These Apple Peanut Butter Snack bars are an easy, one-bowl recipe and they make a healthy and delicious after-school snack!
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Heads up! These Apple Peanut Butter Snack Bars were first published in November 2012. Photos were updated August 2018. Original text remains. Enjoy!
When I asked you what you wanted to see more of on Happy Healthy Mama, two of the most popular answers were “snacks” and “lunch box ideas”. These healthy apple peanut butter snack bars fit the bill for both of those.
They are made with no flour, no oil, and no refined sugar, so you can feel good about feeding them to your children. And if you decide you want to snack on one, you can feel good about that, too.
Like most things coming out of my kitchen these days, these healthy snack bars are quick and easy. You only have to dirty up one bowl when you make them. If you’re a busy mom like me, you know how important that is!
The most important thing, though, is that Meghan loved them. She called them “bery, bery delicious!” She’s getting so big that I can’t help but love her words that still sound baby-ish. Here’s a picture of her trying on my wedding veil recently. Seriously?! How did she get so big?
Sorry for the off-topic moment. I don’t talk about Meghan around here as much as I used to. On to the recipe for these simple and delicious Apple Peanut Butter Snack Bars!
How to Make Apple Peanut Butter Snack Bars
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Apple peanut butter snack bars
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 9 - 16 bars 1x
Description
These gluten-free snack bars are made with wholesome ingredients and are great for after-school snacking or can be a healthy lunch box treat. To make them nut-free, simply use sunflower seed butter in place of the peanut butter.
Ingredients
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 1 cup shredded/grated apple (one large apple)
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 1/2 cup honey
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×9 baking dish and set aside.
- Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well. Transfer the mixture to the baking dish and use the back of a wooden spoon or a spatula to press it down evenly.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until the edges are just barely browned. Allow to cool before cutting into squares.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Snacks
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 of 16 bars
- Calories: 103
- Sugar: 10.3g
- Sodium: 22.3mg
- Fat: 3g
- Carbohydrates: 17.9g
- Protein: 2.5g
This is the first time I’ve included peanut butter in a recipe in quite a while. In case you are wondering, I have been re-introducing foods into my diet to see if Luke’s outgrown his intolerances. He’s done well with nuts and peanuts! I’ll tell you more about it when I finally get around to finishing his 10 month (and now 11 month!) post.
If you’d like a peanut-free snack bar, however, this could easily be made so by swapping out the peanut butter for sunflower seed butter. Coconut oil would work, as well. (Check out my Goodness Bars that are similar to these and made with coconut oil.) You can find even more healthy snack recipes here. As always, enjoy!
If you try this Apple Peanut Butter Snack Bar recipe, would you mind rating the recipe with stars when you leave a comment? It’s VERY helpful for me and other readers if the recipes have ratings and reviews. I appreciate you!
If you’d like to save this recipe for later, here’s an image to save to your Pinterest recipe board!
I have no lunch boxes in the house to fill anymore 🙁 so, I guess I will make these for me! Thanks for making the printing link so easy….I find so many recipes don’t print well, mucho apprecioto 🙂
You’re welcome. 🙂
I just made these and my kids love them. I used quick oats because they’re what I had on hand and they turned out more cakey.
Glad to hear quick oats work, too.
I had a terrible chocolate craving last night, so I made these and stirred in some chocolate chips and I can tell you they make a very yummy oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip pan cookie! And still much healthier than my regular cookie recipe. 🙂
I need to try these with chocolate chips! Sounds fantastic. 🙂
Just made these….they are cooling on my counter, waiting for my kids to come home from school. I tried a corner and it was yummy! i think this recipe would ge a good one to olay around with too. maybe add in some other dried fruits? or dark chocolate chips for a special treat. I have been gradually making improvements in our diet and am loving your site for whole foods and healthy foods! Thank you!
Haha… PLAY around with not “olay around with.”
You’re welcome! I think adding dark chocolate would be an amazing addition. Kind of dangerous, though. 🙂
Can’t wait to try these!! Found you on Pinterest!! I am going to substitute peanut butter with wowbutter. My 6 yr old daughter has a bad peanut allergy but I love how wowbutter tastes just like PB. Oh how I miss my PB!! 🙂 always looking for recipes we can’t eat cause of her allergy! Thanks!!
I had to cut out peanut butter for a few months because my little one was intolerant…I missed it oh so much so I feel for you! I’ve never heard of wowbutter. What is it made from? Hope you enjoy these!
It’s made from soy. We used to use sun butter but my other kids didn’t like it too much then we found the wowbutter. I made buckeyes once with it and everyone that tried them said they tasted just like the PB ones. We buy it at Walmart or the health food store my mother in law works at. Gonna try your recipe today!! Can’t wait!!
You can also purchase Wow Butter at The Superstore!
