This post is sponsored by Blue Diamond Almonds
I’ve got the warm weather buzz right now.
And you’d better believe that I am living up every sunny, spring-y, scrumptious minute of it.
Waking up earlier in the mornings to soak up every last Vitamin-D filled ray? Check. Working out harder and taking my pup out for walks in said sunshine every day? Bring it on. Planning extra patio coffee dates and happy hours and back deck grill-outs galore? Heck yes. Breaking out the tank tops and flip flops and sundresses? Every day. Filling up my grocery cart with fresher, seasonal, healthier foods to cook with? Yes, yes, deliciously, yes.
I mean, it’s no secret — winter and I have never been on good terms, and most years it feels like a Herculean effort (I wish I were being dramatic) to slog my way to the finish line of Daylight Savings. But oh man, every new year that spring arrives, I appreciate it all the more. And want to soak it up all the more. And want to celebrate it all the more. And want to live up every single freaking second of it all the more.
So! A big part of that, of course, means getting my days off to a good start. Since I’m not naturally a morning person, quick and easy breakfasts tend to be my best shot at eating well first thing in the morning, all the better if they’re pre-made. So lately that has meant a nice cup of pre-prepared cold brew coffee, plus one of my favorite energy-packed treats that I can make in advance — these Cranberry Almond Protein Bars.
While we were living in Austin during the month of February, I got re-hooked on eating my favorite store-bought fruit and nut bars for quick breakfasts. And…then the habit followed me back to Kansas City. I love a good fruit and nut bar. Especially when cranberries and almonds are involved.
But at nearly $2 a pop, I quickly decided that there must be a better homemade alternative. So after researching around online and fiddling with a handful of different recipes, I finally settled on a base fruit and nut bar recipe that worked for me. It’s not exactly like the ones I bought at the store, but after having some friends taste-test them last night, one of them said the magic words I was thinking — “these are even better than the bars at the store.”
Bingo.
To make them, I assembled all of my favorite sweet and salty fruit and nut bar base ingredients:
- almonds (I’m a big fan of the salty Blue Diamond Oven Roasted Sea Salt Almonds)
- dried cranberries (for a touch of natural sweetness)
- puffed rice cereal (for that puffy crunch)
- unsweetened coconut flakes (optional, but I love ’em)
- an extra protein booster (I went with hemp seeds here, but chia or ground flax seeds would also work)
Then I whipped up the magic sauce that binds all of these ingredients together, using naturally sweetened (and gluten-free) brown rice syrup, honey and a bit of vanilla. Then — very quickly — poured it over the nut mixture, stirred it all up, and then pressed it into a parchment-lined baking pan to form a bar.
(Note — time is of the essence here. This sauce hardens very quickly, so once it’s ready, you’ve gotta mix and press these babies into the pan as ninja-quickly as possible.)
Then once the bars sat and cooled to room temperature…
I chopped them into individual-serving-sized bars.
And I must say, I had to do a double-take. They looked just like my favorite bars I buy at the store! And they tasted even better, especially knowing with 100% assurance exactly how much of each ingredient went into them. Plus, they were easy to customize, came together in less than 30 minutes, and rang in at less than half the cost each of their store-bought counterparts.
I call that win-win-win.
Alright, spring. Let’s do this.
Cranberry Almond Protein Bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups Blue Diamond Almonds (I used Blue Diamond Oven Roasted Sea Salt Almonds*)
- 2/3 cup puffed rice cereal**
- 2/3 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
- 1 heaping tablespoon hemp seeds (optional)
- 1/3 cup brown rice syrup
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, store-bought or homemade
Instructions
- Line an 8 x 8 baking dish with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add almonds, puffed rice cereal, cranberries, coconut, and hemp seeds (if using), and toss to combine. Set aside.
- Stir brown rice syrup, honey and vanilla together in a small saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat until boiling, stirring occasionally. Then let the sauce boil for 4-5 minutes, or until it reaches about 260 degrees, stirring occasionally. (The sauce will bubble up quite a bit, so keep an eye on it.) Once it’s ready, pour it evenly over the almond mixture and very quickly stir the mixture until it is evenly coated with the sauce. It hardens quickly, so you’ll need to move fast!
