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homemade chewy muesli bars {gluten, nut and dairy free}

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homemade chewy muesli bars

Deliciously chewy, these muesli bars make a tasty addition to any lunchbox.

I’ve adapted this recipe from one I learned doing a wonderful wholefood course a couple of years ago from Beauty that Moves.

We make this recipe at least once a month – it’s a popular one in our household. I use any leftover muesli for sprinkling over yoghurt, or just eating for breakfast.

Because the little fella’s preschool has a nut-free policy (like I’m sure most schools have these days), I use sunflower seed butter instead of nut butter.

Sunflower seed butter is simple to make: just process a packet of sunflower seeds in a food processor until they turn to paste. It does take ages though. So if you make your own, and you feel like it’s never ever going to turn into butter, keep going, it will eventually.

These muesli bars are delicious with sunflower seed butter, but I have to admit, my favourite is to use almond butter, if we’re making these for home consumption.

Aside from putting these in the kid’s (or your own) lunchbox, these DIY muesli bars make a nice morning snack, with a cup of tea.

Yield: 12 bars

Chewy Homemade Muesli Bars

homemade chewy muesli bars

Make your own muesli bars and control the ingredients. Here's a recipe for chewy muesli bars.

Ingredients

  • For the muesli
  • 3 cups of rolled oats*
  • 1/2 cup shredded coconut
  • 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil or butter*
  • 1/4 honey, maple syrup or rice bran syrup
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • To make up the bars
  • 4 Tbsp. coconut oil
  • scant 1/4 cup raw or rapadura sugar*
  • 1/4 cup honey, maple syrup or rice bran syrup*
  • 1/4 cup sunflower seed butter, almond butter or peanut butter if no allergies*
  • 2 cups of your homemade toasted muesli
  • 1 cup of puffed brown rice*
  • 1/4 cup dark choc chips*

Instructions

For the toasted muesli

  1. Preheat oven to 150°C.
  2. In a saucepan over low heat, melt the oil and honey. (No need to wash out the saucepan, use it again below).
  3. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.
  4. Pour melted honey and oil over dry ingredients and mix well to coat. Spread mixture over a baking sheet.
  5. Cook for 40 minutes, stirring after 20 minutes and making sure it doesn’t burn.

To make up the muesli bars

  1. Grease a 20x20cm square tin or lamington tray.
  2. While the muesli is cooking, melt the oil, sugar, honey and sunflower seed paste in a saucepan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 1 minute, stirring to make sure it doesn’t burn on the bottom.
  3. Combine the toasted muesli and puffed rice in a bowl then pour in the sunflower seed mixture, stirring to combine.
  4. Press firmly into a greased tray. You can wet your hands with water to prevent the mixture from sticking to your hands as you press.
  5. Sprinkle over choc chips, pressing them firmly into the mixture.
  6. Cool completely before cutting into bars or squares. Store in a cool pantry or in the fridge.

Notes

  • For a quick no-bake version, use store-bought toasted muesli
  • If you cannot tolerate oats, substitute with quinoa, rice, millet or buckwheat flakes.
  • If dairy isn’t an issue for you, you can use butter instead of coconut oil.
  • You can increase the amount of honey or syrup to use instead of the sugar if you wish. Raw or brown sugar can be used if you don’t have rapadura sugar.
  • Sunflower seed butter can be purchased at the supermarket or health food store, or you can make your own using this method. Alternatively, use almond or peanut butter if you don’t need this to be nut-free.
  • Puffed brown rice can be purchased at the supermarket in the health or cereal sections. A bag will make this recipe several times over.
  • For a dairy-free version, use dairy-free choc or carob chips, substitute with dried fruit or simply leave them out altogether.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

12

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 446Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 148mgCarbohydrates: 68gFiber: 9gSugar: 24gProtein: 9g

Nutritional information is calculated automatically using the Nutritionix database. Nutrition information can vary for a recipe based on factors such as precision of measurements, brands, ingredient freshness, serving size or the source of nutrition data. We strive to keep the information as accurate as possible but make no warranties regarding its accuracy. We encourage readers to make their own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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2 Comments

  1. Thanks for this, made my first batch today and very happy, I was on the look out for a muesli recipe and your post came at the right time, and being able to make muesli bars for school at the same time is a bonus.

    1. Melissa Goodwin says:

      Thanks Nesi for leaving a comment to let me know! I’m glad you liked them :).