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    You are here: Home | Recipes | Granola Bars

    Homemade Clif Bars

    Sep 12, 2022 by Faith VanderMolen

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    Made with rolled oats, puffed cereal and sweetened naturally with dried fruit and maple syrup, you can enjoy a delicious, yet cheaper version of your favorite granola bar with this Homemade Clif Bar Recipe!

    homemade clif bars stacked on each other

    I don't know how to live without a batch of homemade granola bars in my fridge. They're a balanced snack that tastes amazing and fills me up until my next meal.

    Lately I've been experimenting with homemade Clif Bars too. I mean, who doesn't love Clif Bars?!

    They're basically a candy bar disguised as a granola bar!

    My favorite flavor of Clif Bar has always been Chocolate Brownie or the Cool Mint Chocolate.

    However, even though I love Clif Bars, I choose not to eat them very often.

    Because of their high sugar and calorie content, I usually only enjoy Clif Bars when I'm doing long endurance exercise, which is rare nowadays.

    If I want a Clif Bar on an average day, I'll make these Homemade Clif Bars!

    These Homemade Clif Bars are vegan, gluten-free and so easy to make.

    Let me show you how to make them!

    medjool dates used in homemade clif bars

    Ingredients in my Homemade Clif Bars

    These homemade clif bars require just 10 ingredients.

    I'll list out everything you'll need below:

    • Medjool dates
    • Puffed wheat cereal (or puffed rice cereal to make these gluten free)
    • Old-fashioned rolled oats
    • Peanuts
    • Ground flaxseed
    • Cinnamon
    • Salt
    • Peanut butter
    • Agave or maple syrup
    • Vanilla extract

    These homemade clif bars are not low in sugar by any means.

    However, the sugar that's in them comes from more whole-food sources such as dates and either agave or maple syrup.

    Ingredients in Clif Bars

    Name brand Clif Bars contain quite a few more ingredients than these homemade clif bars.

    ORGANIC ROLLED OATS, ORGANIC BROWN RICE SYRUP, SOY RICE CRISPS (SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, RICE FLOUR, BARLEY MALT EXTRACT), ORGANIC ROASTED SOYBEANS, ORGANIC TAPIOCA SYRUP, ORGANIC CANE SYRUP, CHICORY FIBER, UNSWEETENED CHOCOLATE‡, COCOA‡, ORGANIC SOY FLOUR, ORGANIC HIGH OLEIC SUNFLOWER OIL, NATURAL FLAVORS, ALKALIZED COCOA‡, SEA SALT. (source)

    As for sugar, most clif bars use three kinds of syrups including brown rice syrup, tapioca syrup and cane syrup.

    Now there is nothing wrong with eating Clif Bars, but when I'm going to reach for a granola bar a day, I love to enjoy my homemade clif bars!

    How to Make Homemade Clif Bars

    These Homemade Clif Bars are super simple to make!

    Let me walk you through how to do it.

    STEP 1: Start by preparing an 8x8 baking dish by spraying it with non-stick cooking spay. Set it aside until later.

    STEP 2: In a food processor, process the pitted dates until coarsely chopped. Add in the puffed wheat cereal, oats, chopped peanuts, ground flaxseed, cinnamon and salt and pulse a few times until everything is mixed together and there are no large pieces. Pour these dry ingredients into a large bowl and set aside.

    different stages of homemade clif bar dough

    STEP 3: In a small saucepan over low heat, or in a microwave safe bowl, warm the peanut butter and sweetener of choice until heated through and thoroughly combined.

    STEP 4: Remove them from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

    STEP 5: Pour the sweet, peanut butter mixture over the dry ingredients and stir well. It will seem dry, but that's fine.

    sticky homemade clif bar dough in a mixing bowl

    STEP 6: Once all the ingredients are fully mixed, pour everything into your prepared 8x8 pan and press down firmly with your hands until the mixture is flat.

    homemade clif bar dough being pressed into a baking dish

    STEP 7: Place the pan in the refrigerator so the bars can set.