- Quickly transfer the mixture to the lined baking dish, and press it firmly into the dish in an even layer. (I used the bottom of a measuring cup to help press the mixture down into the pan.) Let the bars cool for 30 minutes or until they reach room temperature. (You can speed up this process a bit by placing them in the refrigerator if you’d like.) Then carefully lift up the parchment paper from the baking dish and transfer it (with the bars) to a cutting board. Cut the bars into your desired shapes and sizes. Then place in a sealed container and store at room temperature until ready to eat.
- The bars will last up to 10 days. Or if you freeze them, they will last up to 3 months.
Notes
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below! This post is sponsored by Blue Diamond Almonds. I’m a big fan of their line of almond snacks, and all opinions are 100% my own as always. Thanks for continuing to support the brands that help make this site possible!
I would like to know the nutritional value of the bars. I have cancer and am trying to find high protein, low sugar snacks. Thanks!
Hi Sue! We’re sorry but we are unsure of the nutrition facts/amount of calories in this recipe. We currently are not publishing nutrition facts on the site, as the nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. However, a lot of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. We hope that helps!
Looks great, keep up the good work.
Hi,
any substitutes you can recommend for brown rice syrup?
And the nutrition information given is per bar I assume? What would be the weight in grams per bar approximately?
Thanks!
Hi Arti! You could try maple syrup (same amount), agave (use 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons), or honey (same amount), or Golden Syrup (same amount — it’s British and comes in a can – you should be able to find it in your grocery’s International aisle). As for the nutrition info, we’re sorry but we aren’t sure. We currently are not publishing nutrition facts on the site, as the nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. However, a lot of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. We hope that helps!
A not so terrible first time fail! Lol. I will have to keep trying until I figure out what I did wrong. Instead I made great clusters! My son still enjoyed them at the Philadelphia Christmas parade and shared them with his friends who also loved them. I used banana chips and walnuts with just a touch of mini cinnamon chips and chocolate. Added the hemp seeds and chia seeds. I will put the dry mixture in the pot next time so I am faster with spreading the rice syrup mixture around. Thanks for the recipe! I will continue to try until I get it right. So good!
PS people with nutritional requests and complaints… nutritional information can be measured by weighing all ingredients separately and dividing the calculated sum total by the amount of cut bars. Even still, it will only be approximate because we are not scientists in a laboratory. Everything we eat and metabolizes is different for everyone anyway. This is “homemade”. Be smart and cautious when eating.
Oh no, what went wrong? Did the bars just not want to stick together well? We’re happy you and your son still enjoyed them though!
These sound great, while visiting my friend she was making granola bars, she added quinoa for protein and crispness. Not sure if she toasted it first though. I’ll have to check. She’s always experimenting and whipping up something good!
Awesome! We hope you enjoy these, Mollie!
Can you use maple syrup in place of the brown rice syrup?
Hi Michele! Yes, you sure can — we hope you enjoy these! :)
Hey, heating honey like this makes it unhealthy… Can I just melt it over steam or it needs to be boiling hot? What can I sub rice syrup with?
Can the honey and syrup be replaced by some nut butters or they will melt at room temp?
Hi Yulia! You can try melting it over steam if you’re concerned, and instead of rice syrup, you could use maple syrup. We wouldn’t recommend replacing the sweeteners with nut butters, but you could certainly try adding some as an extra ingredient. We hope this helps and that you enjoy these!
Any suggestions for a replacement of rice syrup? It’s very difficult to get in the UK & I really want to try this recipe!!!
Hi Kath! No worries, instead of rice syrup, you could use maple syrup. We hope you enjoy!
OMG I want to munch on these soooo bad. I’m trying to cut down on sugar and carbs, though. Is there anything I can use to get them to stick together that isn’t a syrup?
Thanks Ethan — we hope you enjoy them! As far as using something other than honey, agave, or brown rice syrup, we’re not really sure. You could experiment with date puree? That would definitely give you the sweetness these need, and hopefully would help them stick together. Let us know if you give that a try!
What did you use to cut them with such sharp edges?
Just a really good knife! :)