Family Projects: Make Your Own Granola Bars!

We don’t have to tell you that spending time with your kids is important, but we understand how difficult it is to continually come up with things to do. Cooking together is a great family project because it gets you working together as a family, it is a learning activity, and it is a fun way to get your kids to pitch in with meal prep. Plus, they might be more interested in eating a snack that they had a hand in making. We love this granola bar recipe because your kiddos can be hands-on the entire time (no oven required!), and the recipe has infinite variations so you can use what you have around the house or fill it with your favorite ingredients. Below we have the standard recipe as well as some other fun ingredient ideas! Check out the video of Meg making her version of these granola bars for a step-by-step guide. :)

Does cooking not sound like your idea of fun? Let CLIF do the work and pick up some CLIF Kid Zbars! Enjoy them together during your family time and decide which flavor is your favorite!

Granola Bars Standard Recipe:

• 1 cup oats

• 1 cup nuts or seeds, finely chopped

• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

• 1/4 tsp salt (omit if using salted nut/seed butter)

• 1 cup nut or seed butter

• 1/4 cup honey

• 1/2 tsp vanilla

• 1/3 cup topping (chocolate chips, dried fruit, get creative!)

Ideas For Granola Bar Varieties!

• Monster Cookie: Use peanuts for your nut, peanut butter, and top with M&Ms

• Spring Has Sprung: Add lemon zest and top with dried blueberries for a lemon-blueberry flavor

• Hit The Trail: Use a nut variety and top with mini M&Ms

• Everything But The Fire: Top with chocolate chips, crushed graham crackers and mini marshmallows

• Island Time: Use macadamia nuts and top with coconut flakes and chopped candied pineapple. Aloha!

• Peanut Butter Fanatic: Use peanut butter, peanuts, and top with Reese’s pieces and peanut butter chips

• PB&J: Use peanut butter, lessen the amount of honey (unless you have a big sweet tooth!) and add in raspberry jam as your topping

• Almond Joy: Use almond butter, almonds, and top with coconut flakes and a drizzle of chocolate

• Friendly Fiber: Use flax seeds as your nut/seed and top with chopped prunes

If you don’t have time to cook your own bars, or your kids would rather spend time in the sunshine (which we love!) pick up some CLIF Kid Zbars to enjoy together instead! They already have a ton of great flavors; our favorites are Iced Oatmeal Cookie and S’mores (seriously, SO GOOD). You can even order them online directly from CLIF so you don’t have to leave the house!