An OSR Original Recipe

Homemade Icebox Granola Bars

I’ve always longed for a granola bar that is both tasty and healthy. These hit the spot! They’re loaded with protein-rich ingredients, fresh and dried fruit, hearty oats and seeds, and just enough sweet. The sprinkle of flake sea salt on top makes them! And, the icebox (a.k.a. freezer) storage ensures that they’re always fresh and super-duper chewy. They’re a bit addicting…you’ve been warned!


OSR Recipe: Homemade Icebox Granola Bars
Active Prep Time:
20 mins
Cook/Set Time:
1 hr 15 mins
Total Time:
1 hr 35 mins
Primary Course: Breakfast
Primary Cuisine: American
Serves/Makes: 14 to 16
Ingredients
Bars:
  • 1.5 c. rolled, old-fashioned oats
  • 1 c. quick oats (No quick oats? See TIP A below)
  • 2 ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1/2 c. honey
  • 1/4 c. light brown sugar, gently packed
  • 1/4 natural peanut butter (see TIP B for alternatives)
  • 1 egg white (from large egg)
  • 1.5 tsp. pure vanilla extract
  • 1.5 tsp. kosher or flake sea salt, divided
  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 2 c. dried fruit of your choice (I like a mix of cranberries, cherries, and chopped apricots)
  • 1 c. roasted, unsalted nuts or seeds of your choice (I like a mix of chopped pecans and pepitas)
  • 1 tbsp. flax seeds
Optional Glaze:
  • 2 c. good quality semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips (like Guittard® or Ghiradelli®, see TIP C below)
Instructions
One: Toast Oats:
  1. Toss the rolled and quick oats together on an 8x12-inch rimmed baking sheet and lightly toast for 8-10 minutes in a pre-heated 350° oven. They should turn just slightly more tan and become fragrant. Set aside to cool and reduce oven heat to 300°.
Two: Combine Wet Ingredients & Brown Sugar:
  1. In a large bowl, mix together mashed bananas, honey, light brown sugar, peanut butter, egg white, and vanilla until fully combined. Some small chunks of banana may remain visible.
Three: Add Dry Ingredients:
  1. Add half of the salt, cooled oats, and remaining dry ingredients to the wet ingredient mixture. Stir to combine.
Four: Bake:
  1. Line an 8x12-inch rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper so that the paper extends slightly beyond the rim on at least 2 sides. Spread the granola mixture in an even layer across the entire baking sheet and top with the remaining kosher or flake sea salt. Bake at 300° for 35 minutes or until slightly brown on top.
Five: Freeze & Slice:
  1. Let the baked granola cool slightly then put the entire pan in the freezer for 30-60 minutes. Once the granola is cold and firm, transfer the entire slab from the baking sheet to a cutting board by pulling-up on the overhanging edges of parchment paper. Using a serrated knife, cut the granola slab into 14-16 even-size bars.
Optional: Dip in Chocolate:
  1. Melt chocolate chips in a double-boiler over medium heat, stirring frequently (see TIP D for details). Once fully melted, remove the chocolate from the heat and dip the unsalted side of each granola bar into the chocolate. Fully coat the bottom half of each bar then set them to rest (dipped side down) on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Put the bars back in the freezer to set for an additional 30-60 minutes before wrapping.

Six: Wrap & Store Bars:
  1. Wrap each chilled bar individually in a piece of parchment paper and store them in the freezer in an air-tight container for up to 1 month. Enjoy directly from the freezer (my preference) or at room-temperature.
Tips

TIP A: If you don't have quick oats, then use traditional rolled oats and give them a quick spin in the food processor. Do not substitute instant oats for quick oats—they're actually quite different. The difference between steel-cut, rolled (or old-fashioned), quick, and instant oats is in the pre-rolling, -cutting, and -steaming process. Steel-cut have not been rolled at all. They're simply cut. Rolled and quick oats are both rolled (obviously!) and partially pre-steamed. The quick variety is then cut down into smaller bits that cook faster. Instant oats are pre-steamed for even longer than rolled and quick oats and cook the fastest.

 

TIP B: These bars can easily be made nut-free by substituting sunflower seed butter for peanut butter and using only a variety of seeds where the recipe calls for 1-cup nuts or seeds. You may also use other nut butters (like almond or cashew) in the place of peanut butter if more to your liking.

 

TIP C: Chocolate is like wine—you only want to cook/bake with a type that you would consume on its own (actually, shouldn’t this be the case with all ingredients?!?). I recommend always springing for the good stuff, but this is particularly important when making a chocolate ganache or glaze. Higher quality chocolate chips (or wafers) have minimal stabilizers which means that they melt more easily. They’re also a bit more forgiving if you need to heat and re-heat them. Of course, you could also use a solid block of chocolate and break it into small bits before melting, but why go to that extra trouble? Guittard® and Ghiradelli® semisweet and bittersweet chocolate chips have never let me down.

 

TIP D: A "double-boiler" is an actual kitchen tool, but few home kitchens have them—likely because they take-up a lot of space and the work-around is often easier and equally successful. To mimic a double-boiler, fill a medium-size saucepan with about 1 inch of water. Bring the water to a gentle simmer and then put a glass bowl that can handle high heat on top of the saucepan so that the bottom of the bowl fits about half-way into the pan but does not touch the water. Keep the water in the saucepan at a gently simmer and add your chocolate chips to the glass bowl. Voilà—you have a double-boiler!

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