Homemade Clif® Bars
As you all know I am not really outdoorsy.
And while oats and raisins and granola can certainly be eaten indoors it kinda seems like the outdoors have claimed them as their own.
So what I am proposing is that all us indoor people take back granola. That’s right. You don’t have to hike mountains and wears khaki to enjoy an oat bar. You don’t have to drink water out of a water bottle and wear a backpack to enjoy raisins.
It’s a fact. I am currently indoors, wearing non-khaki clothes, drinking a beverage out of a cup with no squeeze lid, and am gazing at my cute new bag that is on the table next to me. All safely indoors. AND I am eating an oat-packed, raisin-filled bar.
The whole idea of this snack might seem out of place on my sugar filled site, but I assure you, it’s every bit as delicious as say, a Caramel Swirled Pretzel M&M Blondie…ok, well, that’s not entirely true…but they’re really good. A close second to those bars, for sure!
They are much like the Clif Bars that you can buy in the supermarket…but better, because you make them. Homemade is always better, don’t you think?
My kids love them too, but I make them eat them outdoors. Kids are messy, plus I’ve heard fresh air is good for kids. Whatever.
So let’s get down to the dirty…
Grab your food processor. I loathe mine…anyone have any suggestions about a good food processor? I need a new one!
Anyway, pulse some raisins until they are chopped up a little. They will get a little sticky, that’s ok.
Then add in some of your other healthy stuff…oats, shredded wheat, cinnamon and a pinch of salt…pulse it together.
In a separate bowl whisk together some honey, some vanilla, a couple eggs and some peanut butter.
Mix the wet and the dry and if you’re feeling crazy add some mini chocolate chips. Press it all into a prepared pan.
Bake it up and let it cool before cutting into squares.
No khaki necessary.
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PinIngredients
- 1 cup old fashioned oats
- 3 large biscuit style shredded wheat cereal, or 1 cup un-frosted spoon-size shredded wheat
- 1 cup raisins
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°
- Spray an 8×8 pan lightly with cooking spray.
- Place raisins in food processor and pulse until lightly chopped (it will be sticky)
- Add the shredded wheat, oats, cinnamon and salt in food processor and pulse until mixture is finely chopped and incorporated.
- In a large bowl whisk together eggs, honey, vanilla and peanut butter.
- Add the oat mixture and chocolate chips and stir until combined.
- Spread in prepared pan and bake 15-18 minutes until edges are slightly golden.
- Let cool completely in the pan before slicing into squares.
Notes
recipe adapted from California Raisin
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I think these are a mighty fine alternative to a candy bar any day, inside or out. YUM!
I have never seen such huge shredded wheat pieces! Nevertheless, these look amazing…I’m always down for a cliff bar…especially when hiking. 😀
my aunt loves cliff bars I will have to show this to her for sure.
This is some health food I can get behind! Totally making this for my toddler this weekend. He will still believe me when I tell him it’s like a candy bar. 🙂
I’ve never had shredded wheat before. It always seemed a bit… scary. I’m going to see if I can find some and if I can, I’m definitely making these. I’ve never had a Clif Bar either but I agree with you in that if it’s homemade, it’s better. Except for Pizza Hut pan pizza because nothing homemade can compete with that. 🙂
A honey sweetened recipe from Cookies and Cups. Yay!
Down with the outdoors! I love me some Clif bars, and I don’t want to go anywhere near a hiking trail. Deeeelish.
If not khakis, muscle t-shirts are definitely required to consume clif bars 🙂
These sound wonderful! I love how you wrapped them up too!
Dude, you are the bomb!
Yes, I just said that, because that was the first thing that came to my head. Maybe not that eloquent, but honest. Love these!
Love this! My husband loves the Clif bars for work, but they are so expensive. I can’t wait to give these a try.
Do these bars stick together like Cliff Bars? It seems whenever I make something similar to this they seem to crumble apart and end in in a gazillion pieces which is so always so disappointing.
Great bars! I am a sucker for that kind of treat.
Cheers,
Rosa
“anyone have any suggestions about a good food processor? I need a new one!” <— I use my Vita for everything. LMK what you end up getting b/c I'm game to try what you try 🙂
These look awesome. I love Clif bars!
