Healthy Trail Mix Bars -a delicious and healthy treat or after-workout snack! Made with simple, real-food ingredients!

Easy Trail Mix Bars

These are going to be your go-to trail mix bar! Their rich, buttery flavor combined with the real maple syrup, creamy almond butter and so many other yummy, real-food ingredients make the flavor of these unreal! Cannot wait for you to try them!

Why You Will Love These

• Kid-Friendly: Looking for an easy snack to have on hand for the kiddos? These are for you – they are going to love them!
• Easy: This super simple recipe is easily whipped up on a weekend to have throughout the week!
• Flavor: That buttery flavor + all your traditional trail mix ingredients is just a match made in heaven!

What You Need To Make Them

• rolled oats + ground flax: love the fiber these add to the bars!
• cinnamon + kosher salt: these add flavor and that bit of cinnamon is just perfect.
• pitted dates: these help hold everything together.
• cashews + almonds + sesame seeds: love the crunch these add.
• craisins + raisins: these add pops of sweetness and they pair so perfectly with the chocolate.
• dairy-free chocolate chips: you can use regular chocolate chips if you prefer.
• real maple syrup: nothing better than the real stuff!
• creamy almond butter: you could use peanut butter too.
• dairy-free butter: use regular butter if you aren’t worried about dairy.
• vanilla extract: adds a tiny bit of sweetness and round out the flavors.

How to Make Trail Mix Bars

Step 1: Add maple syrup, almond butter and Califia Farms Plant Butter into a small saucepan. Bring to medium/medium-low heat. Stir occasionally (trying to break up the almond butter) and slowly melt together. Don’t let it get too hot.

Step 2: Meanwhile, add dates, cashews and almonds to a food processor.  Pulse several times to break down the nuts a little. The consistency should be pretty rough, but try to break up all the whole nuts so they stick together better in the bar. Set aside.

Step 3: Combine oats, flax, cinnamon, salt and sesame seeds in a medium mixing bowl. Stir to combine.

Step 4: Add the date/nut mixture to the oat mixture. Stir to combine.

Step 5: Once the maple syrup mixture has melted together. Remove from heat and let cool bit.

Step 6: Pour maple syrup mixture into oat/nut mixture and stir to combine. Add in dairy-free chocolate chips and stir to combine.

Step 7: Place a piece of parchment inside a 8×8 or 9×9 pan (cut the parchment so it overhangs on two opposite sides which will act like handles and allow you to pull the bars out of the pan easily).

Step 8:  Pour the mixture into the pan and press down firmly.  Cover with foil and place in the fridge overnight.

Step 9: Remove by pulling up on the parchment paper. Cut into 12 larger bars or 24 smaller bars. Store in the refrigerator for up to 7-10 days.

Recipe FAQs + Tips

• Gluten-Free: Feel free to use gluten-free certified oats to make these gluten-free!
• Cashews: Feel free to use either salted or unsalted.  If you like that salty/sweet combo then I would recommend using salty.  But I wouldn’t recommend using both salty cashews and salty almonds – I would pick one or it might get too salty.
• Almonds: Feel free to use either salted or unsalted.  If you like that salty/sweet combo then I would recommend using salty.  But I wouldn’t recommend using both salty cashews and salty almonds – I would pick one or it might get too salty.
• Craisins: I like using these. 
• Dairy-Free Dark Chocolate Chips: I used these. 
• Creamy Almond Butter: Use a thicker almond butter (like this one). If you use a very thin, drippy almond butter the bars might not stick together quite as well.
• Melting the Almond Butter/Maple Syrup: Just a reminder to not let this get to hot – we are going for a slow, low heat melt.  Once this is melted it is going to be mixed in with the remaining ingredients, including the chocolate chips, which will melt if this is too hot.
• Pressing Down: I use a 8×8 pan for the bars and then too a 7×7 pan and placed inside, on top of the bars and pressed down real hard, but your hands should work well too!
• Storage: Store in the refrigerator for up to 7-10 days.
• Nut Substitutions: Feel free to mix up the nuts you use instead of or in addition to the cashews and almonds; as long as you have approximately 1 1/3 cups of nuts you should be fine.

Other Recipes You Might Like:

1. Homemade Granola
2. Paleo Cookie Dough Balls
3. Apple Pie Oatmeal
4. Pumpkin Overnight Oats

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Made this recipe and loved it?! We would love it if you would take a minute and leave a star rating and review – it is also helpful if you made any substitutions or changes to the recipe to share that as well. THANK YOU!

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