These Blueberry Apricot Breakfast Bars are a perfect, all natural, alternative to your processed Chewy Bars or any other granola bar you’d find at your local supermarket. The raw honey and dried fruits in these bars provide a perfect amount of a natural sweet flavor allowing these bars to even be enjoyed as a dessert!

I have seen many recipes and have tried multiple times over the years to make my own homemade granola bars (as they’ve always been a necessity in my pantry), however I could never seem to get them to the right consistency. But, I have finally figured it out this time! This recipe calls for RAW honey, whereas before I was just using regular clover honey. Raw honey is spreadable and has a much thicker texture, almost like a butter. Not only is it delicious, but it allowed these bars to come out of the oven with the perfect chewy granola bar consistency. This is the honey I used, however there were plenty of other options just at the local Publix.

These bars are made with a variety of dried fruits and coconut, however you could make a more decadent version with chocolate chips and peanut butter as well, or really any other additions you may want! Try it out:

BLUEBERRY APRICOT BREAKFAST BARS

INGREDIENTS:

1. Cooking Spray
2. 4 cups Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
3. 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
4. 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
5. 1 Egg, plus 3 Egg Whites
6. 1 cup Unsweetened Apple Sauce
7. 3 tbs Raw Honey
8. 1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
9. 1/3 cup Chopped Dried Apricots
10. 1/3 cup Dried Blueberries
11. 1/4 cup Dried Cranberries
12. 1/4 cup Shredded Coconut
13. 1/4 cup Slivered Raw Unsalted Almonds

PREPARATION:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Prep a 9×13 glass baking dish with cooking spray
3. In a large bowl, whisk together oats, flour, and ground cinnamon
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together egg and egg whites
5. Whisk apple sauce, honey, and vanilla- add to the egg mixture, and whisk until smooth.
6. With a rubber spatula, fold liquid mixture into dry mixture until thoroughly combined.
7. Fold in apricots,  blueberries, cranberries, and coconut.
8. Transfer mixture into glass dish, spreading until evenly layered.
9. Sprinkle with almonds, and if you like, some added shredded coconut as well.
10. Bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center
11. Let cool completely, then cut into squares!
12. Enjoy!!

I have always preferred my granola bars cold out of the fridge. After cutting these, I popped them in the refrigerator to cool a bit and will try them later this evening or tomorrow as I head out the door to work!