If you are ready to spend some money, I am in love with my Cuisinart Elite Collection 14-cup Food Processor. The only downfall is that the base is heavy, otherwise I love that it has three different cup capacities.
Someone gave me an OLD Cuisinart when I was due with my first baby…. That was 13yrs ago and it is still going strong! Also, I’ve eaten SW for years and it is wonderful and filling! I put in strawberries or bananas to add sweetness.
My family has a major aversion to pb, all nut butters really, any suggestions for a like consistency exchange? I assume it is used not only for protein, but for binding as well?
Yum these look delicious! Definitely going to be making them soon :). Bookmarking your site!
These look great! I love Cliff bars.
How cool is that?!?! I think we’ll have to give these a try. Although I only have frosted shredded wheat right now….
My son LOVES Clif bars, but he eats the ones geared towards kids.
Are the raisins in these essential for the texture/taste? My son is not a raisin fan…..
also, could you use regular sized chocolate chips instead?
I think I’ll make some of these for this weekend (he prefers a chocolate base though, any ideas?) as he’s running an 8K and a 1mi race and then has a soccer game later that same day. He’s gonna need the nutrition and energy!
I don’t imagine they are essential, but they do add a lot of sweetness, so if you don’t add them I would recommend using a bit more honey, maybe 2 Tbsp, and add in a little more of the oats to substitute for the bulk of the raisins 🙂
You could replace the raisins with dates, they get sticky and binds things together well.
I love Clif Bars! I especially love heating them up just a bit in the microwave so they taste like a warm cookie! These look fantastic and I can’t wait to try making these!
I’m also curious if the raisins are essential. I love the idea of making these, but no one in my house is a fan of the raisin!
I love the Quisinart products. I especially love their blenders and food processors.
Could a person use dried cranberries or blueberries to replace the raisins?
I think that would work totally fine! THanks for the Cuisinart rec. 🙂
I’ve always wanted to try this!
Looks good! I want to send some to my husband who’s deployed.. do you think they will make the journey okay?
Absolutely. Just package them in an airtight container!
These are my kind of bars! Great snack!
Thse would be perfect ot have around the house.
Seriously…I’m not quite sure how you’ve managed to make raisons look appetizing to me but you have. I’m not a major fan of them, but wow I want to gobble up these bars!
*side note: I am extremely (underline and bold that) jealous of your bag! That is so cute!
Um, if I’m allowed to eat these on my couch, wearing pajamas, while hooked up to WIFI, I am all for these bars. Yum.
Have pinned & printed the recipe! Plan to bake it with the kids in the next few days!
These look delish! I’ve made something similar with dates instead of raisins, for those of you wanting a substitute.
I’m definitely going to have to make these. My kids love all those outdoorsy bars! On a different note – I posted your 2 ingredient ice cream today, and linked back to you at the bottom! Thanks for such an EASY recipe. The kids are IN LOVE!!
Wow..these bars are bursting with energy..such a nutritious treat! Love all the ingredients..Kids are gonna love this treat.
I am going to pin this recipe:: We love to hike and munch on granola bars, but the store bought are more expensive, and I’m sure not as yummy as these!
These look great! My last attempt at granola bars did not turn out well, so I’m looking forward to trying this recipe (even though I will probably eat them in front of the TV!).
I use my kitchenaid 14-cup (I think?) food processor. I love that thing.
I’ve never heard of a Clif bar until I read your post. Do you guys have Tracker bars over there? I love them!
These look fantastic. Sort of the thing I love to eat after a good old swimming session, I bet they taste fantastic too. Can’t wait to try these and feed my kids something a bit healthier than all the cakes I’ve been baking lately too, lol.
I made homemade cliff bars once, but mine weren’t nearly as healthy as yours! Mine were kind of more like a candy bar…oops!
These look great!
I’m not a big fan of the outdoors either so I’ve never gotten into the granola thing…but I’ve always kinda envied those who have. these are kinda the more sophisticated inside version of it. 😛
YUM! Just started on a LUNA bar fix, so these look like a great idea!! Thanks!!
You are a pretty smart cookie now but if you could come up with a recipe for the perfect Caramel Nut Brownie Luna Bar, you’d be a genius!
Made these today – soooooo delicious! Followed the recipe, just left out the chocolate chips!