    STEP 8: Once set, cut them into 16 bars and enjoy!

    homemade clif bard dough being cut into bars

    Clif Bar Flavors

    The homemade clif bar recipe I'm sharing today is basically for the crunchy peanut butter flavor, but there are so many other amazing flavors that you could experiment with.

    Use this recipe as your base and change out the nut butter you use or mix-ins you add!

    I'll list out all of the Clif Bar flavors below to give you some inspiration for different flavors you could make at home!

    • Chocolate Chip
    • Crunchy Peanut Butter
    • White Chocolate Macadamia Nut
    • Chocolate Brownie
    • White Chocolate Cranberry
    • Spiced Pumpkin Pie
    • Peppermint Bark
    • Cool Mint Chocolate
    • Peanut Butter Banana with Dark Chocolate
    • Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch
    • Blueberry Crisp
    • Oatmeal Raisin Walnut
    • Coconut Chocolate Chip
    • Sierra Trail mix
    • Peanut Toffee Buzz
    • Nuts & Seeds
    • Cappuccino

    There are even more flavors than the ones I listed out above!

    I hope you can come up with some amazing homemade clif bars using these flavors as inspiration!

    How to Store Homemade Granola Bars

    Homemade granola bars store so well, making them a great snack to meal prep.

    You can store these homemade clif bars a number of ways.

    Room Temperature: If you think you'll eat through them pretty quickly, simply store them at room temperature in an airtight container.

    Fridge: To make them last longer than a week, your can store them in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

    Freezer: Alternatively, you can even freeze these for up to 3 months. Flash freeze them on a baking sheet before transferring them to a freezer-safe zip lock bag.

    a close up of a homemade clif bar

    📖 Recipe

    Homemade Clif Bars

    Faith VanderMolen
    These Homemade Clif Bars are a delicious, grab-and-go snack for busy days. Not to mention they're so much healthier for you than the store bought bars!
    4.91 from 11 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 10 minutes mins
    Total Time 10 minutes mins
    Course Granola Bars
    Cuisine Vegan
    Servings 16 bars
    Calories 127 kcal

    Equipment

    • Airtight Food Storage Containers
    • Stainless Steel Mixing Bowls
    • Unbleached Parchment Paper
    • Hamilton Beach Food Processor
    • 8x8 Baking Dish

    Ingredients
     
     

    • 1 cup pitted Medjool dates
    • 1 cup puffed cereal wheat or for gluten free bars, use puffed rice cereal
    • 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
    • ¼ cup coarsely chopped peanuts
    • 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
    • 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
    • Pinch salt
    • ½ cup peanut butter
    • ¼ cup agave, honey or maple syrup
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

    Instructions 

    • Prepare an 8x8 baking dish by lining it with parchment paper. Set it aside.
    • In a food processor, process the pitted dates until coarsely chopped. Add in the puffed cereal, oats, chopped peanuts, flaxseed, cinnamon, and salt, and pulse a few times until everything is mixed together and there are no large pieces. Pour these dry ingredients into a large bowl and set aside.
    • In a small saucepan over low heat, or in a microwave-safe bowl, warm the peanut butter and sweetener until heated through and thoroughly combined. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla. Pour the sweet, peanut butter mixture over the dry ingredients and stir well. It will seem dry, but that's fine.
    • Once all the ingredients are fully mixed, pour everything into your prepared 8x8 pan and press down firmly with your hands until the mixture is flat.
    • Place the pan in the refrigerator so the bars can set. Cut into 16 bars.

    Notes

    This recipe is really adaptable! Try out different kinds of cereal, nuts and nut butter to create different variations or to use up what you have on hand!

    Nutrition

    Calories: 127kcalCarbohydrates: 17gProtein: 3gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gSodium: 36mgPotassium: 154mgFiber: 2gSugar: 9gVitamin A: 14IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 19mgIron: 1mg
    Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was!

