a spatula.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.
- Let it cool on a rack for 10 minutes, before removing it and cutting into 12 bars.
- Store in an airtight container. I like to pop a few in a ziplock bag and freeze for later!
And if you’re looking for another healthy snack recipe, my Raw Cashew and Coconut Protein Balls are actually one of the most popular recipes on my blog.
Have you ever made your own muesli bars before?
19 Comments
I share the exact same view about sugar in my diet – eat it mindfully and in moderation. I’m very keen to try these, they include all ingredients I have in the cupboard and it looks like you have conquered my nemesis of healthy muesli bars – mine usually crumble when you look at them!
Everything in moderation :) These fortunately stay together really well with the combination of coconut oil and rice malt syrup, I’ve made versions before they crumbled into a frustrating mess!
Deeeelish!!! I live homemade muesli bars more than anything! I can’t wait to try your crap free ones! Thanks for linking up with Fabulous Foodie Fridays! Xx
You are welcome Lucy! I love them too, I’ve made this recipe 3 times over the past month – I’m addicted!
Oh these look absolutely delicious!
Zadada loves a good muesli bar and as you say sadly the store bought ones do contain a lot of sugar. We’ve recently been enjoying some healthy chocolate bars I’ve been making. I’ll now be adding these little treasures of yours to the homemade snacking rotation too.
Thanks for joining in with our Fabulous Foodie Friday fun xx
So glad you enjoyed them Dannielle! Hopefully we’ll never have to buy a muesli bar again :)
[…] Swah gave me the biggest giggle with her cleverly named Crap Free Muesli Bars. Gotta love a girl who tells it like it […]
[…] Click here to get the full recipe! […]
I’m very keen to try these out, I make similar ones for the lunch boxes but have been using condensed milk – RM Syrup would be much better.
I’m not going to lie, muesli bars made with condensed milk sound AMAZING! Probably not that healthy for you but ah well ;)
I made these last night but added some cranberries and dark choc chips. They are very lovely. Thanks for the recipe :)
Oh wow, the addition of the cranberries and dark choc chips is a great idea! Yum!
[…] is another great granola bar recipe from Love Swah. This one features chia, pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds, so delicious! The Crap Free Muesli […]
Hie could i replace the rice malt with honey instead?. Please say yes 😃
Hi there, yes you definitely can! :)
I was just wondering what “activated” ingredients means. Please excuse my ignorance but complete novice musli bar maker.
As far as I know, the nuts/seeds are soaked and then dehydrated, thus “activating” them. Apparently this makes them more easy to digest. I personally am yet to try this technique though!
Yummy but mine did crumble/fall apart when I cut the and tried to lift them into a container. Not cooked enough? I took them out at about 28 mins as it looked like it was burning on the edges (presume the 170 is fan forced?). I subbed the nuts for cranberries so I could make them lunch box friendly and drizzled 70% dark chocolate on top. I will try again!
Were they 100% cooled down when you tried to cut them? I find they can crumble easily when still a bit warm.