Healthy Snack Bar Recipes

Making your own healthy snack bars is a great way to guarantee a high quality and deliciously nutritious on-the-go snack. They aren't complicated to make, and will keep well in a fridge or freezer.

If you've never had a go at baking your own snack bars, then why not try making some today. Have a look through these tasty recipes, and personalise it until you have created a household favorite.

♥ Biscotti

This is a delicious and long-lasting treat for everyone in your family to enjoy. It's pretty easy to make, and you can even get the kids involved with the baking of them if you so wish. These will keep for about 2 weeks in an air-tight jar.

Check out our whole wheat biscotti recipe on the Whole Wheat Baking page. It's got chocolate and pecans in the recipe, but you could substitute in other ingredients, and instead make cinnamon/raisin, fig/walnut, apricot/cranberry. Experiment by dipping them in chocolate and sprinkling with seeds.

♥ Trail Bars

The classic healthy snack bar, a trail bar has a fantastic texture and is jam packed full of health benefitting ingredients! Don't forget to substitute any items you don't have or would like to change the flavour of, in order to create something entirely unique. You could use some homemade granola in the mix for a different texture, or use a different type of nut butter.

1. Preheat the oven to 350f/180c, and grease a rectangular baking tray.

2. Mix together 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp baking soda and a pinch of salt in a large mixing bowl.

3. Blend together 1/2 cup natural peanut butter, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup honey in a food processor until smooth.

4. Whisk together 1 large egg and 2 egg whites, then add to the peanut butter mix.

5. Add 2 tbsps oil (canola, rapeseed, sunflower) and 2 tsps vanilla exract to the food processor, and blend everything together.

6. Put the food processor mixture into the flour in the mixing bowl and combine. Add in 2 cups rolled oats, 1 cup cranberries/raisins, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts/almonds and 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips.7. Spread into the prepared tin, and cook for 20-25 mins or until golden.

♥ Banana Coconut Snack Bars

These are a slightly different, oat-free kind of snack bar, with an interesting and tempting combination of flavours and gorgeous texture. They also happen to be dairy free.

1. Start by heating your oven to 350f/180c, and greasing a rectangular baking dish.

2. Mash 1/4 cup silken tofu until it is smooth and then add 3/4 cup brown sugar, blend until creamy.

3. Add 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract, 1/2 tbsp rum/rum extract (try vanilla extract if you haven't got any) and 2 large mashed bananas. Stir really well or blend up with a hand blender.

4. Add in 1 1/2 cups flour (whole wheat, gluten free, buckwheat) and 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt. Then stir in 1/2 cup flaked coconut.

5. Pour into the baking dish and cook for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and cut into bar shapes whilst warm. Sprinkle with powdered sugar with cinnamon if you would like.

♥ No Bake Bars
These are a healthy homemade version of the snack bars you find in health food shops and stores. They can be adjusted to include any dried fruit and nuts you want. These do require a dehydrator if you want to keep them for any length of time, but you could also use a low-temperature oven too.

1. Place 1 cup cooked buckwheat, 3 cored apples, 30 soaked dates, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1tsp salt and 1/4 cup sunflower seeds in a food processor, and blitz until smooth. Place the mix in a large mixing bowl.

2. Then add the following to the used food processor: 1/4 cup sunflower seeds, 1/2 cup almonds, 1/2 cup cranberries, 1 cup dried apple slices and blitz until coarse. Transfer to the mixing bowl.

3. Add 1 cup rolled oats, 1 cup cooked buckwheat, 1/2 cup cranberries, 1/2 cup almonds, 1/2 cup sunflower seeds and 1/2 cup honey to the mixture and bring together.

4. Shape the mixture into bar shapes or cut with a cookie cutter. Then dehydrate at 135f/60c for 4 hours on one side, flip and continue to dehydrate for another 1-8 hours depending on how crunchy you would like your finished bars to be.

A perfect freezer snack is some fruit bread or loaf that's been pre-cut and put in the freezer. Try out our healthy banana bread recipe, which is perfect toasted straight from the freezer and spread with butter/low fat spread.