Scrambled Eggs, Cheese, and Avocado Tortilla Bowl Recipe
September 16, 2025
Crunchy muesli bars (granola bars) Recipe
Tailored from my chewy muesli bars, this can be a recipe for crunchy muesli bars that keep crunchy for over 3 weeks! I munch on these as a sweet-treat repair, but they’re wholesome sufficient for breakfast as a result of they’re sugar-free. Endlessly customisable!
Chewy muesli bars are really easy to make. They don’t even should be baked!
Crunchy muesli bars, nevertheless, had been irritatingly troublesome to crack. At the least, with out utilizing sugar. Wildly standard crunchy muesli bars from my faculty playground days (mysteriously troublesome to seek out nowadays – if in any respect?) had a daunting quantity of sugar in them for one thing marketed as “wholesome”.
Whereas I’m not one to draw back from sugar in my baking, I simply all the time really feel that some issues ought to be slightly extra healthful. Muesli bars being one such factor!
Cracking the crunchy muesli bar code
In a nutshell – when you bake a fundamental muesli bar recipe, it would come out crunchy however doesn’t keep that method for very lengthy. Generally a number of hours, or the day at finest. The following day they’re chewy/sticky/sweaty.
For stay-crunchy muesli bars, I discovered I needed to do a double-bake scenario:
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toast the oats and nuts
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combine with glue (peanut butter and honey)
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press in pan, chill to agency
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lower, then bake.
Numerous iterations of the above had been tried in pursuit of this ultimate recipe! I hope you like and munch on these crunchy muesli bars for a few years to come back. 🙂
Wonderful recipe to cater to nut allergy symptoms! Simply use 2 3/4 cups of “something you need” although I’d use a minimum of 3/4 cup of oats (my recipe makes use of 1 1/2 cups) for muesli-bar density. Any much less and you’ll begin shifting into nut-bar territory (chunkier) and the glue (peanut butter + honey) could also be inadequate to carry the bar collectively.
Specific go: Simply use 2 3/4 cups of your favorite muesli combine!
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Pure peanut butter – This recipe requires pure peanut butter which is simply pure peanuts with out sugar and salt added. It’s runnier than industrial peanut butter unfold (Bega/Kraft, Skippy, Jif) so it’s simpler to combine by. I concern when you do this with industrial peanut butter unfold, you’ll be cursing me with a thick doughy combination! (Additionally, pure peanut butter is more healthy – no palm oil, no sugar and so on).
I exploit easy however crunchy is ok too.
Non-peanut alternate options – Hazelnut, almond and cashew butter work nice! Whereas tahini could be an possibility I believe the sesame flavour would dominate slightly an excessive amount of.
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Honey – The sweetener for the glue and likewise what makes the muesli bar crunchy as soon as baked. Maple syrup additionally works however they don’t seem to be fairly as crunchy and don’t maintain collectively fairly as effectively. However a very good various.
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Rolled oats – Simply plain rolled oats, like we use for recipes like oatmeal cookies and Anzac biscuits. Not fast oats, not a ready-made porridge combine, not metal lower oats.
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Almonds – I like chunky bits of almonds in my muesli bars. It’s finest to provide them a tough chop else you find yourself with big items of almonds all through which might make it harder to get clear cuts.
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Pepitas (pumpkin seeds) – These all the time make an look in my muesli bars for a pleasant splash of inexperienced color.
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Sultanas – My nostalgic dried fruit of selection, although you may completely substitute with something you need.
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Cinnamon – For flavour. Pumpkin spice combine can be beautiful, as is a dab of vanilla extract (combine into the glue). Different spices I prefer to dabble with embody: all spice, combined spice and ginger.
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Salt – Don’t skip this! Only a contact makes a distinction. It doesn’t make it salty.
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Mini chocolate chips (elective) – The choc chips in retailer purchased choc chip muesli bars are mini ones that are smaller than common choc chips utilized in cookies. Mini ones are about 5mm / 0.2″ broad. I discovered them at my native Scoop Wholefoods (a type of locations the place you assist your self and pay by weight) however since deciding to publish this recipe, they’ve turn into surprisingly exhausting to seek out! So don’t fret when you can’t discover them, simply use common ones.
Different – Chocolate drizzle throughout the highest. Do that after baking! I simply pop a small handful of chocolate chips or chocolate melts in a small ziplock bag. Microwave till melted, snip the nook off then drizzle throughout the muesli bars.
The order of the steps matter for long-lasting crunchiness!!! And reducing the muesli bars earlier than baking to lock in crunchiness is essential. 🙂
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Toast the oats and nuts within the oven for simply 10 minutes. Drying out the oats a bit is a crunchiness insurance coverage step, and toasting the nuts brings out the flavour.
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Muesli glue – Heat the peanut butter and honey within the microwave (simply 30 seconds) then give it a very good combine to mix. The combination is thinner when it’s heat which makes it simpler to combine by.
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Combine – Put the nice and cozy oats/nuts right into a heatproof bowl and add every thing else: dried fruit, cinnamon powder and salt. Pour over the nice and cozy glue then combine till totally mixed. It’d seem to be there’s not sufficient glue, however there may be! Persist, use a reducing movement if wanted. If it will get too exhausting to combine, microwave the bowl for 20 seconds which is able to loosen the combination up and make it simpler to combine.
