Learn how to make these easy chocolate chip granola bars that include a touch of Tahini. The Tahini adds a bit of flavor while helping to keep these granola bars together, so they are easy to eat.
My Homemade Chewy Granola Bars
In my younger days, I was a fan of the Quaker Chewy Granola Bar. I used to eat them all the time before I began cutting down on processed foods in the house. I wanted to learn how to make them myself, so I tried out a few recipes, trying to get it right. It took some work, but now I've come up with granola bars that are way better than what came out of a box — my whole family and my mother-in-law all agree!
One of the biggest struggles I had along the way to homemade granola bar satisfaction was keeping everything together. Even though the taste was good, when I ate them, I ended up with a lap full of crumbs. I needed something to keep everything together. I had honey in them, which I hoped would bring some stickiness, but it wasn't enough. I stored them in the fridge to let the butter inside harden up, but that still wasn't quite enough.
The key was adding peanut butter. Then I thought I would try it with tahini instead, which would be a fantastic way to use the tahini I had gotten for homemade hummus. It was the glue that held it all together!
This post includes affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. These are products and services I recommend because I use or trust them. Cookies will be used to track the affiliate links you click.
I suggest making these granola bars in your favorite 9x13 pan. I bought my wife a Lodge Cast Iron Casserole pan for Christmas last year, that we use all the time for Detroit Style pizza. It worked great for the granola bars as well. We have seasoned our pan well so it doesn't stick.
If you want you can add some parchment paper to make clean up easier.
How to Package the Bars
If you want to package these bars up to take on the go, I would recommend wrapping them in wax paper. Yes, you could also use parchment paper as well but wax paper is a lot cheaper and it's more flexible.
Tahini Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 3 cups rolled oats
- 1 ½ cup crispy rice cereal
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon Tahini
- ⅔ cup butter
- ½ cup honey
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Start by preheating your oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.
- In a saucepan combine the butter, brown sugar, and honey. Stir to combine. Heat up over low heat just until the butter melted and the sugar and honey are mixed in. Remove from the heat.
- Combine all the rest of the ingredients except the chocolate chips in a large, wide mixing bowl.
- Add in the melted butter/sugar combo. Mix to combine.
- Fold in the miniature chocolate chips.
- Take the mixture and pour it into the pan and lightly press with a spatula to evenly distribute.
- Bake for 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown.
- Let cool for at least 10 minutes. Then cut them into your desire portions but don't remove them from the pan until they are completely cool. They are easier to cut while soft. IF you remove them before they are cool they will fall apart.
Leave a Reply