Perfect Homemade Granola Bars Low in Sugar & Delicious

Have you ever heard of homemade granola bars? If so, you already know that there is a world of difference between the store-bought version and what you can make in your own kitchen. With oats, almond butter, dark chocolate chips and coconut, these healthy granola bars are delicious and nutritious.

They're also a no-bake granola bar, which means it's a crunchy granola bar! If you're looking for a good recipe for oat bars or coconut bars, this recipe has both counts covered with gluten-free oats and rich coconut. It is also low in sugar with high macronutrients, unlike most. Learning how to make these granola bars is as easy as it gets. 

Why are most granola bars unhealthy?

Granola and pre-packaged granola bars make the list of secretly unhealthy foods for good reason. The problem with most of the granola bars on the shelves today is that they are not made with the right ingredients. Instead, they are full of refined sugar and unhealthy fats, but low in fibre, healthy fats and essential nutrients. The source of sugar in most conventional granola bars is usually low-fructose corn syrup.

The high sugar content of many granola bars, even many homemade granola recipes, is something you really want to avoid for your health. Eating too much sugar is well known to cause obesity, inflammation and even wrinkles.

Granola bars (and granola bars) are also known to contain unhealthy hydrogenated oils, meaning they contain trans fats. This is a concern since trans fats raise LDL ("bad") cholesterol in the body and lower HDL ("good") cholesterol.

This recipe skips the refined sugar entirely and gets its flavour from maple syrup and dark chocolate chips. These bars wouldn't be the same if they weren't completely sweet and the maple syrup helps bind the ingredients together. If you're not a fan of maple syrup, molasses is another flavouring that has similar properties to help hold the bars together. You can also use honey, but do not burn it, because it can create a fire.

Instead of hydrogenated oils, these homemade granola bars contain good blood sugar-regulating fats from things like almond butter and coconut. Other healthy fat additions you can consider adding to chewy granola bars or crunchy granola bars include chia seeds and nuts like pecans, almonds, or walnuts.

Nutrition 

Some of these homemade granola bars contain ingredients such as: 

• 156 kcal 
• 20.4 grams of carbohydrates 
• 2.8 grams of fibre 
• 7.3 grams of sugar 
• 6.8 grams of fat 
• 4.6 grams of protein 

You will find that this is the best macronutrient granola bar you will find, with 20 grams of carbs, 7 grams of fat, and 5 grams of protein. In other words, it has fewer carbs and less sugar than even a homemade granola bar.

What makes this granola recipe so good? Here are some healthy and delicious stars of this homemade granola bar recipe: 

• Almond Butter: When you buy almond butter, you are looking for one that has only one main ingredient: almonds. Almonds are rich in protein, fibre, calcium, iron and many other important nutrients.
•  Oats: Oats are a good source of soluble fibre, especially a type called beta-glucans, which research shows can help lower cholesterol naturally when eaten regularly. To avoid contamination from wheat, rye, or barley, look for grains that are labelled "gluten-free." Puffed rice is a gluten-free alternative you can use with oats. 
• Dark Chocolate Chips: Not all chocolate is created equal, so if you're looking to get the highest antioxidant and nutritional content from your chocolate, choose dark chocolate that contains at least 70% cocoa or more. The cocoa content is high and the sugar is low, so that's another plus.
•  Maple Syrup: One of the best natural sweeteners, maple syrup can also help reduce inflammation, provide nutrition, and regulate blood sugar levels, helping to keep food in check. taste.

How to make healthy granola bars 

Since these are no-bake granola bars, there's no need to preheat the oven before you start making this healthy granola snack. This recipe also only has six ingredients, most of which you may already have on hand. Eliminating "cooking time" (like charging time) and refrigeration, these granola bars only take about 10 minutes to make! 

The first step is to add the almond butter and maple syrup in a small pan over low heat and stir until well mixed but not hot (shouldn't take long at all). Once the almond butter and maple syrup are combined, you can remove the pan from the heat and set it aside.

1. Start adding the remaining ingredients to the bowl.
2.  Once you have everything in a bowl, you can mix a little. 
3. Pour the warm almond butter mixture over the contents of the bowl.
4. Mix until well incorporated.
5.  In an 8x8 baking dish greased with coconut oil, take it out, pack and smooth the mixture with your hands.
6. Cover the baking dish and refrigerate until firm (about an hour). 
7. Cut into a bar or a square, that's it.
8.  Enjoy your homemade granola bar!