When I head out for a day away from home, whether its a day outside or an extra long work day, I like to make sure I have a healthy snack on hand for when I get home and am hungry. These bars are one of my best recipe creations in a long while. I have been making a lot of no-bake-type oatmeal cookies and almond butter-banana oatmeal lately, but I am excited to change up my oatmeal routine a bit. I was strongly inspired to make some sort of homemade bar that would taste like the CLIF chocolate almond bars that I love. I only buy CLIF bars occasionally as a treat because one, they are expensive, and two, I feel often feel guilty spending so much on one granola/protein bar of any type when I know I have the stuff at home and could make an entire batch on my own. So, this morning I played around with my no-bake oatmeal recipe and wound up with these delicious “CLIF-like” bars full of crunchy almond butter, subtle honey, cocoa powder, and oats. At 185 calories a piece, they make a great protein-packed and delicious portable snack.

Chocolate Almond Oat Bars

Yield- 6 bars

• 1/4 cup margarine
• 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp. honey + 1 tsp. honey
• 1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup almond butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

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1. Combine almond milk, margarine, sugar, and 1 Tbsp. of honey in sauce pan and boil hard, then turn heat down and continue a low boil for another minute.

2. Meanwhile, measure oats into a mixing bowl, along with cocoa powder and almond butter. Pour milk mixture into oats and stir gently. Add in vanilla extract and another tsp. of honey, and stir until combined.

3. Spray a 7 x 10 inch (or similar size) pan with cooking spray and press oats firmly into pan using the back of a spoon.

4. Cover with plastic wrap and place in freezer until bars set. Cut into six bars. My bars held together well and ended up very close to the size of a normal CLIF bar, just thinner.

After cutting, I placed the bars in a sealed container and will keep them in the freezer to hold their shape, just pulling out an individual bar as needed.