These Chewy Cranberry Pecan Oat Bars are naturally sweetened with honey and coconut palm sugar. They're a perfect make-ahead granola bar as they freeze well.
Hearty oats, crunchy pecans, cranberries and honey combine to make these chewy Cranberry Pecan Oat Bars, my new favourite bar cookies! I made these recently to pack for a plane trip to Eastern Canada, but they disappeared, one by one, from the freezer before we left . . .
These oat bars are perfect for a quick and easy mid-morning or afternoon snack.
We've all had experiences with the dreaded airplane food. Pre-packaged, warmed-up meals served in plastic containers are often less than appetizing, but we eat them anyway because we have no choice. As airline companies strive to save costs, one of the first things to be eliminated is complimentary meals. When we discovered that there would be no meals served on our flights across Canada, I can't say I was disappointed.
Now I had no excuse not to make some nutritious snacks for us for the long flight. These oat bars topped my list of things to pack, but they were just too good to save until flight day.
These Cranberry Pecan Oat Bars are sweet, but not too sweet. You can easily adjust the sweetener to your liking. Use this recipe as a base, and add whatever nuts or dried fruit you have on hand. Try walnuts and raisins, or almonds with dried cherries as options.
Mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately, then combine and press firmly into a lined baking dish. Cool after baking, then cut into 30 small squares, or leave as larger bars. This is an easy recipe that kids could make for their school lunches, too.
📖 Recipe
Cranberry Pecan Oat Bars
Ingredients
- 4 cups quick cooking oats, gluten-free, if necessary
- ½ cup coconut sugar, or brown sugar
- 1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup honey, warmed
- ½ cup coconut oil or butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9 x 13" baking pan with parchment paper leaving extra on two sides so you'll be able to lift out the bars after they're baked.
- In a large bowl, combine oats, sugar, pecans, cranberries and cinnamon.
- Combine honey, coconut oil and vanilla extract and mix with dry ingredients until well combined.
- Transfer to the prepared pan, spreading and firmly packing it in.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until golden. Let cool completely, then using the parchment paper as handles, lift the slab out and transfer to a cutting board. Slice into 24 - 30 small bars or 12-15 large bars. Store in a sealed container. These bars freeze well.
Laura
Making these today for the freezer! They sound easy, adaptable and yummy. Nice to see a bar recipe that doesn't use brown rice syrup!
Flavour & Savour
This is my new go-to bar recipe! It's easy to adapt with other flavour combinations, too.
Sam | Ahead of Thyme
These oat bars look perfect!! They would make great back-to-school snack!
Sandi
These bars would be so good in a kids' lunch box.
The Food Hunter
Sounds like a wonderful snack. Can't wait to make a batch.
Igor @ Cooking The Globe
You got me at chewy. Bookmarking the recipe!
Jessie
Oats are my go to ingredient in my meal plans. This can be my snack bar. Absolutely loving it!!!
Flavour & Savour
Thanks! They're easy, nutritious and oh-so-good! Thanks for stopping by.