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It’s been three days.
I swear, that was the hardest three days of my life. Okay, I lied. The hardest three days of my life was probably something other than not posting a pumpkin recipe for a short amount of time. #dramaqueen
On Sunday, when we were driving downtown to watch the Chicago Marathon, I couldn’t help but notice my friend whip out her pumpkin spice granola bar. I have to be honest with you, I was a little bit jealous. And when I say a little bit, I mean I was jealous in a bad way. Jealous like “I want your new Ugg boots the first snow of the season” jealous. Yeah, it was bad.
So we had this conversation about how those granola bars are wheat free, but oats can be contaminated with gluten, blah blah blah. Long story short, I couldn’t eat the granola bar. Nor can I find one on the market that appeals to my taste buds, which was causing a problem for me.
Almost instantly, I began thinking of a recipe that could compare to her granola bar. I wanted a bar that was chewy and flavorful with different textures throughout. We’ve got a winner, folks!
Now the only problem I am having is keeping myself away from the pan that I baked these in. Although, I’m not quite sure that’s such a problem — mainly because they’re not in the pan anymore. I guess I should have said the only problem I am having is keeping myself away from the bag I put these in after I took them out of the pan. Much better.
Difficulty: Easy Directions: Start by placing 1/2 cup of your oats into a mini food processor. Process until oats have reached a flour-like consistency. In a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining 1-1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup oat flour, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1-1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, and 1/4 tsp. salt. Toss the ingredients until all are well incorporated. In another mixing bowl, combine 2/3 cup pumpkin puree, 1/3 cup agave nectar, 3 tbsp. maple syrup, and 1 tsp. vanilla. Whisk until smooth and add to dry ingredients. Stir until dry ingredients are mixed into the wet ingredients. Then, carefully fold in your cacao nibs, almonds, and dried cranberries. Grease a 9×9 pan and transfer the granola bar mixture into the pan. Using your hands, press the granola mixture into the pan so it is even. Bake in a 300 degree** oven for 20 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting into 12 bars. **For a crisper bar, try raising the oven to 325 degrees.
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
I no longer have any reason to be jealous of granola bars.
Go make these. Now.
{ 65 comments… read them below or add one }
I love chewy bars! These look fantastic!
Cherry has my heart!
These look so good, and chewy is a must for me!
Happy Tuesday!
Ooo I will be making these stat! I love granola bars that have all kinds of different tastes and textures in them.
Great recipe! Looks really good, and perfect to take to school
Quaker, you are going dooown! These look so yum- love how easy they seem! And chances of getting bored is zilch because you can just sub in ingredients! Merci!
Oh, Chelsey. You’ve done it again. These look fantastic!
and we have love.
thank you
these look amazing. cannot wait to make them
These look awesome and what a great way to combine everyone’s fave ingredient this time of year: pumpkin! and put it in bar form. Nice
I’m obsessed with pumpkin granola bars as well. They just hit the spot!
Oh yum! These look fabulous, Chelsea! And, I wont judge you for bringing pumpkin back, even though you promised you’d take a little break. I’ve been having it daily, too!
It’s beeing giving me the tan glow I need this time of year.
haha I’m pretty sure the word pumpkin has crept into my blog posts for the past few weeks in some form or another also. This past weekend I watched people race giant hollowed out pumpkins as boats in a lake- that pretty much trumped all pumpkin posts of mine hah.
I was jealous and I wasn’t even in the car. Like you have the angle student- and that student’s mom brings you a coconut or something else delicious and ‘exotic’
I’ll be making these! Tomorrow?! Yep, I’ll pencil you in!
those look so good! I usually bring a granola bar to school with me every day for an afternoon snack, I should make these! It would be much cheaper than the ones I buy!
Ahh this is the story of my life. I can never eat store bought granola bars!
These look amazing though and I will definitely be making them!
You can eat these though!
These look delicious! I am bookmarking this recipe for when I get my hands on some pumpkin!!!
I WILL gobble these up by the fistful this week…bookmaking and adding the ingredients to my grocery list for today! Thaaank you! And happy Tuesday – hope those little 5th graders are sweet to you today.
woohoo! let me know how you like them!
omg! THANK YOU for posting this! it doesn’t have honey in it! first recipe for granola bars that i’ve seen without honey! we have severe allergies in our house to honey! will definitely be trying these!
so glad they will work for you and your family, Rhonda!
Wow those look like the would rock the socks off any store bought granola bar. And I actually have every ingredient in my pantry. That never happens! Remind me to hide my Uggs if u ever visit my home:)
I’ll make you these bars if you let me steal your uggs. Fair deal.
Yummy! Those look great, and I think they’ll make it on my weekend to-do list!
