As I briefly mentioned in this post the other day, I love Clif bars. They taste great and provide a good amount of protein and fiber. They’re perfect for a busy schedule when you just need something to hold you over.
While I have nothing against buying Clif bars, they’re not exactly cheap, especially when you buy them one at a time. Spending $5 for a pack is one thing, but I have realized that these past few weeks I had been buying them individually, spending around $2 each time.
Anyway, last weekend I decided to concoct my own, homemade, cheaper version. There is plenty of room for creativity and variation, but I went with my favorite: chocolate. 🙂
Homemade Clif Bars – Chocolate (E, N, D?, GF)
makes 8 bars
Ingredients:
– 1 1/4 cup rice krispie cereal
– 1 cup uncooked oats
– 2 tbsp. ground flaxseed
– 2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
– 3 tbsp. mini chocolate chips, dairy-free if necessary
– 1/3 cup honey
– 1/2 cup sunflower seed butter (or any nut butter, if you’re tolerant)
– 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Directions:
- In a small, microwave safe bowl, combine honey and sunflower seed butter. Heat for 30-60 seconds. (Heat time varies depending on your microwave. I heated the mixture for 45 seconds, or until it was bubbly.)
- Add vanilla extract to the honey and sunbutter mixture. Allow to cool for a few moments so you don’t melt the chocolate chips!
- In a large bowl combine cereal, oats, flaxseed, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips.
- Pour the sunbutter mixture into the dry ingredients, stirring until everything is well combined. I began this step using a wooden spoon, then switched to a spatula – it gets sticky!
- Line an 8×8 inch pan with parchment paper. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, and firmly press it down until the top is level.
- Cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 5 minutes before transferring to the refrigerator to cool for another 30 minutes or so.
- When you’re ready, cut into bars. I made 8 bars out of mine, and they were basically the same size as the store-bought ones. You could make them smaller or bigger, depending on what you want.
- Wrap in plastic wrap and store in the fridge until you need one!
- Enjoy!
Notes:
– If you need the bars to be dairy- or gluten-free, obviously double-check all of your ingredients!
– Though they should stay in the fridge until you need them, I had mine sitting in my backpack for quite a few hours and it tasted fine.
– These bars would be chocolate-y enough without the addition of the chips, so if you wanted to make the recipe even healthier, omit the chips. You probably won’t miss them. 🙂
– If we had protein powder when I made these, I would have added a scoop. It would have affected the calorie count, but I think the extra amount of protein would have been good!
– I have a whole bunch of possible variations in mind: chocolate with dried cherries, chocolate coconut, cinnamon raisin, you could do trail mix (nuts and dried fruit) if you’re tolerant…the choices are endless! Let me know if you do decide to mix it up a bit!
Nutrition (the exact recipe above, with the chocolate chips):
Nutrition (same recipe as above, omitting the chocolate chips):
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SO making these!
They’re one of my favorites, and my top pinned recipe on Pinterest! I hope you like them!
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Just found this recipe on Pinterest and can’t wait to try it. Clif bars are my favorite! Thanks
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I just finished making these. Amazing! Since my hubs and I eat the Clif Builder bars for their protein content, I actually omitted the chocolate chips, and added 3 scoops of vanilla whey protein, along with about a 1/4 cup of water. And I used peanut butter. They turned out amazing! By my estimate, it changed the nutrition to close to an actual Clif Builder Bar. A little higher fat content, but not enough to deter me from using this before a run!
Cal 256
Fat 13g
Carbs 20.8g
Protein 17.1g
Thanks so much for the recipe!
That’s all so good to know! Thanks for the feedback! I’m glad you liked them!
Hi…will definitively try this recipe !!
Question: Is there a way to prolong the shelf live of those bars ?
and how long will they last in the fridge ?
Many thanks in advance !!!
Hello!
I’m not sure about a way to prolong the shelf life other than storing them in the fridge. They’ll last a week or two in there!
Just made those bars !!! AWESOME !!!
I replace the sunflower seed butter with pumpkin seed butter….and taste exactly like a Cliff Bar…and same consistency !
Will make more for sure !!
Many thnaks for this recipe….!
Great, I’m so glad you liked them!
Is there anyway to make these without any kind of nut butter? I don’t have any other kind of nut butter other than peanut and I’ve found that when I use peanut butter, it overpowers the recipe. Just curious. Thanks!
Stephanie
Hi Stephanie!
I’m really not at all sure…I suppose you could experiment with varying amounts of honey? Let me know if you figure something out!
Are these supposed to be baked in the oven or are these no bake bars? I see your other clif bars are baked. I made these and these are not holding together very well so I thought maybe a piece was missing out of the directions, especially where it says to cool on a cooling rack. Thank you.
Nope, these are no-bake! I suggested putting them on a cooling rack just because you microwave some of the ingredients. I’m sorry to hear they aren’t holding together too well…maybe try smushing them together? Thanks for the comment!
[…] and I thought I would give it a try myself. I basically combined two recipes that I saw here and here to make my own recipe. I love recipes where you can modify to make something that fits what you […]