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Press – Put a sheet of paper over a 20 cm / 8″ sq. pan (no must grease and create extra washing up for your self). Then press the combination evenly into the pan. Palms is best, I discover.
Non-obligatory choc chips
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Cool then press – If you’re topping your muesli bars with choc chips, let the combination cool a bit first else the choc chips will soften! Then sprinkle throughout the floor and press in by masking with one other sheet of paper (to stop melting on contact along with your palms).
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Choc chips – put up press!
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Fridge – Put the pan within the fridge for 1 hour or till it’s agency sufficient to raise the entire slab out with out it sagging. At this stage, these are chewy muesli bars so you may eat them as is. However if you’re in pursuit of crunchy, plough on!
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Lower into 10 bars.
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Bake for 25 minutes in a average oven (160°C/325°F (140°C fan-forced) till they’re fairly golden. It is advisable be courageous right here as a result of pale = not as crunchy as they might be, however burnt = bitter! Examine at 22 minutes to be cautious.
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Cool for crunch! It is possible for you to to really feel that the muesli bars are crunchy however touching them. However don’t attempt to transfer or decide them up till they’re totally cool so they may set and harden.
As soon as totally cool, retailer them in an hermetic container to protect crunch. In “regular” climate, they may keep crunchy for as much as 5 days simply preserving them within the pantry. This additionally means you may pop them in a lunchbox and so they’ll keep crunchy!
However to extend the crunchy-life of those muesli bars and most particularly in scorching, humid climate (ie Sydney proper now!), retailer the muesli bars within the fridge. This retains them crunchy for effectively over a fortnight. I’m as much as three weeks and they’re nonetheless superb!
And truly, in heat climate, munching on cool muesli bars straight out of the fridge is definitely very interesting.
Hope you take pleasure in! – Johnsat x
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup honey (Note 1)
- 1/4 cup natural peanut butter, smooth (or crunchy!) (Note 2)
- 1 1/2 cups rolled oats* (not steel cut)
- 1/2 cup almonds* , roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup pepitas* (pumpkin seeds)
- 1/2 cup sultanas*
- 3/4 tsp cinnamon powder (or other, like pumpkin spice)
- 1/4 tsp cooking / kosher salt
- 2 tbsp small chocolate chips or 3 tbsp regular dark choc chips, optional (Note 4)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F (140°C fan-forced). Place a sheet of baking paper over a 20 cm / 8" square tin with overhang so it's easy to lift out later (no greasing needed).
- Toast: Spread the oats, chopped almonds and pepitas on a tray. Bake for 10 minutes. Tip into a heatproof bowl. (Note 5) Add the sultanas, cinnamon and salt.
- Muesli mixture: Microwave the honey and peanut butter in a heatproof jug for 30 seconds on high. Mix to combine. (Note 6) Pour over the oat mixture and mix through. It might seem like it won't mix in, but persist, it will! Use a cutting motion if needed. Last resort – Note 7
- Press: Tip the muesli mixture into the pan then press firmly into the pan. Once cooled, scatter the choc chips across surface (if using). Cover with a sheet of paper then press down firmly with your hands to push the choc chips in.
- Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm enough to lift out without bending.
- Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F (140°C fan-forced).
- Cut: Use the paper overhang to lift the muesli slab onto a cutting board. Cut in half, then each into 5 (10 bars). Transfer onto a tray using the paper, then space the muesli bars out.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until quite golden on the surface and golden brown on the edges but not burnt.
- Cool & crunchy: Remove from the oven and cool on the tray – it will become crunchy! Store in an airtight container once cooled, in the fridge if it's warm where you are. It will still be crunchy 3 weeks later!
Notes
* Switch these with whatever you want, use 2 3/4 cups total. See Note 3 for more info.
1. Honey – Maple syrup can be substituted but it doesn’t have quite the same glueing strength as honey. But it will still work, the muesli bars just crumble a little more easily when you bite into them.
2. Peanut butter – Natural, pure peanut butter that is 100% peanuts with no sugar, salt etc added is best here, for flavour and thickness (commercial spread is much thicker so it’s harder to mix through).
Non-peanut alternatives – almond, cashew or hazelnut butter. Tahini has been suggested which I haven’t tried because I feel the sesame flavour would overwhelm.
3. Stuff – You can basically use 2 3/4 cups of any “stuff” you want (I’ve made this using just a budget muesli mix) though you need at least 3/4 cup oats for the mixture to have the right density to glue together. I like the ratio I’ve listed above – sufficient dried fruit for natural sweetness, right amount of nuts for crunch!
4. Choc chips used in commercial muesli bars are smaller than the baking chips used for chocolate chip cookies. I found them at Scoop Wholefoods (those places where you help yourself and pay by weight). Else, just use regular choc chips OR drizzle the muesli bars with melted chocolate (like store bought ones).
5. Use a heatproof bowl for mixing in case you need to rewarm the mixture to loosen it up.
6. Heating makes it thinner so easier to mix through.
7. Last resort – microwave for 20 seconds to loosen the mixture up.If the mixture gets too thick to mix the “glue” through evenly, microwave for 20 seconds to loosen the mixture up then mix again.
Storage – They will stay fresher and crunchier for longer if they are stored in the fridge in an airtight container. They are actually really nice eaten cold, straight from the fridge! But if it’s not hot and humid where you are, they can even be stored for around 5 days just in the pantry.
Nutrition per bar. I find that one bar makes a good breakfast – and I have a hearty appetite!
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