I’m always looking for snacks for my daughter that are a little healthier – definitely trying these!!
These looks delicious! My husband and I LOVE Clif Bars, but had to stop buying them because they’re just so stinking expensive. I’m making these today! Can anyone tell me how long they will stay good/fresh for?
If you store them in airtight container they should be good for up to 5 days.
Awesome, thanks!
Whats the best way to store these so they stay fresh? Baking my first batch right now.
Just store them in an airtight container, or individually wrap in cling wrap for up to 5 days.
Thanks! These are awesome. My kids didn’t like them, but they are picky and I think it was more of a texture thing. Now I guess I’ll have to eat them all myself:). I can’t imagine these without the choc chips, and for those worried about the raisens, mine were so ground up you wouldn’t know you were eating one.
Any idea of the calories of a serving or the fat content? We love Clif bars in our house and eat them daily. Would love the comparison.
I entered the ingredients into an online recipe calculator and it istelling me that if you cut it into 12 bars they will be 166 calories each, 6.3 grams of fat, 30 grams carbs, 4.4 grams protein, and 3.1 grams fiber.
Hope this helps!
I have been experimenting with making similar bars for my kids as it was costing me a fortune to buy the ‘healthy’ stuff at the supermarket. In the last batch I think I over-did it a bit with the nuts and seeds, but I reckon these kinds of recipes are so forgiving and you can mix and match ingredients to find the perfect combination for your own personal taste. Thanks for sharing this, it’s given me some more ideas of things to try!
For reference, I just grabbed a White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Clif Bar (I know it’s not a super close match to the recipe, but it’s my favorite kind and I buy tons of them every time they’re marked down to $.99!) and the nutritional info for one bar:
250 cal
7 grams fat
240 mg sodium
42 grams carbs
9 grams protein
4 grams fiber
Looks like this recipe is a great homemade substitute! Will be trying it soon!
Good to know!
OMG! These look DIVINE!! I can’t wait to try them out. Thank you for sharing:)
i just made these but used dates since my raisens were hard as rocks. They turned out fantastic and my three year old, one year old an myself just ate 5 🙂
So happy to hear!
My husband loves Cliff bars, also. I started making his with whey protein and applesauce added for binding. The last time I made them, I also added puffed rice. That made them a little lighter.
I just made these, using dried bing cherries because I had them on hand, and love them! I’m going to try freezing some and see how they hold up longer term 🙂 They are pretty easy to make in the old Cuisinart!
Awesome variation!
Can you tell me how to make these as thick as you did in the picture? I made them and they came out really thin. I am making them again and want to have them be nice and thick like your photos.
Thank you,
brooke
WOW first time here and I am in LOVE you are so creative excited to follow you on twitter and pinterest thanks for the great recipes
Hello there, how long do these last?
Up to 5 days in an airtight container!
Hello, I’m vegan and not sure if someone has asked this, but can a flax egg be used instead of normal eggs?
I ahve never tried that, but I would imagine it would work fine!
Any suggestions for making them gluten-free?
Is there a substitute for raisins? Really don’t care for them.
Dates would probably work!
Read and bake a lot of your recipes and I’m a few pounds heavier but HAPPY!!!!I would love to make these with cranberries and white chocolate. what would I put in place of the peanut butter?
I am vegan and the reason why I eat Clif Bars is because they are vegan and do contain nutrients and protein. I’m just really disappointed that you used EGGS in these. One good thing about Clif bars is that they are dairy-free. Also, many people complained bout the price of Clif bars, but they are 70% organic and we all know that organic foods are more expensive.
Would like to know the “shelf life” of this recipe once prepared? If you know how stable they are on the “trail” I would like to know as my boyfriend, and my ex boyfriend are going hiking in the spring on the A.T. (Appalachia Trail).
Thanks!
I had a 1/2 box of Shredded Wheat that I bought for another recipe and have been looking for something to use them for. I couldn’t even let these cool all the way before I started picking at them. They smell awesome! Next time I may add a little more peanut butter – just because I’m a P.B. junkie! Thanks for the recipe!
great idea!!
The best food processor is a robocoup they cost more than the average one at walmart but mine has lasted me almost 30 years. You can buy one at any restaurant supply store