I love that I’m benefiting from your bar envy
These are going to make an incredible lunch box addition…you know to make that girl with the microwaved mac n’ cheese jealous 
YUM! these bars look great love that addition of pumpkin…love my pumpkin
Wow how incredibly yummy, I love granola bars
These look great! I’ve never made my own bars before but will def make these sometime!
Ditto what everybody else said. These are great. These rock. I’ll make these. Yadda yadda.
The real question is: are you excited about the socks???
I am excited about the socks. Are you excited about your surprise? You should be!
uhhh..yeah!! Like Christmas morning excited! Just mailed yours today – should get there on thursday or friday!!! weeeee!!
anything with cranberries makes me so happy.
i met my best non-sister friend, through my dog, through cranberries! long story.
thank you for another fab recipe!
My granola bars tend to fall apart when I cut them up– I need to try this recipe, because yours look perfect!
The special granola bars. I’ve been waiting like…12 hours for this recipe.
haha yay!
I LOVE this recipe and I love it even more because I have EVERYTHING necessary to make it in my kitchen! I’ve been looking for a yummy recipe for my can of pumpkin!
These looks delish & I love all of the ingredients! I’ve never made my own granola bars, but I might be giving these a try soon!
Just what I’ve been wanting to make for my kiddos (and I will snag some myself!) … Gluten Free guaranteed in your own kitchen! This recipe will work with almond butter or coconut too… I can see them all now in my future! : )
dried cranberries + pumpkin = happy
Ooh yummy! The chewier the better for granola bars for me and I love that these are sweetened with agave nectar. Thanks!
Chewy bars are the best! These look delicious.
This sounds like granola bar heaven!
I totally just book marked this page! I’m so going to make them this weekend or sooner! YUM! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
I was just thinking this morning how I need to make some granola bars for snacks for my kiddos–and I don’t hate the fact that these just happen to be gluten free *and* contain pumpkin. It’s a win-win situation.
yuuuuuuuum! I love bars so much and these seem perfect with the different flavours and textures… guess I have a recipe to make tomorrow afternoon
These look SOOOO good! I love pumpkin baked goods! I can’t believe these have no oil added either! Thats awesome!
I was just thinking that I need a new granola bar recipe. Thank you Chelsey!!
I WOULD make these right now, if I didn’t have to leave for work in 15 mins…damn work. I LOVE chewy granola bars though and these are perfect for packing to take to uni with me! I need more snack ideas lately because I’ve turned into such a snacker! ah!
What a great looking recipe! I’ve yet to attempt my own granola bars, but I think I just may tackle it soon! I’ve been in a baking mood lately!
These look so good. I’ve been loving granola bars lately, and these are going on my list for next week’s eats. =)
Hey- looks awesome. Maybe you could work on making it possible to print recipe. Just hoping you can do that.
ask and you shall receive!
Chelsey!!! Thank you sooo much for posting this recipe. I love that I actually have all the ingredients because it doesn’t call for fancy shmancy stuff. There’s nothing I hate more than getting excited about a recipe and realizing that the ingredients would cost me a fortune (and that I wouldn’t be able to find them at my local market anyway). I can’t wait to try these!
Mmmm…chewy bars are my favorite! And, of course, anything with pumpkin is a win in my book!
PS have you been refrigerating the leftovers?
no, but in a few days, they’ll probably be put into the freezer!
Mmmm, can it be the weekend already so I can get in the mood to bake?
i’m obsessed with everything pumpkin…so I’ll have to make these for sure! Plus I just got some new pumpkin pie spice from TJ’s. I love how easy these are
um these look amazing! pumpkin + granola = 2 of my favorite things. this is going on my pinterest right about now!
I made these last weekend. They are very yummy and, although I think I added a little too much liquid (I subbed the maple syrup for some berry syrup I had so perhaps it lost some of that needed sugar), they still stayed together though perhaps weren’t as ‘chewy’ as yours.
I just made these and they are great!
I just made these, but with some modifications and they are yummy. I did not have pumpkin puree on hand so I used apple sauce instead. I omitted the chocolate chips and added pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and flax seeds. This is a great base recipe, I can’t wait to try it with pumpkin puree! Thanks for sharing.
I’m totally taking your advice and making these ASAP, yum!!! I’m gonna have to make them this weekend while the hubby is out doing something or else I bet that he’ll eat them all straight out of the pan!
I think you have a typo somewhere in your recipe. You do not have oat flour in the ingredients list but you have oat flour in the directions??????
Nope, there’s no typo! If you look above at the directions, the 2 cups oats says divided. You use 1/2 cup of oats to process into oat flour. Enjoy!
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