Homemade Clif Bars (No-Bake!)
I had been in the dark about Clif Bars until just a couple of months ago. I had heard of them, but I typically don’t buy bars like that, so I had never tried one. I met a good friend for dinner one night, and she was giving me the details about her relatively new job. Among the perks were free, healthy snacks in the cafeteria area. She said that there were bins of Clif Bars, and when I mentioned that I’d never tried them, she pulled one out of her purse and gave it to me. A few days later I was spending the bulk of the morning running errands and without fail, found myself starving. I didn’t want to get fast food or hit a vending machine and then remembered that I had the Clif Bar in my purse. I dug it out and gave it a try. It took approximately 2.2 seconds for me to realize why so many people are such big fans of these bars. It only took another 10 seconds to start brainstorming ideas for a homemade version. Through some trial and error, I came up with an awesome replication of the Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch variety.
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Even though there isn’t anything inherently “bad” for you in these bars and they are certainly a step above your typical processed granola bars, but I still relish making anything I can from scratch in my own kitchen. I grabbed the wrapper to study the ingredients, did some Googling and finally came up with these bars. I absolutely love them – they’re sweet, chewy, a little crisp and packed with flavor. These are sweetened with brown rice syrup, don’t include any sugar and are gluten-free. These make an awesome snack, and are a perfect substitution for breakfast or lunch if you’re running late or on the go.
If you’ve had them, what’s your favorite Clif Bar flavor?
One year ago: Maple-Walnut Fudge
Two years ago: Pancake Cupcakes with Maple-Bacon Frosting
Three years ago: Chewy, Fudgy Triple-Chocolate Brownies
Five years ago: Beef Mushroom Barley Soup
Homemade Clif Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup (147 g) dates, pitted
- 1¼ cups (23.33 g) crisp rice cereal
- 1 cup (81 g) quick-cooking oats
- ¼ cup (36.5 g) coarsely chopped peanuts
- 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) ground cinnamon
- Pinch salt
- ½ cup (129 g) peanut butter
- ⅓ cup (113.67 ml) brown rice syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (45 g) mini semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Spray an 8x8-inch pan with non-stick cooking spray; set aside.
- Place the dates in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Combine the pureed dates with the cereal, oats, peanuts, flaxseed, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl.
- Combine the peanut butter and brown rice syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until melted and completely blended. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
- Pour the peanut butter mixture over the oat mixture and stir until well combined. Gently stir in the chocolate chips. Turn the mixture into the prepared pan and press firmly to pack the mixture into the pan. Let the mixture sit until completely cool and set, at least 1 hour. Cut into bars, then wrap individually in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator.
Notes
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Do these have to be refrigerated? I want to overnight mail them to my daughter so she can take on her trip to Europe. Will they keep without being refrigerated? Thanks for the recipe. It is wonderful!
You can definitely keep them without refrigerating them. I hope your daughter enjoys them!
Can you make this without using dates? I saw another lady used prunes but I wouldn’t want to use that either.
Hi Kendle, The pureed dates is what creates the sticky texture needed to bind the bars. You could probably use another type of dried fruit (figs, maybe?) if you prefer.
I’m drooling over these!!! They look so good
Hi, can’t wait to try these! I’m interested in adding in some whey protein powder, just curious if you think I might want to adjust the recipe if I did so. Thanks!
Hi Chris, I haven’t added whey powder, but I don’t see why you couldn’t. It would all depend on how much you add; might want to cut back on some other drier ingredients or else they may end up a little crumbly.
Michelle -I put some in the fridge and some in the freezer….the freezer ones are definitely less crumbly..almost perfect! Will try more dates next time just to see…but these are near perfect!! I doubled the recipe and made a 9 x 13 pan and they are almost gone. Love love love these!!!
Michelle, I tried to read through most of the comments and i didn’t see anything about this….if you already answered it I’m so sorry! I made these bars today and they tasted absolutely amazing! I am working my way through Insanity…and many times for a post workout snack OR just to keep in my diaper bag for when I get hungry….cliff bar! My husband also likes to take them to work. Therefore, we go through many of these! So I added a few dark chocolate chips to the recipe and also used honey instead of the brown rice syrup, simply because I didn’t have any on hand. NOW-like I said….we loved how these bars tasted! My husband said that if I can fix one thing about them that he will never eat another Cliff Bar again! So, the only problem we had with these was that they were still a little crumbly. Not bad at all, but if you put them in a bag or purse and just throw it around (which happens to this moms bag all the time!) it would definately crumble. NOW, my question for you is if you had this problem at all?? Would it change anything to bake it for a short amount of time?? Use more dates?? Or is it because I didn’t use brown rice syrup?? I know you have done tons of research and put much time and work into these bars, and in no way do I want to belittle that at all!! I understand the time and work that goes into things like this…and I just wanted to let you know that I greatly appreciate you sharing this with all of us! Just wondering if you have any suggestions for me?!?! Thanks so much!
Hi Sarah, I didn’t find the bars to be crumbly at all. You could try using more dates so that the binder is thicker. I don’t think that using honey instead of brown rice syrup would make a difference since they have a similar consistency. You could also try refrigerating them, which may firm them up.
