These are the easiest, yummiest, fastest, healthiest, fail-proof honey-oat granola bars you’ll ever make. They’re vegan and gluten-free (as long as you use gluten-free oats), and they have a perfect crispness and sweetness. But my favorite bonus is that they don’t crumble!

This is a snack filled to the brim with iron, fiber, protein, vitamins, good-for-you fats, and basically the kind of stuff you want your loved ones to eat. For me, given that I make nearly everything from scratch, I can definitely appreciate the ease of this snack. The most lengthy part of this recipe comes from needing to freeze the bars before and after baking them (which you must do in order to ensure they fully crisp and don’t fall apart), but the actual hands-on time is incredibly minimal.

INGREDIENTS

Dry:
1 cup ground flax seeds
1 cup almond meal flour
4 cups gluten-free quick oats
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon

Wet:
1 cup honey
1 cup coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

In a saucepan on medium heat, melt wet ingredients and stir until fully mixed but never simmering.

Pour wet ingredients onto dry ingredients and stir to fully incorporate.

Use a spatula to press firmly onto a parchment paper-lined 24×14 (baker’s half sheet) cookie sheet (or enough smaller cookie sheets to arrive at a similar size).

Score with a knife or pizza wheel.

Place in freezer for 15 minutes (don’t skip this step).

Bake for 15 minutes.

Cool briefly.

Freeze for 15 minutes (don’t skip this step. This is how you guarantee crispy, well-formed bars that don’t crumble).

Cut. Serve.

I think we were really craving easy snacks here, especially my son who is going through a major growth spurt, because when I returned to the kitchen at the end of the afternoon, this was what was left.

That’s what I love about this recipe, though. I don’t care if the kids eat them all day long. It’s full of good-for-you stuff that you want to load up on anyway, and I love seeing my kids nosh on stuff that helps them grow and thrive.

Enjoy!