These grain free, vegan, and paleo granola bars are packed with warm spices and chopped dried apples for a fun fall touch! They’re sweetened with pure maple syrup and contain no refined sugar, grains or dairy. They’re chewy, crunchy, family approved and perfect for after school snacks!
Ever since making my original grain free and paleo granola bars with raisins and chocolate chips, I’m pretty insistent that they’re in my fridge at all times.
I’m also VERY into trying new mix-ins and flavors, so don’t be surprised if a new recipe for paleo granola bars pops up every season!
For fall? This is the first (there may be more coming!) and they’re everything I love about the season. Minus the pumpkin of course (who said pumpkin?!). But really – if you love warm spices and apples, these granola bars are your new best friends.
Since no-bake granola bars wouldn’t stand a chance with actual juicy apples, I decided to use chewy dried apples for this recipe.
These apples usually come in the form of rings, and they’re perfect for the bars. When chopped up small, they add nice little sweet chewy bites to the bars, just like raisins or cranberries do.
For the base recipe, I stuck to my original mix – pecans, almonds, and cashews (although you can use any nut combo you want), coconut flakes, flaxseed, and seasonings.
I also swapped out honey for maple syrup to make them vegan, although either will work if you don’t need vegan bars. Coconut oil and creamy nut butter gets them to stick together nicely.
I decided to go with cashew butter, however, you can really choose any nut or seed butter that suits you!
Cashew butter is awesome in recipes like this one, simply because it has such a mild flavor, which allows the spices and apples to shine through.
The process of making the bars is really simple. First, chopping up the nuts. While you don’t actually need a food processor to do this, I always use mine because it chops them in 3 seconds 🙂
Then you stir in the rest of the dry ingredients to combine. The wet ingredients get mixed in a separate bowl, then poured over the nut mixture. Then we mix! The mixing part is definitely my favorite part of any recipe – so satisfying.
Once everything’s mixed up, it’s time to pressed it into your dish. I always use an 8 x 8″ square pan lined with parchment paper for granola bars and it creates the perfect thickness for this recipe in my opinion!
One note – when you “press” the mixture into the pan, you really want to pack it in tightly or your bars will turn out crumbly. Your goal is to pack it in so tightly that it has no choice but to stick together while chilling!
The bars will then need to set in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, but I recommend longer to make them easier to cut. You can also freeze to speed up the setting time!
And speaking of the freezer, these bars are perfect to freeze individually. So, you can make them ahead of time to grab for whenever you need one!
Once they’re set, you’ll carefully cut them with a long sharp knife. This way you’ll just need to make a few clean cuts – I cut mine into 20 bars.
I hope you’re ready for an easy, fun, and tasty snack this fall (or really any season!). Let’s go ahead and no-bake!
Apple Cinnamon Paleo Granola Bars {Vegan, No Bake}
Apple Cinnamon Paleo Granola Bars {Vegan, No-Bake}
These grain free, vegan, and paleo granola bars are packed with warm spices and chopped dried apples for a fun fall touch! They're sweetened with pure maple syrup and contain no refined sugar, grains or dairy. They're chewy, crunchy, family approved and perfect for after school snacks!
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw pecan halves or walnuts
- 1 cup raw almonds
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 1 cup coconut flakes unsweetened
- 1 Tbsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp allspice optional
- 1/2 tsp sea salt fine grain (or 1/4 for less salty)
- 1 cup dried apples chopped
- 1/4 cup coconut oil organic, melted (use refined for no coconut flavor)
- 1/4 cup smooth nut butter cashew or almond works best
- 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp pure maple syrup or raw honey, for non-vegan
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
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Place the nuts in a food processor and pulse several times to “chop” them into a crumbly texture - a few larger pieces are a good thing - don’t overmix!
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Transfer the nuts to a large mixing bowl and stir in coconut flakes, cinnamon, salt, and dried apples to evenly combine.
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Place melted coconut oil in a separate mixing bowl and whisk in the almond butter, honey or maple, and vanilla.
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Pour the wet mixture into the large bowl with the dry ingredients and stir to fully combine - I used a silicone spatula for this step. Thoroughly mix to make sure all the dry mixture is coated.
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Line an 8 x 8” or 9 x 9” square pan with parchment paper along the bottom and sides, with extra up the sides for easy removal. Transfer mixture in and press down, using your hands, or another piece of parchment paper to get it packed tightly into the pan.
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Cover the top with parchment or plastic wrap, then set in the freezer for at least 30 mins to firm, preferably longer, if you have time.
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Using a long very sharp knife, cut into 20 bars. You can wrap them in parchment individually storing in the fridge (for up to two weeks) or freezer for longer.
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Bars will start to melt around room temp due to the coconut oil, so they’ll need to be kept chilled to stay firm. Enjoy!
Nutrition
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Want More Paleo and Vegan sweet snacks? Try One of These!
Paleo “Oatmeal” Raisin Cookies
Cranberry Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Brittany Audra @ Audra's Appetite says
September 22, 2018 at 4:39 pmI love when I have all the ingredients for a recipe on hand at home! Perfect to meal prep this weekend for grab-and-go snacks next week! 🙂
Sharon Hansen says
September 22, 2018 at 9:28 pmLooks awesome! . I have a terrible time with any sweetener like honey or maple syrup. They may be Paleo but they are not Sharon. Any idea how much I could reduce the honey or maple syrup and still get these to stick together?
Natalie says
September 23, 2018 at 12:28 amI never tried adding apples into granola bars! Looks and sounds so delicious! Pinning!
Lina says
October 1, 2018 at 11:06 amWould honey work instead of maple syrup? I have honey that comes straight from my bee hive in the backyard, and prefer it for sweetener.
Monique says
October 9, 2018 at 10:45 amThese turned out so great! My daughter loves them (gluten and oats allergy sucks when you’re 4!). Have you tried adding collagen to beef up the protein?