I find sometimes my dates are a little dry so I add a bit of water to help hydrate them. Adding warm water, a tbsp at a time may help too.
Sound delish! Been looking for a breakfast energy bar to get me going. This looks like it will be great. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I substituted almonds and raw almond butter for the peanuts and peanut butter, ground chia seeds for the flaxseeds, left out the chocolate chips, and added a few crushed graham crackers bc I was low in Rice Krispies. Despite all the changes, they turned out great! Softer than Clif Bars, and without the aftertaste (soy protein, maybe)? Thanks so much!
Just a note. There is some controversy over the gluten status of oats. I only know this because my mom is having to switch to a gf diet, and I am researching these things. Apparently, even though regular oats have only a very low gluten content, those who are extremely sensitive to gluten may want to substitute gluten free oats in this recipe, just to be sure. I can’t wait to try this! I work out a lot, and buy Clif bars in bulk from Costco. The idea of making them from scratch has major appeal for me!!
I was just going to say the same thing about it not being truly gluten free as there are oats in it. My father in law has celiac disease and oats are included in the list of gluten containing products he has to avoid. I would suggest labelling them as low gluten rather than gluten free.
i am sooooooooo gonna try this! our favorite Clif flavor is White Choc Macadamia. that being said, i have a few questions: can i omit the dates and peanut butter? or do they HAVE to be used because they are a “binding” agent? or are they used as a seperate “flavoring” for each flavor? are those ingredients specific to this recipe? as you can see, im very inquisitive, ;)
Hi Crystal, To answer your questions… the dates are indeed a binding agent. The commercial Clif bars use a “date paste” so that’s why I did the dates for a binding agent. If there’s something else you have that you want to use as a binder, you could, but that’s used as a binding agent, so you don’t want to eliminate it without using something else. The peanut butter you could play around with… maybe almond butter if you’re making macadamia?
cool!! Thanks!! :)
Yum!! Love a homemade version of anything, plus no-bake?! Win-win!
I found your recipe tonight and had to try it. It is quick, easy, and delicious. I had to substitute a few ingredients but it was still great. This recipe is already a hit at my house.
Thank you..
Wendy
I eat Clif bars like a crazy person and probably could not make them frequently enough to fuel my habit! But I wanted to make these to get a little variety into my rotation. I love the flavors. But I have one suggestion that worked out well for me: my dates became a firm puree instead of pieces and were difficult to mix with the oats/cereal, so I threw everything back in the food processor (oat, cereal, dates, nuts, and all) and they mixed well and I think the texture is even better! So if anyone is having trouble mixing, give this a shot! Next time I might pour the PB/rice syrup into the food processor, too. Thanks for the fun recipe!
This would be great as a post-workout snack! Must try.
The Coconut Chocolate Chip Clif bars are by far my favorite – they taste just like an Almond Joy!
I love the blueberry ones of the clif Z Bars (they are the kids version) but they are mega delicious
I’m definitely going to try these! just slightly sad that they aren’t nutritionally adequate to real Cliff bars :( Here in Canada, Cliff bars are $2.50 a piece! Granted I’m obsessed with them and will pay whatever the cost, but these will be my guilty version of cliff bars when I’m craving something sweet. Thanks for creating these and sharing with everyone!
Also following you on twitter now – yum!
the cool mint flavor is my favorite!
I’m a fan of Clif products – their granola bars (more geared toward children, but the child in me just had to have them) are always a winner in my house! Definitely going to have to give these guys a try!
the white chocolate macadamia nut are out of this world!!! target occassionally has them on sale for $5 for a box of six so i stock up!
the white chocolate macadamia nut are out of this world!!! target will occassionally have them on sale for $5 for a box of 6 so i stock up!
My husband eats at least one a day, so this is great. I will have to leave the chocolate out and may play with some spices. Thanks for the great idea.
These are beautiful! And I’m sure you can save a bundle of money making your own Clif Bars :)
Yeah, gotta try these. My son has an allergy to eggs, wheat, and dairy. I hope he likes these. It is so hard to find things he is willing to eat, but he loves peanut butter and chocolate, so we shall see.
This would be perfect for my daughter who has gluten allergy. What can I substitute the peanuts/peanut butter. She is allergic to that too.
Try sunflower seeds and sun butter. It tastes very similar to Peanut Butter.
These look super yummy! I tried making granola bars last year and that ended terribly. I’m definitely gonna try this soon :)
Does anyone know how long these will keep in the refrigerator? And what section of the grocery store would I find brown rice syrup? I’ve never used it so I have no idea.
Hi Mandy, These will keep for about a week in the refrigerator. You could also store them in the freezer for an even longer shelf life. I actually ate one straight from the freezer last week (I let it sit out for about 15-20 minutes) and it was great!
I love the chocolate mint cliff bars – so might have to try that one! These look great. Now if I just knew where to get brown rice syrup….
Wow another great thing to take to work… midnight is a “trap” if you don’t plan what you are having during the night,,, you end up eating too much junk… thank you… never used brown rice syrup… hmmm …. health food store???
Hi Roxanne, I actually get brown rice syrup at my regular grocery store, in the “healthy” section where there are a few short rows of organic, gluten-free, etc. products.