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Hannah Frost

Trail Mix Bars

These no-bake gooey trail mix bars are a healthy snack. They have no added sugar and they're gluten free. Just skip the chocolate chips to make them vegan.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Refrigeration time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings: 16 squares
Course: Snack
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1/4 C honey
  • 3 Tb peanut butter I use creamy but crunchy works too
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 C quick cooking oats
  • 1 C dried fruits and nuts I use cranberries plus a scoop of whatever I have in my trail mix jar
  • 3/4 C crisped rice
  • 1/2 C unsweetened coconut flakes
  • 1/3 C semisweet chocolate chips optional

Method
 

  1. Line 8x8 baking dish with parchment paper. It's easiest later if you leave generous flaps hanging out the sides.
  2. Add honey and peanut butter to Pyrex measuring cup and microwave for 20-30 seconds so they soften. Add vanilla and stir it all together. If you accidentally boil the honey like I did, you'll need to wait a few minutes for it to cool down before you do the next step or you'll melt the chocolate chips. (Or do it on purpose and own it. It makes the bars look more chocolatey.)
  3. Put all the rest of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir them together. Then dump the peanut butter/honey mix over it and stir it all together until it's a big sticky mess.
  4. Scrape it all out of the mixing bowl into the baking dish. Fold your excess parchment paper flaps over the top and press down on them to pack down all the ingredients into the baking dish. The better you pack it, the less the bars will fall apart when you're eating them.
  5. Cover with plastic wrap, put it in the fridge and let it all cool until it stiffens up (about an hour). To serve, lift the whole thing out of the baking dish by the parchment paper flaps, put on a cutting board and slice into squares. Best served cold because the bars get more gooey and fall apart easily as they warm up.