Hi. These look wonderful, but I was wondering about the “shredded apple” too and how you make it or where you buy it. Do you put apple in a food processor? I think that would end up as applesauce.
My food processor has a shredding attachment, so I use that to shred the apple. You can also use a hand grater to grate the apple yourself.
Silly question, but what do you mean by a shredded apple?
Not silly at all! My food processor has a shredding attachment, so I use that the shred the apple into long pieces. (It looks like shredded cheese) You can do this by hand with a cheese grater as well.
How long do these stay fresh? How do you store them? dothey have to be refrigerated bbecause of the egg?
I was wondering the same…
Oats aren’t gluten free
They are when you buy gluten free oats. I have to buy gf oats. Trader Joe’d and Bob’s Red Mill are some options.
Oats are naturally gluten-free, but often are processed in a way that can cause cross-contamination. If you are concerned, you can get certified gluten-free oats.
Oats are not naturally gluten free. They have low gluten development and are confused with being gluten free. Gf certified varieties are available, but do not assume all oats are gluten free or else you may get some sick people on your hands.
That’s interesting, and different from what I’ve read. I’ll have to do some more research to clarify. I definitely recommend GF oats for those who have serious problems with gluten! Thank you!
Hi Maryea,
Just wanted to let you know that oats aren’t naturally gluten-free. My family has Coeliac disease and oats are definately off our list of foods which coeliacs can eat. I usually substitute the oats for crushed cornflakes when making Anzac biscuits etc so these would also work well in your slice if you want to share with followers, cheers 🙂
Even certified gluten-free oats?
What kind of apple is best?
I usually use something like gala or fuji, but I imagine a wide variety would work well.
Tried these this morning…can’t figure it out but mine are not hardening. Went through recipe a number of times and positive I followed exactly….hmmmm. I just put them back in for an extra 10 minutes and still very mushy….please help!
We’re you expecting these to be hard like a granola bar? They are more moist than a standard granola bar–almost like a nutri-grain type. Were yours that texture? When you say mushy, do you mean they fell apart or just that they weren’t quite as crunchy as you expected? I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful; I think I need to figure out exactly what yours were like before I can guess what may have gone wrong. Sorry the recipe wasn’t what you expected!
I think I had the same problem…I didn’t expect them to be hard, but they are more crumblier than I expected. I’m at high altitude (4500 ft), so maybe that has something to do with it?
Hmmmm….maybe. Mine aren’t crumbly at all and I’ve made them quite a few times.
These look delicious! Can I use 4 egg whites instead of 2 whole eggs? or applesauce instead?
I havne’t tried either of those substitutions so I can’t say for sure. These are just my guessed, but I don’t think the applesauce would hold these together that well. I think the 4 egg whites would work. You could also try substituting “flax eggs” in place of the eggs (1 flax egg=1 tablespoons ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoons water, allow a few minutes to gel). Good luck and let me know if you give it a try!
I can confirm that “flag eggs” work beautifully in this. My bf and I tried it last night with great success!
Thanks for letting me (and everyone) know that it worked! 🙂
I have used recipes that are similar and didn’t use eggs and it worked great. The 2 main differences were no apples and it used 1/2 cup of peanut butter instead of the 1/4 cup.
Great! Thanks for sharing.
Just made the recipe this morning. They were delicious! Maybe, I missed this but, do u have any idea about calories. They are so good I’m afraid I will eat too many.
I will calculate it and get back to you later today. 🙂
Have u calculated yet would love the calories of this delish snack:)
Sorry I didn’t get back to you yesterday–the day got away from me. 🙂 Here are the approximate calculations, based on how big or small you cut the bars:
For 9 servings:
192 calories
9 grams fat
6 grams protein
For 12 servings:
144 calories
7 grams fat
4 grams protein
For 16 servings:
108 calories
5 grams fat
3 grams protein
I hope this helps!
I can not say how excited I am at finding such a great recipe- I can’t wait to it! My husband is always asking for healthy snacks. Looking forward to reading more of your posts. And btw- your daughter is adorable!
Aww–thank you. 🙂
Found you through Pintrest and these look delishous! I’ll have to try them.
These are some amazing bars! Awesome ingredients! And I am so glad Luke is doing so well with nuts now! That is such good news 😀
Can I just say how beautiful your daughter is!
Oh, thank you so much! 🙂
I bet my boys will love these. And I bet I will too.
I bet you’re super excited about eating peanut butter again! Glad to hear that Luke is doing better with his intolerances. These bars look just perfect for an after school (or work!) snack!
These look good and I have all the ingredients. Bonus.
Oooo… these sound sooo good! My baby boy has turned 8 weeks now and quick and easy snacks (for ME) are worth a million. Thanks yet again for a terrific recipe and Meghan is such a cutie! 🙂
Congrats on your little boy! I look back and Luke being 8 weeks just seems like a blur. I can’t believe he’s going to be ONE soon!