Peanut Butter Granola Bars

I really love granola bars. The crunchiness, the chewiness, the chocolate-iness.  The problem is that there are very few granola bars that I would buy from the grocery store shelf. One of my favorite pastimes is to stand at the shelf and count the ingredients in the granola bars. It always amazes me when I pick up a relatively small bar and count over 30 ingredients. How? How did you fit so many ingredients into a bar that is smaller than my hand?

You probably know this by now...but, I like making things from scratch when I have the time. So, I decided that I could make a granola bar with only a few ingredients and have it taste better than my go-to prepackaged bar. I also wanted to make this bar low FODMAP. Since the low FODMAP diet has so many restrictions, it is nearly impossible to find a prepackaged granola bar that fits in the guidelines. This 8 ingredient bar fits the guidelines as long as you are not in the elimination portion of the diet (which should exclude most nuts).

(Side note. Technically this bar has more than 8 ingredients because the chocolate chips have a few ingredients themselves. I am gonna roll with just 8 ingredients, if we are being super technical, it would be 13 ingredients)

What I like best about all of the ingredients in this recipe is that I can pronounce every single one of them. I brought these granola bars on a weekend road trip with some friends, and while a bit crumbly, the road-trippers loved the taste.

Ingredients:

  • ½ cup peanut butter
  • 3 tbsp. maple syrup
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • ½ cup old fashioned oats
  • ½ cup steel cut oats
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut
  • 2 tbsp. chocolate chips

Directions: 

  1. Mix all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. 
  2. Grab a small square cake pan (or any pan of a similar size) and press the granola bars into the pan.
  3. Bake the granola bars for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.
  4. Allow the granola bars to cool.
  5. Put the pan in the freezer and allow to freeze for 30 minutes.
  6. Take the granola bars out and cut into 8 bars. 
  7. Eat within 5 days. 
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