    More Granola Bars

    • Vegan Protein Bars
    • Vegan Oatmeal Bars with Jam!
    • Homemade Whole Wheat Fig Newtons (Vegan)
    • Vegan Breakfast Cookies


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    Comments

    1. Jan says

      December 19, 2022 at 12:51 pm

      Thanks for the recipe and inspiration! I'm so disappointed that Peanut Toffee Buzz is being "retired" as a flavor of Clif Bar. Now maybe I have a way to approximate making them by using your nice and, happily for me, vegan recipe. Thank you!

      Reply
      • Faith VanderMolen says

        February 12, 2023 at 1:46 am

        I hope you enjoy this recipe!

        Reply
    2. Alex says

      August 26, 2022 at 10:48 pm

      These bars aren't gluten free since the second ingredient in them is puffed wheat cereal, so unfortunately I'm not going to make them. I'm glad you're happy with them though.

      Reply
      • Faith VanderMolen says

        September 12, 2022 at 11:37 pm

        Oh, thanks so much for making me aware of that mistake! Another kind of puffed cereal would work as well, such as puffed rice.

        Reply
      • Debra Shope says

        February 22, 2023 at 1:01 pm

        Right in her recipe it says use puff rice for gluten free it states it VERY clearly these are excellent BTW

        Reply
        • Faith VanderMolen says

          March 09, 2023 at 1:43 am

          Thanks for clarifying. So glad you're enjoying this recipe!

    3. Mike Y says

      August 13, 2022 at 1:33 pm

      Can’t wait to try this recipe. Any suggestions for making the peanut toffee buzz? This is our favorite cliff bar that is consistently out of stock.

      Reply
      • Faith VanderMolen says

        August 19, 2022 at 2:31 am

        Hey Mike! I'm not super familiar with that flavor. You could look at the ingredients list on their website to see if any unique ingredients stand out that you could include/substitute in this basic recipe. Let us know if you try anything out and how it goes!

        Reply
    4. Catherine says

      October 14, 2019 at 12:12 pm

      How many calories per bar?

      Reply
      • Faith says

        October 14, 2019 at 11:59 pm

        Hi Catherine! Unfortunately I don’t check the calorie count of my recipes. I’d recommend cronometer though. It’s a free website where you could track this recipe’s calories. Hope that helps!

        Reply
      • Beiinda says

        June 23, 2023 at 7:46 am

        The recipe has been updated to 127 per bar, however, please know that the recipe says it makes 16 bars, but in the video she only cut them in to 8. So the actual size of bar is much smaller than what she shows in the photos.

        Reply
        • Faith VanderMolen says

          July 06, 2023 at 4:12 am

          Thanks for clarifying Belinda!

    5. Sven says

      April 30, 2019 at 12:58 am

      I’ve tried these a couple times and they’re great! I used sliced almonds instead of peanuts.

      Reply
      • Faith says

        May 01, 2019 at 4:43 am

        That’s great to hear Sven! Thanks so much for sharing!

        Reply
    6. Hazel says

      April 22, 2016 at 7:11 pm

      Hey! So good to find these. I am also an injured runner, and I love clif bars! Hope you got to run your race!

      Reply
      • Faith says

        April 23, 2016 at 2:05 am

        Ah sorry to hear you're injured hazel! It's never a fun season, but I hope you can rest well, recover quickly and made these yummy clif bars!

        Reply
    7. Celeste @The Whole Serving says

      September 20, 2014 at 11:20 pm

      I will be giving these a try, but I will have to replace the peanuts for another, my daughter has a nut allergy. That's what I love about food, you can change it up sometimes.

      Reply
      • Faith says

        September 21, 2014 at 11:07 am

        Awesome! And I love that about food too. You can easily use almonds, walnuts or pecans in these. Hope you like them!

        Reply
    4.91 from 11 votes (11 ratings without comment)

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