These easy baked cranberry granola bars take just minutes to prepare and are baked to perfection for a delicious chewy and crunchy treat.
This recipe is vegan, gluten-free and nut-free so are suitable for dietary restrictions and school lunches. For more nut-free snacks, these Nut-Free No-Bake Granola Bars and Nut-Free Energy Bars are both easy and delicious too.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- Just 7 ingredients.
- Vegan, oil-free and gluten-free.
- Nut-free – lunch box-friendly!
- Great for hiking, road trips and snacking on-the-go.
- Delicious chewy middle and crunchy edges.
- Very easy to make.
Ingredients
- Cranberries: You can use any dried cranberries. I like fruit juice sweetened if I can find them, otherwise any work.
- Oats: You can use instant oats, quick oats, rolled oats or large flake oats.
- Pepitas (Pumpkin Seeds): Use raw or unsalted roasted pepitas.
- Sunflower Seeds: Use raw sunflower seeds (no oil or salt).
- Ground Flax: Be sure to use ground flax and not whole flax seeds.
- Sunflower Seed Butter: This can be substituted with tahini to keep the recipe nut-free or you can substitute almond butter or peanut butter.
- Maple Syrup: Use pure maple syrup or substitute agave syrup.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Before you start, preheat the oven to 350 F and line a 7 or 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or use cooking spray.
Step 1: Blend the oats, flax, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and cranberries to break down the seeds and combine everything. It shouldn’t be blended into flour, just a few pulses or brief blend on high should be enough.
Step 2: Add the maple syrup and sunflower seed butter and blend to combine into a thick, sticky dough.
Step 3: Dump the mixture into the prepared baking pan and firmly press down into an even layer.
Step 4: Bake the bars for 25 minutes until golden brown on top then let cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes.
FAQs
Yes. You can substitute any nuts and seeds for a total of 1 cup. Try almonds, pecans, walnuts, sesame seeds, etc.
Yes. Let them cool completely then store in an airtight container for up to 1 week at room temperature.
Store them for 1 week at room temperature, up to 2 weeks in the fridge or up to 3 months in the freezer. I like to keep them frozen.
Description
Delicious crunchy and chewy baked cranberry granola bars that are super easy to make in a food processor with just 7 simple ingredients.
- 2 tbsp – 15 g ground flax
- 1 cup – 100 g rolled oats
- 1/2 cup pepitas
- 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla, optional
- 1/2 cup sunflower seed butter
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line a 7 or 8-inch square baking dish with parchment paper or coat with cooking spray.
- Add the flax, oats, sunflower seeds, pepitas and cranberries to a food processor and blend briefly to break down the seeds and combine.
- Add the vanilla, if using, and the sunflower seed butter and maple syrup and blend to combine into a thick, sticky dough.
- Dump the mixture into the baking pan and firmly press down into an even layer.
- Bake the bars for 25 minutes until golden brown on top then let cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes.
- If you used parchment paper, lift the bars out of the pan and cut into 16 squares or 12 bars. If you used cooking spray, cut them in the pan and remove one by one.
- Let the bars cool completely before storing. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week, in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or freeze up to 3 months.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 160
- Sugar: 8 g
- Sodium: 38 mg
- Fat: 9 g
- Carbohydrates: 16 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 4 g
