June 26, 2022

Simple Homemade Granola Bars for Toddlers

The concept of store-bought granola bars is great – easy, convenient grab and go snacks. The taste of them however, is often overly sweet and unappetizing in my opinion. And there’s just something about unwrapping food from shiny plastic that has been sitting in a box for who knows how long that doesn’t feel quite right.

Don’t get me wrong, I purchase my fair share of processed snacks from the grocery store. But I try not to rely on these types of snacks for my toddler all of the time.

So I have been thinking about how great it would be to find a recipe for simple homemade granola bars for toddlers. My criteria for a worthy recipe includes the following;

Easy to make
Few ingredients
Whole food ingredients (unprocessed or minimally processed)
Tasty

I also wanted an apple flavored granola bar, because my toddler was having absolute meltdowns over some of the store bought apple Nutri Grain bars (he can’t get enough of those!). So I started experimenting with some apple based granola bar recipes, that didn’t have all the strange ingredients found in the store bought varieties.

I landed on a recipe for “Healthy Apple Pie Oat Bars” from My Kids Lick the Bowl, and just added some fresh apple to it and experimented with some of the substitutes/options. I tried a couple of other apple bar recipes, and this one adapted from My Kids Lick the Bowl was definitely my favorite!

Ingredients for Homemade Granola Bars for Toddlers

2 Cups Quick Rolled Oats
1 Small-Medium Sized Apple
1 Cup Applesauce
1 Egg
1.5 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup
2 Tablespoons Unrefined Coconut Oil
Butter or coconut oil to grease a baking dish

You could also add other granola bar type ingredients your toddler likes to the mixture (eg, raisins, dried cranberries, shredded carrot, etc).

Directions

Aside from the ingredients, you only need 1 large mixing bowl, a baking dish and a fork to make these! Basically just mix all the ingredients together well, then smooth the mixture out flat onto a buttered baking dish, and bake in a preheated oven for 25 minutes or so!

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Add 2 cups quick rolled oats and 1.5 teaspoons cinnamon to a large bowl and mix them together.
Add 1 cup of applesauce to the same mixing bowl.
Melt 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in the microwave, and then add it to the mixing bowl.
Add 1 tablespoon of maple syrup to the bowl.
Crack an egg and add it to the mixture.
Mix all the ingredients together well.
Finely chop a small-medium sized apple (ends up being about 1 cup) and mix them into the mixture. If you are making this for a very young child, be aware of the size of apple bits to avoid any choking hazard. You can also leave the apple out, but I like the texture, extra flavor and nutrients it adds.
Butter a baking dish, and add the mixture to the dish. Flatten it out evenly and put it in the oven to bake for 25 minutes.
Cool and cut.

My toddler eats these bars for snacks, breakfasts or as side options for lunches and dinners! He also loves to help make these bars. There aren’t so many ingredients that it takes forever, and he enjoys dumping in all the ingredients and stirring them together. So it’s a great indoor activity to do with little ones.

I store these homemade granola bars in a Tupperware in the fridge for a couple days. They’re usually gone pretty quickly because they are such an easy and convenient snack or side option! I like to have one for breakfast myself, or grab one to snack on as we are running out the door.